HD Camcorder with widest angle lens

[Heb1228]

I want an HD camcorder, probably either Canon or Sony, but one of my main concerns is never really addressed in any of the reviews.

My SD Sony camcorder is great in a lot of ways, but it lens does not zoom out nearly far enough for indoor shooting. I had a get a wide-angle lens to make it useable. That's kind of a pain just because its something extra to carry around, put on and take off, etc...

I'd really like my next camcorder to not have an issue with this. Does anyone have experience with trying to use these without an add-on lens? Can you tell me which is wider and if there is a difference between the flash and hard drive models when it come to this question?

My Nikon D40 with the 18-55mm kit lens gets about as wide (on the 18mm side) as I wish my camcorder would get.

 

[Courtaj]

They're all much of a muchness as far as I'm aware, which means: not especially wide. Usually around the stills equivalent of 42mm to 45mm.

 

[Heb1228]

I see on Sony's website most of them are listed as:

35mm Equivalent : 49 - 735mm (4:3 Camera Mode), 40 - 600mm (16:9 Camera Mode)

Canon's lists as:

Zoom Ratio 12x Optical/200x Digital
Focal Length f=4.8 - 57 mm
Zoom Speed Variable/3 Fixed Zoom Speeds
Max. F/Stop f/1.8-3.0mm
Filter Size 37mm

But Canon doesn't offer a 35mm equivalency spec, so its hard to make a comparison just from that.