I am needing to purchase a new video camera and wanted to get some recommendations from all of you traveling fodorites! I've been using a VHC film pack kind for many years and now need to take a step up to the new advances that have been made in the cameras. I do want something that is not too complicated to use.

Please advise as soon as you can for I need one very soon. Thanks.

The Flip Ultra is super easy, light, tiny (a bit migger than a pack of cards) and shoots very good quality if you have good light. It's also cheap - around $150.

TV reporters here have even filed entire stories using it. We shot some birthday greetings which were included in a compilation and ours were by far the best quality-wise, better that others using far more expensive, larger cameras. We also bought one for my dad, and if he can use it anyone can!

It plugs into a USB port on your computer and the software to transfer the videos to your drive downloads automatically.

The one thing that isn't the greatest is the audio, because the built-in mic will pick up audio commentary from the shooter more clearly than the subject (the mic must be in the back) but if the subjects speak up properly it's not a huge issue.

Boy, a lot depends on you, your budget and your desires.

If you want great quality, get a 3ccd.

Mini-DV tape will have higher quality than a hard-drive or card.

You can buy a very good video camera for under $1,000. A decent one for under $300.

Stick with name brands.

While I normally use an older Sony 3ccd, I took some fairly good shots with a very small Samsung.

What Dave says about the mdv tape giving better quality than a hard-drive or card. I work in TV and thus am normally dealing with professional broadcast-level equipment... but we'd try to avoid mini dv tape wherever possible.

Thanks! I'm just wondering if camcorders with a Hard Drive features are recommended?

When video is saved to miniDV, it is in its raw format. When saved to hard drive or card it is compressed. Thus, the quality of tape is higher than the other methods.