Whats a good camcorder to buy?

Pesonally I have been using a JVC DV, and am very happy with the results and the convenience. Friend of mine has a Sony, which is much more compact, but a bit costlier.

What you are planning to do is not without its problems. The time involved is much more than most people realize, so I hope you love to do it. I think the Sony handycam is probably best for you. The Panasonic has better quality, but is poor in low light situations and I think you might do a fair amount of indoor shots where light sensitivity is important. The touch screen on the Sony is easy to use and the spot meter and spot focus would be of great help in making short video movies. Buy the tape, not the DV disk because the quality is better and the compression used on the disks makes them very limited in editing ability without the proper software. I purchased my Sony a few months ago and am very pleased with it. I paid less than $400 but that is in Canada. In the USA it should be much cheaper than that so it should be in your price range. Best of luck, hope this helps a little. Check this information out with others before you buy, I don't want to mislead you.