We’re a Little Camera-Shy Here at SarahLacy.com…

Pick up one of the JVC Everio units, with built in hard drive ;)

The standard/popular one seems to be the Flip—Oprah uses 'em, Tyra uses 'em, we just bought some at Glamour mag, etc.—but it gives me tons of trouble. I bought one myself and not only did it stop working within 2 weeks of purchase but customer service was terrible. I just gave up. :(

I don't have any suggestions to contribute though... ha, sorry.

For features/video quality you can't beat Canon's Vixia series. HV30 records to minidv so you'd have an instant archive or you can go the flash memory or hard disk route with HF/HG
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=173

Great, great cameras for under a grand. Or check ebay for an older used model like an HV20.

I'm a big fan of the Flip Video Camcorder.

It's easy to use, low cost, easy to transport and makes uploading video super easy. The quality is perfect for internet video.

The most convenient, low-cost, compact digital camcorder around is the Flip Mino. It has a USB connector that you connect to your laptop and upload directly to YouTube and other video sharing sites. Very handy and convenient. Only costs about $150.

http://www.theflip.com/

I like this cannon model http://tinyurl.com/5c7ahr It records to it's internal 60gb HDD. It records 30p which is nice and easy for web video. I have used the HV20 which is a tape based version of this and the two things I wish it had were HDD storage and 30p. The HG20 would be my first choice to do nice looking videos for the web, fast. Throw them up on Vimeo in HD for bonus points.

Also, I would stay away from any AVCHD digital camcorders, as most video editing software still does not natively support that format. If you try to edit it on your MacBook, it will need to first be converted to another video format that will increase the file size by 4 times. So, your hard drive space will be completely sucked dry.

You could always go with a standard DV camcorder, which connects to your computer via Firewire. File sizes are low and easy to edit in iMovie, Final Cut Pro, etc.

There's no need to go with an HD camcorder at all, if you're just looking to publish online.

just got an H 20 myelf. Great cam. Great value.

After several months of product research to find an HD camcorder myself, I highly recommend the Canon Vixia HD Camcorder line. The latest model, HF11, is dropping in September for about $1200 and offers 32GB flash storage (lightweight compared to hard-disk based devices), 12x zoom, full 1080P resolution, 24Mbps file stream (more bandwidth here appears to equal higher quality video), etc. Check out Canon's website for more information: http://tinyurl.com/5ca7eu
You might also find this review from CamcorderInfo useful: http://tinyurl.com/6hjcuz
If you can't wait for the HF11, the HF10 (16GB flash onboard) and HF100 (no onboard flash, buy an SDHC card) are also great.

By the way, I've done some digging, and the latest version of Final Cut Pro supports AVCHD: http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/support.html

Sarah, What software (if any) do you plan on using to edit and/or upload your video? Hope this helps.

the flip served us well in the air.

Definitely go for the Canon HF11 ( http://tinyurl.com/canonhf11 ) or the proven Canon HV20 / HV30 ( http://tinyurl.com/canonhv30 ). HF11 if you are cool with solid-state, and HV20/30 if you want the convenience of cheap tape archives. Great cameras.

Matt Jeppsen
FreshDV

o.m.g. so many great comments!! thanks guys. i'm leaving it to olivia to wade through it!

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