Associate
NOTE: I'm in the USA at the moment so these links are in $USD
I've been making travel videos for YouTube for a while using a Canon G7X compact, which is a great camera, but now I also have a GoPro MAX which I've decided is decent enough for 'selfie' shots and wide-angle establishing shots (in addition to the 360º features), so I'm thinking swapping my G7X for a camcorder with a ~40X zoom would enable me to cover the full range of shots, adding some nice telephoto closeups for B-roll footage and inserts.
I used to own a Sony Handycam back in the day, but moved away to compact cameras with flip-up screens when I started vlogging, so now looking to move back to camcorders is pretty daunting. I'm not quite at the point where I can spend $400+ to move up to 4K quality, but I'm intrigued by some of the ~$200 cameras from the likes of Canon, Sony and Panasonic. Aside from a decent zoom, image stabilisation and good user interface, image quality is definitely a big sticking point for me, especially coming from the reasonably good G7X images. I guess my question is, are all ~$200 camcorders created equal, or is one brand more of a standout than others? Here's the cameras I'm looking at currently:
Note: the Vixia HF W10 was a last minute addition as I learned it's waterproof which could be useful for travelling, although I realise it means no swappable battery pack....but they say it runs for almost 5hrs on a charge so that shouldn't be a problem if accurate.
The only other feature I would like as a perk would be a built-in light, or even IR night vision, though I don't think cameras at this price point have the latter. A few of these have built-in lights, but my other concern is that no camcorder will have as good low-light as my G7X - is that a valid concern?
Anyway, I'm awash in a sea of choices here so any advice would be much appreciated
I've been making travel videos for YouTube for a while using a Canon G7X compact, which is a great camera, but now I also have a GoPro MAX which I've decided is decent enough for 'selfie' shots and wide-angle establishing shots (in addition to the 360º features), so I'm thinking swapping my G7X for a camcorder with a ~40X zoom would enable me to cover the full range of shots, adding some nice telephoto closeups for B-roll footage and inserts.
I used to own a Sony Handycam back in the day, but moved away to compact cameras with flip-up screens when I started vlogging, so now looking to move back to camcorders is pretty daunting. I'm not quite at the point where I can spend $400+ to move up to 4K quality, but I'm intrigued by some of the ~$200 cameras from the likes of Canon, Sony and Panasonic. Aside from a decent zoom, image stabilisation and good user interface, image quality is definitely a big sticking point for me, especially coming from the reasonably good G7X images. I guess my question is, are all ~$200 camcorders created equal, or is one brand more of a standout than others? Here's the cameras I'm looking at currently:
Note: the Vixia HF W10 was a last minute addition as I learned it's waterproof which could be useful for travelling, although I realise it means no swappable battery pack....but they say it runs for almost 5hrs on a charge so that shouldn't be a problem if accurate.
The only other feature I would like as a perk would be a built-in light, or even IR night vision, though I don't think cameras at this price point have the latter. A few of these have built-in lights, but my other concern is that no camcorder will have as good low-light as my G7X - is that a valid concern?
Anyway, I'm awash in a sea of choices here so any advice would be much appreciated
