looking to buy a new camcorder

[ElkhuntrMT]

Looking to buy a new HD camcorder. Dont want to pay over $800 preferably. The key factors for me are good zoom with a great stabilization system and good stills would be nice. Small and light as well. Is this something I can realistically find for less than 800? Just wanting it for personal hunting, wildlife and scenery videos. What have you guys using and not using?

 

[colonel00]

I picked up a Panasonic V550 this year. For my uses it worked really well. Granted, at around $300 it is well under your budget so maybe you want something better. However, at $300 I wasn't afraid to throw it in a pocket and risk being a little rough with it. Here are a couple videos that show some video from it and its zoom range. These were all shot from hand held so there is a bit of shaking at full zoom. Anyway, it is a great little camcorder with pretty good zoom.

[video=youtube;zMQaFcLBDws]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMQaFcLBDws&list=UUjUCTrjuX_1NyWZGbiBS4Bw[/video]

[video=youtube;5NJ2BNYIrNs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NJ2BNYIrNs&list=UUjUCTrjuX_1NyWZGbiBS4Bw[/video]

 

[ElkhuntrMT]

that is great video for a cheap price. it would make it a bit easier to take if something happened to it while being a little rough with it. Camcorders have come a long ways. Thanks for the info.

 

[colonel00]

Yeah, it is a decent compromise of pretty good video with great zoom, price, size and weight. Here are a few photos from it as well. As you can see, zoomed out, it takes pictures fine but zoomed all the way in, the photos aren't very good at all due to the digital zoom.

This one was from maybe 1.5 miles away. You can see how all of the bushes are washed together.

 

[Redmist]

Canon Vixia S11