A friend of mine wants recommendations on a camcorder to get for hunting expeditions. They are not making documentaries or anything serious, but want to document their outings and maybe try out some light editing.

I wondered if anyone here can recommend a consumer/small prosumer level camcorder that's HD, records to preferably flash media for durability and lack of moving parts, but maybe DVD-R or hard drive, and is at least somewhat dust/water-resistant. The smaller, the better, so that it can be stowed away in a relatively small space, yet not so small that relatively steady footage is impossible to get. He doesn't want to carry anything the size of a pd170.

Sounds like a pipe-dream, but I imagine there's a camera somewhere that's close to that. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Dan

Dan,


A friend of mine shoots hunting stuff for his own pleasure with this.

JVC | GZ-HD30E Everio High Definition 'PAL' Camcorder | GZ-HD30E (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/585367-REG/JVC_GZ_HD30E_GZ_HD30E_Everio_High_Definition.html)


He gets some pretty nice footage for home video!!! He uses it almost exclusively on auto focus.

I really think any of these would do what your friend would like.

I would also look at sony.

I'm currently filming a small online hunting show. We use a Canon GL2 until I can afford to move up to a HD camera.

I'd take a look at the Panasonic HMC-40…

Learn about Panasonic's AG-HMC40 (http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=361001&catGroupId=112502&surfModel=AG-HMC40&displayTab=O)

It may be a little larger than you're looking for, but I think it would fit your situation just about perfectly.