Help: DV Camera Recommendations

And now for something completely different:

There are a lot of intelligent folks out there in sci-blog gadget land, so please allow me to pick your brains for a moment.

I am looking for some recommendations on a DV camera. I am looking for a fairly basic unit but not one that is totally stripped. A top end unit is right out. By comparison, I have two digital still cameras: a Fuji FinePix F440 which is a very compact point-and-shoot and a Canon Digital Rebel XTi SLR. I am looking for the DV version of the Fuji. I can throw the Fuji into my pocket when we go skiing or whatever and it takes up almost no room. It's very convenient, easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and the pictures are good, but for some serious photography the Canon wins hands down.

Features-wise, I'd like it to be fairly small if possible, decent optical zoom, ability to upload via USB 2.0, and a jack so I can override the existing mic with one of my studio mics or the output of my audio mixer. As far as media, I'm thinking solid state as I don't want to have to deal with blanks (i.e. if I don't like a take I just erase it).

Also, I'll need some basic software for editing: cropping, swapping, fade in/out, titles, ability to export to other formats at lower resolution and frame rates (like making a 10 fps 320x200 AVI), and similar. Being able to bump or nudge (or even replace) the audio would be welcome.

And out of curiosity, does anyone make a DV with extra high frame rates so that you can do slow-motion?

Thanks.

More like this

Testimonial for a Flip video camera, remarkably small, and at a remarkably affordable price. I don't think it has a connector for external microphone though.

By Tegumai Bopsul… (not verified) on 26 Jul 2007 #permalink