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I'm looking for a video camera but with all the choices out there I'm having trouble choosing. Anybody have experience with good video cameras? Doesn't necessarily have to be HD but there seems to be a lot of lower priced HD cameras for around $500 and if the video quality is that much better then that seems to be the way to go. Thanks for the help!

What do you want it for? If you are looking for basic video to remember your trips, something like this would be fine:

http://www.amazon.com/Flip-Ultra-Camcor ... B000V1MLBE

I own this and like it. Very basic, but great video and super-simple to use.

Or, a point-and-shoot camera with video capability. I have owned some of those before and they worked well.

Check out the Sanyo (recently bought by Panasonic) Xacti line http://sanyo.com/xacti/english/

They have a couple different form factors, available in HD, and one model is waterproof. They also have a model with 30x optical zoom... But I'm not sure if I believe that. $200 to $500 price range depending on the model. Also it claims they shoot 10.0 MP pictures. Not sure how good the sensor or anything is, but that is still a high number for a video camera.

I was going to get one last spring, but opted for a pretty nice Point and Shoot instead.

some point and shot cameras also take pretty nice HD videos, like the Canon Powershot SD960 or so. Just look in some camera-forums. There are also sample videos on youtube that were recorded with point and shoot's. Quite impressive quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv5w9f8JIGA

Canon

I have had 2 still cameras with video capability. The Canon S5iS does not shoot HD but has two microphones on the front of the camera body so the sound is good and in stereo. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 shoots 720i HD which looks great on my LCD flat but the single microphone is on the top of the camera body so the sound isn't great (it really picks up wind noise) and I tend to cover it with my finger. Having a single camera for stills and video reduces weight but, to me, sound quality is as important as the video quality.

I have the option of getting a free video camera with my credit card reward points... does anyone have any experience with any of these?

Samsung R10

Sony Hard Disk Drive Camcorder 60GB

JVC Everio-S Ultra-Slim

Canon FS21 HD Camcorder

Panasonic SD/SDHC Digital Camcorder

Canon Vixia HF20 HD Camcorder


I'm just researching them now, but if anyone has any experience with them, it would be great to hear about!

GoPro?

http://www.goprocamera.com/products

If I were to buy a camera these days, it would definitely be HD. My eyes can't get used to regular video anymore

I'm starting to lean towards the Canon FS21...

If I were to buy a camera, I would definitely get a helmet-mounted one, POV, GoPro or HDContour...