Camcorders Deals

Review by Peter Dwyer:

I purchased two of these one white and one black, for me and my partner. The video that this device creates is of standard TV quality so is more than adequate for everyday use. You can upload directly to myspace or youtube and even maintain a vlog with it. The quality is fantastic even in relatively low light conditions.

For on the go, spur of the moment, recording it powers up in an impressive 4 seconds. This allows you to capture any sudden events that happen around you. Carrying a flip mino means that you are unlikely to miss any important family or life events ever again.

The flip mino is the successor to the flip ultra and is both smaller and lighter, not that the ultra was ever bulky! It keeps the simple controls of the ultra and introduces touch sensitive buttons, including a rewind and fast forward button. This would make a fantastic present for anyone and the one button record and stop is so easy to learn that even a technophobe granny can do it (just remember to show her how to charge it back up again).

That leads me neatly on to what I see as the only down side. The old ultra model took AA batteries and these were good usually for 5 hours as well as being easy to change on the go. The new mino has a lithium ion intern

Review by Olivia Stefanino:

Wow…what an amazing piece of kit! My criteria was that I wanted something small enough to fit easily into my handbag, unobstrusive enough not to make people nervous and fun enough to make me want to play with it! Five stars in all three categories! And because of the integral USB port, it makes loading videos up my computer really easy. I’m a great lover of simplicity and this wicked little gizmo completely fits the bill.

Review by Mr. Q. Van Loggerenberg:

this is just great, for the money it is spot on as a present – cheap enough for my 10 year old to get into shooting clips on holiday etc… thanks to the SD card memory, the battery lasts for ages – and the quality is great outdoors and more than good enough inside..

recommended

Review by Hooper:

i bought three of these for xmas and all recipients thought they were great (8,18,24). They are very small (fit in a pocket/bag easily)and light and feel a bit tacky, but believe me they work a treat, well worth the money I paid for them.

Review by Stuart Rowland:

I’ve had the Flip Ultra HD for 48hours now and couldn’t be happier.

Open the box, install the batteries and you can start shooting straight away. The controls are intuitive and the instruction manual is welcome in it’s brevity and ease of reference.

Connect the Ultra to your PC and the software will install straight away. I was a little concerned that the minimum system requirements (Intel 3Ghz processor) would cause an issue but my Intel 2Ghz copes admirably and the videos playback without stutter-or-stalling.

I bought the Ultra so i could have a HD recording device to hand to capture those unique moments when my eternally amusing children perform their acts of circus. We bought a camcorder a few years back for over £800 but because of it’s bulky dimensions, it’s literally never been used. The Ultra is the same size as a chunky nokia phone of the 2006 era and is easy to fit in your pocket and transport around – easy to get-to-hand and start shooting and capture those memorable moments: exactly why i bought it.

All in all, very happy. Only disappointment was that the Amazon product description told me that an HDMI cable would be included in the box, and it’s not. Turns out that any generic HDMI cable will work, AS LONG as it has a mini-connector (type c; which fits the Ultra) and standard HDMI connector (Type A – which plugs into your HD TV). I’m off to PC World to buy one of these later. If there’s any issue in playing back on the TV, I’ll let you know.

Review by C. Wijker:

A very handy and pratical HD camera that is easy to get out and use at a moments notice. Only slightly bigger than a mobile phone so it is very easy to carry. Some reviewers have mentioned that is does not come with a charger which is true but the item description shows it doesn’t include this as you charge it up via your computers USB port. A charger is available but this is an optional extra which you purchase separately.

This camera can store up to 2 hours worth of footage and is super easy to download to your PC. The editing software supplied with the camera is very useful and easy to use. It allows you to trim films but unfortunatly this doesn’t mean the file size decreases as it only marks the stop and start of where you want to see rather than trimming the file. It does have a nice feature of being able to join footage together and add titles, copy etc. So for the price the package is very reasonable. If you need a better editing software then you could purchase one separately.

Another good feature is that it uses standard AA rechargable batteries so should you be away somewhere for a while where it isn’t easy to plug in a charger or charge via a PC then you could use spares instead. So far we haven’t had any problems with the battery life and haven’t had to recharge whilst out.

We are very pleased with the camera and again for the price of HD camera’s this is a good buy in our opinion.

As a busy family I find this camera very easy and quick to use and its captured some instant moments.

Review by S. Blackwell:

Sorry, I disagree with the previous review…

The battery just clicks into place, it takes 30 seconds to setup and everything is fine…!

If you are on a budget and can’t stretch to a High Def camera this is the one for you. You can get them for around £180 BUT you will need to buy your memory card seperately… don’t forget. A Sandisk SDHC 8Gb/16Gb class 2 is all you need for standard definition and you can pick them up for £10/£20.

It has many good fuctions like the X78 Enhanced Optical Zoom, Wide Angle Lens (16:9), Face Tracking and Optical Image Stabilisation but with full zoom you will need a tripod in my opinion.

Still camera option is there to save carrying two gadgets around but will never replace a standard digital camera.

Best £180 Standard Def camera on the market…

Review by Mr. Nicholas Wyer:

I was very pleased with this cheap and simple model. Nothing fancy to it, but it does the job all I want it for is to record simple memories with the family, it’s so easy to use my 8 year old uses it. Good value.

Review by Monkwearmouth:

I bought the DCR SR58 thinking it would both shoot video and take photos, thus removing the need to lug around a camcorder and a camera.

For video, it is certainly easy to use, with a great zoom and simple controls. It is compact in size and light to carry, which encourages you to use it. Another plus is compatibility with Apple imovie, so you can just connect to your mac for editing, without using Sony’s software.

The big downside, however, is the performance of the camera function. I printed out some photos and the quality was appalling. I checked the instruction manual only to discover that the camera is 0.3 megapixels! To my mind, this is not fit for purpose. Any camera-phone is better than that. I do not expect top notch quality – 5 meg would have been fine for occasional stills- but Sony have incorporated a joke camera into an otherwise good quality camcorder. Bizarre.

Review by helen b:

HI THERE,

BRILLIANT ZOOM YOU CAN SEE SO FAR AWAY LIKE VIA BINOCULARS BUT MUCH BETTER

VERY LIGHTWEIGHT CAN FIT EASILY TO MED HAND BAG

VERY SIMPLE TO USE JUST PRESS RECORD TO PLAT BACK PLUG INTO TELLY OR COMPUTER

EAST TO SEE YOUR DIFFERENT RECORDING WITH TOUCH SCREEN THUMBNAILS

I LOVE IT ,

ONLY FAULT IS THE LIGHT IS NOT TOO GREAT! BUT I HAVE NOT STUDIED ALL THE EXTRA FEATURES YET SO I AM, SURE I AM NOT USIN TO VERY BEST SETTINGS

GENERALLY FOR THE PRICE I THINK IT IS FANTASTIC VALUE AND EVEN MY PARENTS WHO ARE TOTal technophobe COULD USE IT WELL.

THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO SAY BUT I DO NOT HAVE TIME AS IM OFF TO RECORD SOME MORE SPECIAL MOMENTS WITH THE KUIDS.

OH YES VERY EASY UPLOAD TO THE WEB!! YOU TUBE ETC SHOULD YOU NEED AND LONG LASTING BATTERY!!!

Review by Mr. E. J. Lowe:

This digital camcorder is a great product for the price and spec.

Good points: Comfortable to hold and manipulate. Great quality video images. Good battery life. Easy to use. Robust yet good looking design. Easy to download images/videos using either USB lead or card reader. Video software is easy to use and transfer into slideshows, videos or home made movies.

Not so good points: Photo images are not great quality. Video autofocus struggled in dark conditions. I kept sliding the battery cover open by accident. This is not a major issue, more a minor concern.

In summary this is a great little camcorder that will provide me with hours of fun while watching sports and visiting foreign destinations.

Review by Gooner:

At the price here this camera is a bargain. You can produce great looking films with minimum effort – you don;t need a full understanding of the best lighting to be used and exactly what exposure should be used etc, point and go. But,if you do have an understanding of photography or movie making then you can still use this camera but to even greater effect.

You would have to pay a great deal of money to get this quality in a different camera – a lot of the more expensive equipment barely keeps up with this!

Review by D. TRAYNOR:

I bought this for my son for christmas. The bundle is very good value, there is no zoom and the picture quality is not perfect but for a young child that is no problem.

My son has had hours of fun filming everyone and making his own movies. For the price this is highly recomended.

Review by S. D. Williams:

My youngest son enjoys taking pictures and making films and up until we bought him this item he was using his Psp with a camara attachment.

This is cheap and cheerful but it is great for what we wanted and just the right price to spend on our son.

The camara did break after a couple of weeks BUT the customer service was amazing, efficient and it was repaired and returned in full working order within days.

If you are looking for amazing quality of film then this isn’t for you but its great for budding film makers.

Review by Chris Of The OT:

The Panasonic SD60 HD camcorder is a triumph of modern design – beautifully functional and, well, beautiful to look at.

We bought this for my wife’s birthday and because her brother is getting married next month. She is a keen photographer (see the Canon 450D Digital SLR and reviews, including ours) and wanted, first, full High Definition camcorder but with a good zoom and stills ability – but it must be small and light too! This Panasonic covers all the bases, pretty much.

The unit is amazingly small & light. This was very important but has a knock-on effect on functionality because all the buttons are small. However, after reading (a good portion of) the manual, it quickly becomes intuitive so even my ample digits manage. The view screen is stunning, though direct sunlight washes the image away – but it’s still light-years ahead of other screens we’ve used, giving bright, clear and crisp images.

The video images are superb too, even managing in poor light to deliver watchable footage – but at this price, I was expecting that! The sound is much better than I’d thought it would be, it’s even stereo. The only limiting thing we’ve found so far is the constant `panning too fast’ we keep getting told off for, but that’s easily compensated for (as long as you remember!).

The things I don’t like are:

The recorded video format is specifically Panasonic which means you need to install the supplied software onto you PC to download footage. Very annoying, but the software works very well and it’s easy to use. It takes a long time to copy over videos – perhaps half as long as the original video so a half-hour clip will take 15 minutes or more to copy. (We take the SD card out and copy direct to the laptop.)

The battery will last about 1¼ hours, and takes just over two hours to charge. With a 16GB SD card, this will need re-changing at least once if you want to fill the card which means buying another battery & (presumably) a charger too. We got the Panasonic Accessory Kit for the outrageous price of eighty quid, making this – with the SD card – a half-grand purchase.

Also, as a keen photographer, my wife really misses not having a view finder, not least because the screen is limited in bright sunshine. The stills are okay, but not outstanding.

Still, it gets five stars because it’s so good at what it does. The 25X zoom is surprisingly effective – better than I’d thought – but still lagging behind standard definition camcorders. It remains an amazing technical achievement for Panasonic who seem to be stealing a march on the tech in our house. Maybe half a star can be deducted for the high price – especially for the essential accessories – but it’s still superb.

EDIT (3.5.10):

Having looked into the infuriating editing problem, it seems to be a Microsoft problem(among many others):

`… We are currently looking into the issue you raised. We will be making additional post to this thread as soon as we have more information’ (from the MS Answers site 11.12.09, thread: 6f1340e0-3fa2-4299-a268-f97eb1b68d30 – no answer at time of writing).

The only advice so far is to update all (Panasonic & Windows – particularly Movie Maker) drivers, etc., but the upshot is that Microsoft applications and many other video players and editing programs do NOT recognise or support AVCHD: MTS/M2TS files even though most new cameras record in that format. Unless we spend even more money on new software (!) it means we can’t edit the footage shot with these Panasonic camcorders. Fantastic.

Also, in correcting myself, the file format (M2TS) seems to be an AVCHD standard, not a specific Panasonic one. My mistake!

Review by Monica Worboys:

Easy to use, small, outstanding picture quality, packed with features that just work fuss free, what more can be said about this? There’s a bewildering range of HD camcorders on the market and it’s pretty hard to distinguish which is the right one for you. This Panasonic offered as much, if not more, than the popular Sony models, but has the advantage of using SD cards rather than Sony’s own stick media – a plus for me as we have other devices which use SD cards. It’s also a lot cheaper than the premium Canon models, but certainly holds it’s own in the quality stakes. Bang for buck it’s a great choice. Super happy purchaser.

Review by Nikki:

I bought this to record my Grandsons Christening, and I am completely delighted with it. It looks like a mobile phone, so its really easy to carry around in your handbag or pocket, and its so easy to use. The quality of the picture is excellent, indoors and outside. Altogether a brilliant little piece of equipment.

Review by sg perry:

I’m a technophobe when it comes to video so I was looking for something that was extremely simple to use but that also provided excellent quality clips.

I’d looked at the Flip but as a fan of other Creative products, thought I’d give the Vado a try. And its brilliant.

Once you get the hang of how the controls work, its a no brainer to record a video, play it back and upload it either to your pc or youtube. Just a tip – I couldn’t connect the software to my youtube account (it wouldn’t recognise my account details) but its easy enough to copy the video to the desktop and upload it from there.

Excellent value for money – cheap, looks great and creates high quality clips.

Review by A. Tang:

I was looking for a dedicated Camcorder that was HD, the initial choice was Toshiba Camileo but later opted for the Veho VCC-002 due to price and positive review. The uploaded clips from Youtube for both Toshiba Camileo P10 and Veho VCC-002 are very smilar i.e. low lighting the quality is poor, outside light the HD is very good, but you need to have steady hands.

The physical quality of the camcorder, cables and packaging is very good and professional. Not like the cheap clones you can buy from eBay or the see through plastic flush packaging.

The software function is quite limited.

The battery life is suppose to last 4 hours – depending on usage (that is from Veho techanical support). My one last just over 1 hour 30 mins HD recording and 30 mins playback. I am not sure whether that is a fault with the battery I received. Amazon is sending a replacement so I can confirm later.

Ebay are selling 2 Fuji NP60 1100mAh spare batteries for under £15, so even if you purchase additional spares, the cost will still be cheaper than a branded HD camcorder like Toshiba.

If you are looking for a camcorder that you can use for holiday and a few times a year, then this will be the one. The ability to record in HD (720 and 1080p) and in native video avi format is very good. The only drawback is the battery life (4 hours is good, assuming my battery is faulty), poor low light recording and slight jerking in Full HD recording.

Review by P. Cockshott:

Bought this as an entry in to the world of camcorders and have to say very easy to use picture quality excellent.

Everyone I have showed it to has been impressed with what you get for the money!