Hey there from near Louisville, KY
 

Hi all, I'm from Taylorsville, KY and my wife and I are expecting our first child, due June 4th. I just bought a Canon Vixia HF G20 camcorder with plans to (obviously) record our daughter's birth and life thereafter. I haven't purchased a camcorder since a Sony mini DV from several years ago and have noticed a lot of things have changed and hope to learn some things from this forum. Thanks for having me!

Re: Hey there from near Louisville, KY
 

Welcome Matt. That's about the best use you can put your video cam to. I've been recording my grand kids, the 5yr old from a week after she was born.
She has a 3yr and a 2yr old brother now and they're all on the DVDs, I've just started No. 5.

Here's how I do it. Obviously birthdays and family outings are best, but about every 2 weeks I record just 2-3 minutes at their house, starting off by saying the date, time and location on the camera mic. I try to get them talking and demonstrating to the camera. I've found any longer than 3 mins can be boring and each DVD gets to be too much. Amazingly even the 2yr old knows what the cam is doing, they take it all in their stride.
It's handheld and I spend a lot of time down at their level and you can get some funny stuff.

Playing DVD One is wonderful even now, all the family get copies. I'd pay serious money to have some video of my childhood to show their mother.

At some point you should say on camera, 'alright you smart kids watching, please transfer this DVD to whatever the latest technology is,
so your grandkids can watch you growing up :)

Cheers.

Re: Hey there from near Louisville, KY
 

Sounds like some great advice, Allan, thanks!

Re: Hey there from near Louisville, KY
 

Having said hi to another Paul, i should certainly say Hi to another Wood!

Sound advice from Allan there, sadly I have not managed to keep up with technology, and have lost some old Hi8 tapes with my kids on them.
Welcome to a world of information! Enjoy!