Camcorder help

[JackD201]

Hi guys,

The kids are at that age where they've got a lot of programs and performances. Typically, I take the stills and the wife takes the video. My wife was away so I asked my eldest to take over video duty for the little guy's playlet. I was a bit shocked when I hear her asking the nanny where the blank TAPES were Turns out I hadn't gotten a new Camcorder in years except for a couple of waterproof Sanyos with poor "terrestrial" video quality for snorkeling. The wifey hadn't asked for one.

I don't want to take videos with a DSLR so tempting as he D800 may be, I would like to keep the separation of duties as is. I'd like a camcorder that is light so a light pan head tripod can be used. Most of its use will be in darkened small or medium sized auditoriums so low light capability is a must and zoom not a big issue. Also looking for a unit that has good auto white balance. Storage card type not an issue either.

I know what I want but don't know where to start. I would appreciate all advice. Budget is 2k max.

[amirm]

I went shopping for a unit last year and bought the panasonic. It was the only one that did progressive capture at 1080p then. Alas, these technologies change fast so there are probably newer units. A very good resource is this site: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

The things to look for are high bitrates for encoding. When light drops, the sensor noise goes up. In the old days of analog, that is all you got. Now you get compression artifacts on top of noise which makes for an ugly picture.

Prices are well under $1,000 unless you want interchangeable lenses and such.

[JackD201]

Thanks Amir. Looking at that site and similar ones, it looks like the Canon would be my choice if I were to be the one using it. The Panasonic and Sony look great for the wife who doesn't bother with features. I'll keep on looking around