Recommendation please

[AlexW]

Could anyone please recommend a digital video camera?
I am by no means a professional in this sense, but I would like a decent one.
What I am looking for is at least 20x optical zoom and high hundreds in digital zoom.
I would like to be able to record in the low lighting or even at night.
Taking pictures with it is not that important, but I would like that option as well, possibly on a flash drive?
What I am really concerned about is transferring the video to a computer. It doesn't need to be a simple as a mini DVD, but I don't want the audio and video to be off. I have had issues with that in the past.
I was looking at the Sony DCR-HC21 Mini DV Camcorder. Any thought about that or something different?

[Skyman]

why do you need such a large zoom ? anything over about 10x gets very hard to hold steady, and with the digital zoom the picture degrades markedly so that anything over 40 is basically unwatchable. there are several brands with 20x optical zooms with optical images stabilisers, this is going to give you the best results. i would be looking at panasonic and jvc, canon have stabilised cameras as well, but the models with optical image stabilisation are only up to 14x zoom. having a stabilised lens will also help you in night and low light shooting. basically thought for the low light stuff, test the camera.

[st_]

any 3ccd camcorder would be great for you in terms of highest quality. Panasonic have some nice ones. www.panasonic.com - NV-GS400, NV-GS250, NV-GS150, NV-GS75, or www.sony.com Sony DCR-HC1000

DCR-HC21 - yeah it looks all right for home videos nice low price as well, it all comes down to how much money your willing to spend...

but don’t be impressed by the Digital zoom: 800x - its ridiculously bad quality , at 72X digital zoom starts to get choppy/grainy/blurry then at 360X its incomprehensible infact as skyman said 40X is almost incomprehensible. Its just a marketing thing to trick consumers.

If you want to transfer to computer with mini dv you need a firewire cable and card and software to import with. i dont know how much money you have but top range would be premeire pro at about $700odd, or you can get premiere 6 LE for about $100, there are even free ones on the net try www.download.com

have a look at this

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....63797&tc=photo

im refering to the Optics 2x Telephoto Lens - you could stick one of these on a 10X zoom camera to get 20x zoom....

[MJS]

All great informaiton so far. Stay away from using the digital zoom unless necessry. It really does sacrifice the quality of the image. I am using sony 2x auxiliary and .65 wide angle adapters on my personal DCR-TRV22 and love the quality that I am getting. They are definitely better than the digital zoom.

Good luck with your decision.