ok, what's the best digital camera i can get for 600 to 800 bucks right now to shoot my first doc. project ?

please, any help is appreciated.

I think you can get a Sony TRV25 for about that price, or there may still be some new TRV18's available. For quite awhile the TRV18 was about the best quality you could get for the price. Newer models add bells & whistles, but actual video quality isn't all that much different, from what I've seen. Also, Panasonic has one or two models in that price range, but I don't know anything bout them personally. There's also the Canon ZR series, but when they came out with the newer models, they made the chip smaller.

Yeah, a TRV25 should be good, even a PV-DV852---if you want to spend about $1000 US.

If you can find a Frys near you, I think both the TRV27 and the ZR50 can be had for under 800... pros and cons for both, so go try em out.