I am in the market for a camcorder and I would like some input on this unit before I make this purchase. I am planning on making a purchase by tomorrow at the latest. I know most people I've talked to say "Just buy a Sony" as people buy Toyota Camry's over say a Nissan Maxima. There's nothing wrong with a Sony or a Camry for that matter. I just like to know what all of my options are. While spending time at a couple of retail stores those Sony's just flew off of the shelves while I was comparing them. I have NOT been able to play with the SDR-H18. I played with a DVD version and really liked how stable it was at full optical zoom compared to the JVC and some of the Sony's. Thanks in advance.

Dave

i haven't had the chance to play with that model but i much prefer the panasonic's over the sonys. this is personal preference but i feel that the quality of the camera for the price is usually better

I haven't seen the S18, but the S20 has some pretty nice stats. We have four of the MiniDV, 3 CCD GS180's and the video looks great. The only problem so far has been the headset connector giving out after awhile . The cameras are being used by 180 high school students a day, so the abuse might have something to do with it, although they are kept in pelican cases. The Panasonic chipsets and lens combos do a great job, that being said, the HD cams are recording in MPEG-2 format. The image information is compressed more than the regular MiniDV format, sacrificing some of the color and definition. Most people won't even notice the difference. If you'll want to show your work without the camera, you'll need a computer, software and a DVD burner to complete your project and be able to master it onto something other folks can see.

Good luck with whatever decision you make, its hard to go wrong with either Sony or Panasonic.

Thanks for the input. I really wanted some hands on time with the Sony that was coming out as it had 40x optical zoom. That model did not come out in time for our trip. I am very happy with my decision on picking up the Panasonic SDR-H18. The zoom on the Panasonic is great IMO. Even though it has 32x optical you can still go up to about 50x before you start getting kind of grainy. The camera works better than I expected in low light as well. To me the video looks crisp. I have never used a camcorder let alone own one so I guess I fall into the most people catagory :lol: I NEVER thought I'd own one since I don't fancy seeing myself on video. I am glad we got it. We ended up buying 2 extra extended batteries and we got a free carrying case and tripod because my wife asked. I don't believe they were going to volunteer that info. The case my mom got for me just before we went on our trip worked out really great. All of my camera gear, cell phone car chargers, lens cleaning kit, cigarette lighter to US as outlet adapter (kept everything charged) and usb 80GB HD that we had to get as we were rapidily running out of storage space. I charged each of the 3 batteries 3 times and my D50 batteries 2 times and we also nearly filled up the 80GB HD :eek: Here is a video of a ride I took in a GT3 Cup car while in New Zealand. Sorry for the shake as there was no camera mount in the car. It also appears that the host compressed the video as well. The video looked much better on my buddy's large screen TV :(


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4831468364459189474&hl=en

Dave