Cam Help

Sorry............... another one of these threads.

Been looking for a few weeks now but I just need a few recommendations.

All I'm looking for is a camcorder that's the best as possible in low light, as best as possible video quality and Mini DV, that's all I'm looking for really, I can't go over £700, max, which is about $1400.

So what could you guys recommend for that price??

I found these two:
Sony DCR - HC96
Panasonic PV - GS500

But I dunno if there what I need, I was close to getting the Panasonic a while ago, but somebody said it was rather bad in low light??
I know pretty much any Mini DV which is a 3CCD will be what I need, it's just the low quality thing.... I really need the best as possible + normal firewire slots and whatnot..... sound or other add-ons arn't really much of a problem.

Please help.

stright up VX man...cant get nothin better than a VX..even if its a VX1000...ebay it up..its worth every cent, if you like manual controlls and custom shit

you cant have a cam thread here without the word ''vx''

Was actually looking at those, there was a few selling the last time I looked on eBay aswell.... which was months ago.

Is there a huge difference between a VX1000 and VX21000, or 2000? either.

can't playback on 1000, Im pretty sure

I like my GL2...quite nice when there is very little light

Sony is king of consumer cameras, especially in low light performance. I guarantee you that.

Whatever you get, make sure it's a sony....and if you care about low light performance...get something with a 1/3rd inch or 1/4th inch CCD AKA dont get some uber small Sony cam.

I'm seriously considering getting a Sony DCR-VX2100 soon. From all that I've read online it seems like a very good model, and my current camera is.... not that great (DCR-HC36). I'm just wondering if it would be worth the extra $700 to go High-Def and get the HDR-FX1. Anybody here own a VX2100?

Yeah, Id recommend the GL2 [XM2], 3CCD and performs really well in low light. I bought a light for it too which is awesome.

Whats the rrp of the GL2/XM2??

I'm thinking of getting it off eBay, found a few good deals really.
There seems to be tons of 3CCD Sony's on there too.... too much choice, no idea what to get.

Any other random info...?? Haha.

Can somebody recommend me a cam like that??? Haha.

I need one bad, in the next day or so, found a ton of reviews, but it's just finding them in shops, in the UK, well online really.... but most of them don't seem to be selling here, and I need a PAL version and what have you.

Only thing I can find is that DCR - HC96...... it's 3CCD soo, but heh, looks like an upgrade of my older one, with a 3CCD in it.

As you know, I'm pretty much in the same situation. Check out this camera, I know it's JVC, but for the price and the specs I reckon it's a pretty good deal. I'm seriously thinking about getting it;
JVC GR-X5
The only thing that puts me off is the design, but hey, atleast it looks interesting.

With this cam, you're looking at 1/4.5 per CCD, with the GS500 you're looking at 1/4.7 but the JVC is probably going to cost you heaps less.

btw, the DC-HC96 isn't a 3CCD cam, it just has one big 1/3 chip.

I would also like to point out that 3ccd ins't necassarily better when it comes to lower/middle of the range 'consumer cams', some people argue that the ones with a bigger single ccd chip perform better under low light conditions and depending on the chip sizes within the 3ccd cams, single chips can often perform equally as good in all light conditions.

In other words, the sony looks like a good option when comparing it to the GS500 (don't even bother looking at the GS300....terrible low light shots) especially when considering prices. The quality of the two cams is likely to be very similiar but if decent manual control is what you're after then go the panasonic for sure, the sony fails badly in this department.

Yeah, I read both of these reviews yesterday:
GS500
HC96

Camcorderinfo really is a handful though, by the end you don't know much different about the cams.
Caminfo says I should go with the Panasonic, as Cnet says the HC96, caminfo says the Panasonic performs better in lowlight, Cnet says the HC96.

GS500 @ Cnet
HC96 @ Cnet

I think I'm safe with both, might just go for the Panasonic though, the HC96 looks like a upgrade or two from my other cam, with the same design.

Just to point out, that HC 96 isnt 3ccd? Should have one 1/3 chip. 1/3chip is big though, so should be good on lowlight.