A Good Digital Video Camera For My Needs?

Since we don't know how loud your daughter can sing, it would probably best if you had some way to control the audio level being recorded. You have two options: 1) Use a camera/camcorder that has manual audio control. As far as I know, there is no DSC or DSLR that has manual audio control (and they are mono, not stereo, audio). Most consumer grade camcorders do not have manual audio control. Some Sony consumer camcorders have a "MicRefLevel" menu selection that allows you to change from "Normal" to "Low" gain (for high audio levels). The least expensive camcorder - of which I am currently aware - that has more granular manual audio control is the Canon HV30. 2) Use whatever camera/camcorder you want - and also use an audio "field recorder" like those from Zoom, M-Audio, Edirol, Sony, Tascam and MANY others. They have manual audi control. When you import the video from the camera, import the audio from the field recorder. Sync. Mute the audio captured by the camera/camcorder. Save, Exprt at full quality, Import and edit your new "source video/audio". If you decide to stay with the camcorder's built-in automatic mic gain control, and if the audio recorded is loud (it does not have to be amplified), there is a strong liklihood that the audio track in the camcorder will be over-saturated and sound can end up very muddy. Another item is when the audio peaks, there will be clipping - this can sound like static. None of these can be repaired in editing - but the audio can be replaced if correctly recorded off-board (with a field recorder or some other audio recording device). Just because the target is YouTube does not mean you get to take short cuts on video and audio production quality, editing or rendering. "cost a ton of money" will mean different things to different people. => up to $250 are pocket cams: small lenses and imaging chips (poor low-light behavior), no manual audio controls, no mic jacks. => up to $600: entry level consumer grade. small lenses and imaging chips (poor low-light behavior), no manual audio controls, some have mic jacks (Canon FS series). => up to about $1,200: mid-high end consumer grade. Most have mic jacks, most have no manual audio control (exceptions are Sony MicRefLevel rudimentary control or Canon HV30/HV40 manual control) => up to about $2,500: prosumer. Larger lenses and imaging chips, OK low-light behavior, all have mic jacks and all have manual audio control. => beyond this, professional replaces 1/8" mic jack with XLR audio connectors.