I am buying my wife a iMac and a Macbook. I bought a Macbook 5 months ago and decided to convert her as well. Along with here hardware I'm purchasing .Mac and iWork. I am looking for some advice on a camcorder to buy to capture moments of our 4 year old and the ease to download, edit and publish to .Mac so the G-parents, aunts, and uncles to enjoy. I don't think I can afford to purchase the top of the line unit with the other purchases I need to make for her. I have been looking at consumer reports and I am more confused than ever. The Apple Store recommended a unit but some people have given it some negative flack. Please help me with my confusion and pardon my ignorance. Just a good ole' country boy trying to get in the 21st century.
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Mac Convert Seeks advice for Xmas gift for wife
- Thread starter irishredneck
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What model was the Apple store recommending, and what sort of negative flack was it getting?
I would bet that probably any Sony, Canon, JVC, Panasonic (e.g. name brand) miniDV camcorder with Firewire port will fit the bill easily. I'm not personally sold on hard drive camcorders (lack of flexibility and compressed quality) or mini DVD camcorders (expensive media, poorer editing ability, compressed quality). I haven't been paying attention to the world of HD camcorders (AVCHD and the like). But you can't go wrong with tried-and-true miniDV.
go with big brand names where camcorders are concerned. That means Sony. Maybe Panasonic. Not JVC.
I'd say miniDV is what you're looking at if you want quality, though solid state disc drive is easy for editing etc.
You can pick up a decent sony camcorder for about $300-350. Look for one about that range.
I'd say miniDV is what you're looking at if you want quality, though solid state disc drive is easy for editing etc.
You can pick up a decent sony camcorder for about $300-350. Look for one about that range.
The ZR800 is a great value camera. It's certainly not the greatest pro super cam, but for the price, it's unbeatable. My grandparents recently bought the ZR800 as their first camera, they are loving it. It is fully compatible with iMovie. Watch out on the Sony's, I almost bought one until I realized you have to change all your setting on the touch screen. Why would you want to get fingerprints on your primary viewing screen? Also, sony uses proprietary formats for both their memory cards (for photos) and their accessories (Ext. Mic, Video Light. etc.) Forcing you to buy them at higher cost than other brands, such as canon, who use open formats (ie. SD Cards, and HotShoe's).
Check out camcorderinfo.com for more in-depth reviews.
Read the ZR830 review. (Exact same camera, with the addition of taking stills.)
[The "Conclusion" section states that the ZR800 beats the ZR830.]
Check out camcorderinfo.com for more in-depth reviews.
Read the ZR830 review. (Exact same camera, with the addition of taking stills.)
[The "Conclusion" section states that the ZR800 beats the ZR830.]