JoeyF Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Over the past few months, I've accrued about $300 worth of Best Buy gift cards, and I'm considering buying a camcorder. However, I'm debating between getting a HD or a SD camcorder. HD camcorders obviously shoot in HD, so I'd get a much better picture. However, they tend to have a very limited zoom range (about 12x at most for my price range). SD camcorders, however, offer anywhere between 50x and 72x optical zoom, but obviously only shoot in SD. I'm looking for a general-use camcorder. Sometimes I'll use it in low-light, sometimes I'll use it at a distance, sometimes I'll use it for fast-paced action, etc. So would it be better to get a HD camcorder with little zoom power, or a SD camcorder with a lot of zoom power? Here are some of the ones I'm considering: HD: Insignia DV111080F; Toshiba H30 SD: Canon FS31; Panasonic SDR-H85K; Samsung SMX-F43BN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjordan2001 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Depends how far you want to zoom, I have an HD camcorder with about 10-12x optical and I can get focused in on a person about 30 feet away. If you want more than that, I'd say go with an SD. For overall picture quality, HD camcorders are much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted January 8, 2011 Veteran Share Posted January 8, 2011 Just get an HD camcorder. It's beyond me why anyone would need such a huge zoom for regular use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argote Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I'd get an HD Camcorder such as this: http://www.bestbuy.c...0&skuId=9751926 1080p and Optical Image Stabilization Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerm Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I'd like to make a stand against super long zooms on amateur camcorders. Have you ever seen 'home footage' which includes zooming that looked good? Missed focus, missed the shot completely, shakey, slow zoom, etc. Stick to HD and don't zoom, it will look many times better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 yeah, most people with high zoom tend to zoom in way to much ruining the picture, you lose the overview, the object moves to fast and keeps dropping our of picture, quality issues with zoom lenses (distortions at near and far range, any lens works optimally at a varying mid range) go with HD. you'll hardly ever use the zoom, certainly not that much of it, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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