Newbie here needing some advise on getting a new camera

[sparky30-06]

Hi everyone and let me thank you before hand for any and all advice. I am looking into getting a new video camera. seeing that my old video 8 is 10 years old and doesn't take clear video i think it's time to update. i am looking for a good camera in the $750 range. it will be used in alot of low light situation that will have bright lights in them. i plan on shooting alot of video at drag races and mainly at night. alot of the tracks are not the best light places but the cars turn out ok when they leave and the flames shoot out the exhaust BUT i will be shooting alot of jets. And a little background on them basically if anyone has seen a military fighter jet take off from a carrier at night with the afterburner flame coming out the back side of the plane. well take that motor and strap 4 wheels to it and a a guy crazy enough to be called a driver to steer it and you get jet drag racers. now they do put on a big fire show befor they leave. the other weekend a buddy let me use his sony and it took ok pics but it wasn't clear and the darn thing was just too small and i was very shakey with it. now i'm sure a tripod or monopod would help but the pic quality just wasn't there. oh and also one other thing it needs to have a good mic that can handle loud high pitch sound. the sony handled it but one of the other guys shooting his mic in the camera died. some any suggestions would be greatly apreciated. thanks again, sparky

[MJS]

I would suggest looking for a MiniDV camera from one of the majors with two important features.1. Some type of manual focus and exposure control and 2., one that will allow manual focus withouit resorting to the touch screen. Most autofocus systems rely on a certain amount of contrast within the sensor area to achieve good focus lock. That could be difficult with a moving target and the high contrast of a dark background and the bright lights of the flames etc. As far as a mic, you can always go with an external unit. Do some research and look for one that can handle high pressure levels. You'll need a shotgun mic that will narrow the pickup field without boosting the gain all that much. You can always call the pro's up at B&H and speak with the camera and pro-audio guys. I am partial to the Audio Technica AT835B and AT815 series. Good for me, but they might put you over your budget. If you go the external mic route, make sure that you get a camera that has an external mic jack. Many of the new cameras don't have them. If you can't get full manual exposure control, see if it has a sports setting, it should set the highest possible shutter speed for the lighting conditions and then figure the aperture. Don't forget the tripod with a fluid head to keep the panning and tilting nice and smooth.

Good Luck