Camcorder Advice, £200 budget. External sound recording?

[Pet Troll]

Hi all,

I am looking to get a camcorder but I know nothing about what I am looking for so could do with some help from anyone who knows a bit more then I do about them!

I have a roughly £200 budget, this is slightly flexible and not a target.

I think 1080p HD is a must in this day and age.

I would like a camera that supports external sound recording so I have the option to plug in a decent microphone to pick up audio (I plan to use this to capture video footage of some music concerts). I don't know if this is even possible though!

Any pointers or suggestions?

[sgrimshaw]

Plenty of choice in that price area, but I suspect you will struggle to find many (any?) that offer the chance of an external mic.

[Zad]

I believe you can get relatively inexpensive record-to-SD-card machines (30 quid or so), which might be a good option in your circumstances. I don't know enough about the market to suggest a specific brand or model unfortunately.

[cqueen]

I was looking for the same thing a few months ago. It's really hard to find something with an external mic jack for £cheap.

But I got a Panasonic HDC-SD90, full HD what not with ext-mic for £350 from John Lewis. Got the actual mic from maplin for about £20. Works really well.

[Pet Troll]

Thanks for the advice, the SD90 you recommended is about £550 on amazon, did you buy it on offer at john lewis?

I bought a Sony CX190 to see if it was any good, even though it doesn't have an external mic. I have used it to record one gig and it was sh!te, video quality is ok but the sound quality is awful so I have confirmed my thought that an external mic is a necessity!

So the Sony will be sold on or returned for a refund, still on the hunt for a decent HD camcorder with external mic compatibility. I could probably go to about £300 or £350 but the cheaper the better really, especially as I will have to purchase a couple of nice microphones as well!

[Pet Troll]

Still looking for a decent camcorder, but I have decided to up the budget to around £500 - £600.

If anyone has any ideas please let me know as I haven't a clue what I am looking at!

The Panasonic x900 has caught my eye, it seems to have an external mic port as well. There is an x900M as well but I cant spot what you get for the extra £200 over the x900!

[Pet Troll]

Just to put a closure on this thread, I ended up buying a Panasonic HS900 which blew the budget by MILES but I am extremely happy with the sound quality of the inbuilt mic, it also has a 2.5mm jack socket for use with an external mic.

The video quality is very impressive too, all round a great camera that is great to use with the built in HDD. I would recommend it for anyone looking to spend around £850 on a camcorder.