Several beginners questions about choosing a camcorder

I know the same thing applies to camcorders as to most other things in life - you get what you pay for - but I'm curious as to how far up the price ranges things actually change in video quality rather than additional features.

I want a pretty basic camera for taping holiday trips etc; probably mostly outdoors but likely with some evening and indoor shots. From reading reviews it appears that most cameras under £600 will be fairly lousy at low light levels. But will there really be a massive difference between ultra cheap, cheap and midrange (ie are they such that only a video geek would notice) - or to get good results, would I have to go way over budget which is overkill for what I need.

At the v cheap end, I'm looking at a Sony HC22 (£265) and at the merely cheap end, the HC42 (£400) The reviews I've read make them sound equally bad at low light but don't really cover the steadycam aspects etc. The HC42 has a lower optical zoom which, in store, seemed to make the camera picture seem steadier - though obviously, you don't get a true idea of distance in a shop! Anyone tried either of those more fully?

The Canons seem tough to judge since the UK model names are totally different from the US ones where most of the review sites are based.

Anyone else been through the basic camcorder purchase decision lately and willing to share their thought process?

evil_santa said:

I havent tried it in low light. But it does have the infrared system.

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I'd always thought that was a kinda gimmick since it seemed to turn everyone green on the old Handycams (6 years ago or so) - we did end up with a funny video of us all locked in an isolation cell on Alcatraz with it but I never thought of using it in a normal room. Have you used the camera indoors at all - what was it like if so? One review suggested that it sometimes appears as if there's a blue filter on it; I did notice that the magenta was a lot more muted than with the cheaper one when in the store although the cheap one showed it so garishly that anything would have been muted!

Lacero, I've read about the 3CCD ones and there's one just beyond my price bracket that I could get (Panasonic 75) while still keeping it small enough to carry around as a tourist places but I've read that although its colour reproduction is much better outside, indoors it's apparently worse than the Sonys - possibly because its 3 CCDs are all 1/6 inch unlike the larger ones in better 3CCD cameras. Buying a used one is an interesting thought although eBay UK aren't showing any of the two you suggested; my only concern would be the durability if they've already been through 2 years with another user. I have little faith in consumer electronics quality these days!