personal camcorders

[youngbuck]

i know some of you guys are pretty good with cameras and camcorders, alot more knowledgeable than me. I am looking to buy a camcorder, mainly for personal outdoor use. Mostly hunting, fishing, and snowboarding. When i was looking at them about a year ago i was sold on a panasonic 3ccd camcorder. I was told that 3ccd camcorders do much better for outdoor filming, especialy low light conditions and snow conditions. The 3ccd camers i have seen >1000$ have a 10x zoom (not the professional ones, consumer ones). I would like more zoom, so i noticed the panasonic sdr-h18 a 32x zoom w/ image stabilazation and a hdd. THe only thing is that it is not a 3ccd. My questions are; is the 3ccd thing that big of a deal to loose out on all the zoom. And, what is the better way to go HDD or MiniDV. I have heard the hdd is really easy to use but the minidv can me a little better image quality. In am basicly looking for the best bang for my buck while getting some pretty decent video.

[azhuntnut]

I picked up the Panasonic PV-GS300 a while back and love it. It is a 3CCD and has image stabilization. It takes some great video, plus very easy to use. David

[youngbuck]

I picked up the Panasonic PV-GS300 a while back and love it. It is a 3CCD and has image stabilization. It takes some great video, plus very easy to use. David

 

That was one of the ones i was looking at a little while back, is the 10x zoom suffecient? I would love to be a able to video something at 300 yds from a good tripod, for scouting and hunting both. I dont even know if this is possible with a 32x zoom.

[DesertBull]

For ~$100 you can get a doubler that screws on the front of the lens, making your zoom 2x more effective. It does degrade the quality slightly, but not much, if you get a good one.

 

I have a canon 16x camera w/ a 2x lens on front.

 

I took this one at appx 800 yards.

 

 

 

This one was about 400 yards with the same set up.

 

[TREESTANDMAN]

Dang Desert bull, that first video's buck looks like a shooter! How was his rack?

[Deadeye Productions]

Whats your price range?

[youngbuck]

Whats your price range?

probably 700 or less