I've got the TRV33E and it's a brilliant peace of kit. I was in the same situation as you are now, there are so many camera's out there and I didn't know what to get. I finally decided that Sony seemed to be the brand of choice with their Carl Zeiss lenses. The picture quality is superb, you get dv in and out, the zoom is excellent and if you get the right deal you'll get a memory stick as well to take stills on (or small movies). It's got to be the best branded camera for for money.

Best thing would be to go into a jessops and give it a try.

[Edited for pics]

just so you get an idea of what the TRV33 can do on stills...

oscar
crab
cat

[Edited by Mickle - 9/2/2003 12:06:15 AM]

Eh up all :D

I'm after a camcorder, and am left a little bewildered about where to start. Googling for camcorder uk gives little links of any use; it seems that google has been poisoned by dealtime/etcs "read reviews and compare prices" spiel that actually gives feck all reviews :(

I want something that gives good video, has the ability to take a useful still if needs be, and can chuck stuff to the PC digitally for further editing on PC.

Budget is up to 600 quid. The Sony TRV-33 appeals, but that's only based on a list of buzzwords really. I can't work out the canon range, no-one seems to push it?

Any resources (magazines), or suggestions of what and where to buy would be most appreciated! The mag websites helpfully give you access to reviews that are over a year old. :rolleyes: Ideally I'd like to know if there's anything like dpreview.com but for camcorders :D

Cheers,
Nick.

Nick,

All your questions answered here. And, as a member you get mega discounts on DV tapes from Penridge

Stefan

You star :D

sony TRV-60 is a good un...

another vote for simplydv forum ;)

I went for a Pany NVGS70B last year and it's been fantastic.

Has a Leica lens and the video quality has been outstanding.

I heard that the Canon's have a very noisy motor for the zoom, so it's worth getting your hands on some down your local high street store.

I bought mine from Jessops who priced matched Let's Go Digital, but I believe Jessops won't price match Internet retailers anymore :(

Stefan

The TRV-60 is appealing to me, but is above what I want to pay...

Just reading about canon motor noise. Hmm...

What the hell were sony doing releasing 13 new cameras this year? 'kinell they like confusing their public!

Make sure you touch n feel it. I was all set for a lovely little Panny one a few years ago but the missus said it gave her cramp in the hand, so had to get a bigger one!

regards,

greg

try www.unbeatable.co.uk for the trv-60

Hi Chiark,

Some good advice above.

I recently went for the Panasonic NV-GS50. Slighlty lower spec than the DS70 mentioned earlier which I think is 3CCD (the one main big step in image quality across all DV camera ranges is the step from cheaper single CCD to more expensive 3CCD cameras). I can thoroughly recommend this camera - excellent picture quality, easy for the missis to use and lots of features I never use:rolleyes:.

Things to do:
Budget - you've set £600 so 3CCD is not really a choice for you unless you stretch further.
You want firewire in AND out? Firewire OUT is standard on all DV cameras, but Firewire in you'll pay £50-£100 more. This will allow you to send data back to the camcorder after editing on PC.
What other toys do you want on there? (Eg. how good a digital camera?).
Forget digital zoom - Anything over 20x and your shakes will make picture unwatchable, even with image stabiliser. Higher optical zoom figures are nice - normally in 10-20x range.

I paid £550 for my camera. John Lewis price matched down from £700 from an internet store that happened to have a storefront :D
Excellent camera, all the features and tiny to boot. Only low point is digital camera only 800x600. If you want it all combined, then Canon' MV5 cameras are more expensive (equivalent camera to Panasonic +£100) but have 1024x768 still pictures, but if I was that bothered about camera resolution I'd buy a digital camera for the extra money I've saved..

Main thing - Decide the spec you need/want. Find the camera from each manufacturer in your budget range. Go to a good store and hold them all. I instantly discounted all the Sony range and the JVCs as I simply couldn't hold them comfortably. It made my final choices a lot easier.

Big 4 seem to be Sony, Panasonic, JVC and Canon.

Each company seems to have three camera in each model range. One 'basic model' with DV out only. One 'medium model' with DV in and out, and one 'bells and whistles' model which has DV in and out and tends to have some card of removable media card as well.

Mail me if you need any specifics...

Cheers
Joolz

Yes go for the Pan gs50. Lovely camera, or any of the GS range

£498 GS50

Trv33 £499

i bought the trv33e last night and agree with above - its excellent!! still figuring out how to use it - im amazed with the touch screen!!

Wonderful, thanks so much guys, this is all really helping!

All opinions welcomed :D

OK, so what's the difference between the TRV330E and TRV33E? The link that MattW put above is for the 330E...

TRV330E uses Digital8, is backwards compatible with Hi8 allowing you to carry over old analogue recordings if you have them.

TRV33 uses MiniDV. I like mine :D

There seems to be a groundswell of support for the 33 and the panasonic. There's about 100 quid price difference, and both have the right features that I want.

I think that I do want DV/analogue in, despite not absolutely needing it. I can already think of times that that will be useful.

10x zoom minimum.
Mini-DV format.
Easy to use.
Good battery life.
Some manual control.

I think to make my life easier I'm going to wander into a shop and play with the NS50 and TRV33 for as long as they'll let me :D

Update soon, hopefully :D

oops trv33 here

Nick, you really want DV in/out. I'd be lost without it. I can us DV to copy tape to AVI format, then make any changes I need and write it straight back onto tape with no loss in quality.

I've taken loads of footage from my hill walking exploits and that function alone has been a godsend (spelling?).

Stefan

Well, I've taken the plunge.

The NS50 looked good on paper, but in reality I didn't like the handling at all - it's too small for my ham-fisted actions!

The TRV33 was, ultimately, more than I really wanted to spend.

I'd been making the assumption that higher resolution CCD = better video performance. It doesn't. CCD size, and ability to resolve lines are the be-all and end-all. The Panasonic's CCD is 1/6", the Sony 1/4". Low light performance is also affected by the CCD size, along with the lens. Both the pana/sony stop down to F1.8 - not great :(

So flicking through the back of Camcorder user I made my shortlist - Canon 650i (508 quid), Sony TRV22 (508 quid) and from left of the field, the JVC GR-DV700.

"Why the JVC, it's 'kin massive!" I hear you cry. The lens is f1.2, which is good 'n' bright, the CCD resolves 540 lines for video and also happens to be 1.33MP for stills. Full manual control is possible (like I'll ever take it out of auto!). The downside is the size - it's about 5cm longer than the sony :(

I had a play with one, and liked it a lot, so I've ordered one. Unfortunately it turns up on Monday as I'd missed the cut-off deadline for Friday delivery, so I'll let you know what I think. If anyone's interested :D

Cheers,
Nick.