Where can I buy a cheap good quality camcorder?

What pro camcorder can I buy cheap and build up into a higher quality one?

• A professional camcorder that I can change up the lense, filter and whatever, on as I get more money. A camera I can eventually get an okay quality with for fictional motion pictures. Advice?

• Answer:

  Hi Janie: From your Y!A Profile, you are in the 19- to 21-year age category, so your funds might be somewhat limited, but at least you have a good idea for trying to stretch your initial purchase budget. Also, I see you are in Sweden, which historically has been a PAL-TV format country, so you might avoid NTSC-only camera models. And rather than try to keep up with Krona and Euro exchange rates, I'll keep my monetary discussions in Dollars. As far as "true camcorders" which have a higher tariff rate in Europe than Digital SLRs (like the Nikon D-series, the Canon EOS line, or the Sony Alphas) you will find not find many changeable lens models for less than the $2000-$5000 USD price range. (The really good changeable lens video cameras tend to run in the $12,000-$50,000 USD range.) Having a wide range of interchangeable or upgradeable lenses is one of the appeals of the Digital SLRs (dSLR) that have "movie modes". Plus, the camera bodies are in the hundreds rather than thousands of dollars price range. One downside is the lack of professional audio features, since these are designed primarily as still photo cameras, not movie-making camcorders. If you care to update your Question with "Additional Details" giving us a more-specific price budget ("cheap" is a very relative term, especially to a young adult) then specific brand and model recommendations can be made. To stretch your budget money, I'd recommend looking at used-equipment rather than new, when starting out. hope this helps, --Dennis C.