Which Canon Video Camera?

[DBrooker]

I have Video Studio 11.5 Plus which I have not yet installed because I don't have a video camera yet - I'm thinking about buying a refurbished Canon Video camera and yes, money is tight - It's been mentioned that I should consider other brands of cameras so feel free to make a recommendation of a reasonbly priced camera of any brand and also that in the near future I should buy the latest version of Video Studio - High def is not a requirement for me - Thanks in advance - DB

[BrianCee]

Why specifically a Canon - there are quite a number of other very good camcorder makers around - you are restricting your chance of finding a bargain if you only look at Canon. I don't see the point of recommending a camcorder to you - how do you know the recommended camera will be available refurbished.

What computer system are you running - VideoStudio 11.5 is quite old and will not run properly on Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8.

[DBrooker]

Brian - Thanks for your input - It's appreciated - I am still running XP but will be having a new computer built in the near future - So based on that I should when ready buy the latest version of Video Studio and based on that please feel free to recommend a reasonbly priced camcorder - DB

[Terfyn]

I agree with Brian. I have the Canon HV20 which is tape based and requires an IEEE 1394 FireWire connection to my PC. I also have a Panasonic HC-V700 which records onto SD cards which can be plugged straight into my PC. The V700 is five years younger than the Canon and, as a result of the extra years of development, performs better in low light and with stability control. Both come with their own PC software and both will download directly into my version of VideoStudio (X5)

My point is - go as new as you can afford. I got VS X5 off Amazon at a very good price. As for the cameras, both are superb but I worry about the Canon which has a mechanical tape drive (as do all cameras using Mini DV tapes) whereas tha V700 is all electronic. (more robust? - I don't know) Both do still photos, in the case of the Canon on to a mini SD card and not the tape and with the Panasonic both video and stills go to the SD card.
Both came with PC software, the Panasonic HDWriter sorts out video and stills easily for storing on the PC. The Canon came with a free version of Pinnacle Studio - I stayed faithfull to Studio from version 5 to version 15 then I saw the light and turned to Corel VideoStudio (chorus of Hallelujah - he is saved!?!) Again both are good editors but VS is the easier one to use - in my opinion.

High Def is becoming the norm for cameras. Go for it and you are starting with high quality raw footage. I record in HD and allow the editor to convert to DVD format. I have the HD raw footage if I go for Blu Ray in future.

So look at what you will need to transfer your video to your PC as well as the camera. I think card or USB are the simplest and I would go for SD as the cards are cheap and easily sourced. You can still get tape based cameras but the manufacturers seem to be providing more card and DVD based units.

[joosuna]

D Brooker
What price range are you looking for, to be a reasonable priced camera ? what is your budget for a cannon camcorder ?
We can narrow it down a bit for you. And do you prefer a mini DV cassette based camcorder or flash-memory drive ?