Good cheap miniDV camcorder or D8

[choirislife923]

can anyone give me suggestions for a good and cheap miniDV or D8 camcorder? by good, i mean, good in low light situations and somewhat pretty accurate color reproduction (no over or under staturation). by cheap, i mean less than $300-350 max. Also, I'm a person who likes to go for discontinued models (cause they are cheaper and they sometimes provide the same results as the newer ones that are more expensive anyways) so if you have any suggestions for cameras that came out 1-3 years, shoot for it.

Right now, one of the camcorders that is on my list is the GR-D33 (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/jvc-gr-d33-camcorder-review.htm), but at about $280, its already on the higher end.

real 16:9 mode (the camcorders that actually film 16:9 in widescreen mode and not crop it) would also be a plus.

[Jayhawk]

Samsung SCD103 MiniDV Digital Camcorder is $298 at Amazon with free shipping. $330 at any Target store but you'll pay tax.

JVC GRD33US Minidv Digital Camcorder is $298 also.

Panasonic PVGS9 MiniDV is $259 at tech 4 less.

H8 is obviously cheaper (Sony highly recommended for H8).

[gshelley61]

SONY DCR-TRV250 DIGITAL 8

I think that one goes down to 0 lux with the built in infrared light and can be had pretty cheap on eBay

[Jayhawk]

SONY DCR-TRV250 DIGITAL 8

I think that one goes down to 0 lux with the built in infrared light and can be had pretty cheap on eBay

I have the TRV85 and it goes down to around 1 lux but also has infrared (night vision). I'm not all that impressed with the infrared but the camera (video quality) has been top notch. Guess that's why I'm a Sony H8 fan.

[Jayhawk]

Did a little research on EBAY and a SOny TRV260 is $260, the TRV240 is $275, and a TRV350 is $310. These are all great cameras but you have to consider used H8 versus new MiniDV for close to the same price.

[gshelley61]

What is H8? Do you mean analog Hi8?

I'm suggesting he look into the Sony Digital8 format camcorders. It will cost him less money to buy one of those than a MiniDV unit and records exactly the same DV format, just using larger (and less expensive) 8mm tape.