Bought a new camcorder today - Christmas Radio/Music/Videos/etc. Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
Bought a new JVC GZ-HD7U Everio HD Camcorder today. I think I got a very good deal.
5 Megapixel 3CCD, 60GB Hard Disk Drive, 1920x1080 High Definition Camcorder, 10x Optical Zoom, Optical Image Stabilization, SD Card slot and external microphone jack, Fujinon professional optical zoom lens
List was $1500. Marked on sale as $999. I found several references on the internet with pricing in 600s so I asked what they could do and they came back with $675. I almost feel like I stole it. I have 10 days to decide if I keep it or I can take it back for a full refund. The last time I bough a camcorder was 1990 so I am a novice at this.
Got it at H H Gregg. I don't normally look for stuff there, but it was right across the street from my local Office Max where I was looking for some office stuff so I stopped in and got lucky.
Play with it some and be sure you like the way the image stabilization works. I have no idea how credible it is, but I saw a couple of people claiming that the IS was so poorly implemented that it you got better results with it turned off.. Of course, from what I remember, you got a good enough price on that to be worth it just for the choice of the fold out screen or viewfinder. The lower model does not have a viewfinder..
Having read about the IS issue, and there still having been a substantial price difference when I bought mine, I got the one a step down from that. I found that on my home show I did not even have to take it out of auto to get pretty good results.. A different show I recorded with it did have places it went dark enough that the focus or aperture drifted.
I bought one in December to video my lights. I did see a review that wasn't impressed with the stabilization. I have not used it with out a tripod so I can't give you a review on that. It does have the ability to use a lot of manual controls for night time lighting videos.
Thanks for the feedback. I was aware that a number of folks have disliked the image stabilization function which made me ask about return rights before I jumped in. I only have plans to video lights and model trains so most likely IS will not be a big issue for me. One of my deal breakers was that I wanted a camera with an external microphone jack. I was willing to buy less (and cheaper) than a HD camcorder if it had a jack, but those type of cameras seem to be almost non-existent. The price I got for this HD camera was just to good to pass up and all the comments that I have found on PC regarding cameras indicated that HD and a 3CCD image were very good things to have for videoing lights. Now if I came just make my lights worthy of capturing and posting I will have accomplished one of my goals.
Don, I watched all your videos and enjoyed them all. I have some questions about your display, but will PM you rather than hijack this thread.
Wow! Don, your display is incredible. Gymnasium, please feel free to hijack your own thread or start a new so we can all get some insight on Don's display.
I don't know how a video could look any better than that !
Now I need one of those!!!
Note that Don has his video posted on vimeo.com. I have read in other posts that vimeo gets you a better quality viewing than youtube.com if you are using a high def camcorder. But in any case I agree that Don has done an incredible job on his display and his videos.
