recommendation for a cheap DV cam

[choirislife923]

question: what would you guys recommend for a newbie to DV? i want a miniDV cam that can double as a digital camera (resolution about 3 or 4 megapixles, preferably 5), and is pretty good for indoor shooting. price range: $200-350. i have only owned one camcorder: Sony CCD-TRV37 (bought july 2000, 8mm).

[proxyx99]

No DV cam can shoot 3-5 megapixel stills. Most DV cams are not good when it comes to stills. Max resol is 2 megs for an expensive cam. Average is 1 Meg. You need a separate still cam as DV cams do pretty lousy still pictures.

[choirislife923]

ok, nevermind. but what about a good cheap DV cam? i think i can handle the independent digital camera part.

[cbkilner]

Cheap is a relative term - there are good cameras in all sorts of price ranges - it mostly depends on the features you want and pricepoint.

How do you plan to use it (by indoor, do you mean low-light?)?

At sub-$300 there isn't much.

[cbkilner]

You might look at:

JVC GR-D33US - $295 at buydig.com
JVC GR-D72US - $359

Panasonic PV-DV53 - $350 at dbuys.com

[proxyx99]

Cheap - Samsung. Good: Sony TRV 19 and up. You can buy a Digital8 cam by Sony for ca. 300 bucks that will give you v. good features, great quality, excel. versatility (low light, good 20x zoom). It is miniDV on Hi8 tape (cheaper). That would be my pick other then above noted.