Can you suggest a camcorder under $300.00?

Can Anyone Suggest A Good Quality Semi-Pro Camcorder?

• I've been looking around for a while, but I don't have to privilege of getting my hands on any to test out first. I'm looking for a semi-professional camcorder (think film-college student work) that's HD maybe, and can hold data on a hard drive or something like a P2 Card. An example would be the Panasonic AG-HVX200A. I love the quality and everything about it, though it is a little pricey . . . can someone suggest any camcorder close to this that may have a lesser price tag (under $3000 if possible?).

• Answer:

  The Panasonic AG-HVX200 is a work-horse of a decent pro-grade camcorder. Less $ means reduced capabilities... and the "prosumer" environment. The Sony HDR-FX7 is about as close as I can get you. There are no prosumer or pro-grade camcorders with an internal hard drive because of the known limitations hard disc drives have with vibration and high altitude (among other problems). If a hard disc drive is used, then an external like those from Focus Enhancements FireStore series is used. Mostly, it is about low compression video storage, and the most cost effective media for that (and long-term archiving) is miniDV tape. Panasonic is the only manufacturer that uses P2 cards. For high definition, the HVX200 is about it. If you go to standard def, then the AG-DVX100 uses P2 cards. The Sony HVR-HD1000 is a shoulder mount - but compare the lens filter diameter and single imaging chip to the consumer grade HDR-HC9... The HVR-A1 uses XLR connectors for audio-in... but check its lens and single imaging chip sizes, too... I can't recommend anything that uses AVCHD compression. The Canon XHA1 (miniDV tape) and JVC GY-HM100 (SD cards) and Sony HDR-FX1000 (miniDV tape) are worthy of investigation but a little higher than your stated $3k budget.