Small, flash memory HD cam... HELP!!!

TexPhotog

Howdy fellow DGrinners... (mods, please feel free to move this thread to the correct location in case I posted it in the wrong place...)

I am taking a trip to Egypt/Jordan in October and I am very limited on what I can take with me as far as gear/luggage.

I am already taking my Nikon gear, but I also wanted to take a video camera... unfortunately for me, my video camera is a Sony PD-170... so it's kind of bulky for me to carry around...

I am looking into what all the kids seem to be using for video blogs and such, which is more likely than not what I also want to use the camera for...

The Flip HD camera... I've looked at the specs and it just doesn't do it for me...

Any other thoughts on other similar type of cameras???

Again, I'm not looking to carry something big, and I'm thinking that a flash memory based camera would do the trick, especially because of the no moving parts to get damaged w/the sand...

Any thoughts and or advice for me??? :scratch :dunno :scratch

Thank you in advance...

wellman

TexPhotog wrote:

Howdy fellow DGrinners... (mods, please feel free to move this thread to the correct location in case I posted it in the wrong place...)

I am taking a trip to Egypt/Jordan in October and I am very limited on what I can take with me as far as gear/luggage.

I am already taking my Nikon gear, but I also wanted to take a video camera... unfortunately for me, my video camera is a Sony PD-170... so it's kind of bulky for me to carry around...

I am looking into what all the kids seem to be using for video blogs and such, which is more likely than not what I also want to use the camera for...

The Flip HD camera... I've looked at the specs and it just doesn't do it for me...

Any other thoughts on other similar type of cameras???

Again, I'm not looking to carry something big, and I'm thinking that a flash memory based camera would do the trick, especially because of the no moving parts to get damaged w/the sand...

Any thoughts and or advice for me???

Thank you in advance...

Have you looked at the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10? It shoots 720p to an SD card, and it has a 5x optical zoom. The candybar cams don't have optical zoom. I don't have one of these, but I will...

Pupator

wellman wrote:

Have you looked at the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10? It shoots 720p to an SD card, and it has a 5x optical zoom. The candybar cams don't have optical zoom. I don't have one of these, but I will...

Look at the Sony HDR-CX100. This isn't the form factor of those tiny cams, but the picture quality is so much better. Also, I held one in my hand a few weeks ago and was amazed at just how small it is for a real HD Camcorder.

Amazon sells it for $445 and it's on my "get very soon" list.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HDR-CX100-ACVHDHD-Camcorder-Shutter/dp/B001QWIH4M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247487232&sr=8-2

BeachBill

I would suggest leaving the Nikon gear at home and just take the very nice Canon Powershot SX1 IS... it shoots 10mp RAW stills and does very impressive 1080p full HD video. 20x optical zoom (which gives you 28-560mm in 35mm).

I'm still getting the hang of mine, but I've posted some videos I shot last weekend at http://gallery.primarycolors.com/gallery/7380110_Aw3ZP and was impressed with it's nice handling of the very loud concert sound (I expected the audio in all of these videos to be distorted).

Photos from the camera and quite nice as well...