Need some advice on HD Camcorders & Editing

I'd like to make a small investment in a HD Camcorder that gives me a little more flexibility than my iPhone does LOL. So I'm limiting myself to no more than $400 bucks for a gently used or refurbished camcorder. I am not a film editor, so I want something I can deal with on my iMac.

Primary videos will be my grandkids sports events, and maybe a few trips to the drag strip. So I need zoom, and if a camera has a microphone that has some sort of "zoom" like a psuedo-shotgun mic thats a plus. Hands are on the camcorder so I don't want to miss too many stills... and that says the camcorder also has to have the simultaneous still option... hopefully minimum 3-4 MP. Having a iMac, I'd like it to be as easy as possible to edit using something simple, maybe thats iMovie, I don't know. And of course... the camcorder has to be able to export/process video on a mac without a hassle.

Been looking at a Sanyon Xacti HD1010 and a Panny HDC-SD90K. Been watching YouTube reviews and sample videos for a couple of days. Those two because reviews have indicated they are somewhat Mac-Friendly and in the price range.

If I can make small enough videos can they be compressed so they can be emailed and viewed on an iPhone? What format would that be?

Mike

If I can make small enough videos can they be compressed so they can be emailed

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It would be very difficult to make a video of any decent length small enough to email with any reasonable quality. Using something like Dropbox would be better.

A member on another forum that I use has recently bought a JVC Everio GZ-HM430. He seems very pleased with it. It was only £130(less than $200) in the UK, but I can't see the same model on the the JVC US site.

You can read his review below.
mac4mac.co.uk • View topic - Mini Digital Camcorder

MightyGem said:

It would be very difficult to make a video of any decent length small enough to email with any reasonable quality. Using something like Dropbox would be better.

A member on another forum that I use has recently bought a JVC Everio GZ-HM430. He seems very pleased with it. It was only £130(less than $200) in the UK, but I can't see the same model on the the JVC US site.

You can read his review below.
mac4mac.co.uk • View topic - Mini Digital Camcorder

Click to expand...

I seem to recall that the Everio didn't have a great review but it could be a specific model I looked at.

All depends on what the reviewer is looking for of course. He seems quite happy, and his youtube stuff seems OK to me.

Yeah... I actually know that you're right LOL. I've been doing loads of research and I discovered what might be the right camcorder for me... a Sony GW-77V. Its more than I wanted to spend, but its smaller, its ruggedized and waterproof (great for beach, pool, and fishing trips), and it has great zoom, excellent optics, and I'm just amazed at even the frame grabs I've seen.



About the only drawback is that like many video camcorders, its not terribly mac friendly which means output files are output files and can be used and edited, but there's many more editing options on a PC.

So, I am definitely not wandering back into the PC world LOL, but I may buy this camcorder just because of its size and features. Many new camcorders are small, but this one is about the size of a PnS still camera.



Now I just have to familiarize myself with editing options for my mac. Video Converter for Lion looks interesting, butI'm still using OS X 10.6.8 and I'm debating the upgrade to Mountain Lion which is another thread LOL. Just curious if there are any Sony users in here and what their experience is with editing on a budget.

Mike

I'd be wary of buying Sony given the number of topics that I've seen regarding problems with connecting them to Macs.