Video camera

My 11 year old son likes making videos, but we only have digital cameras that hold a short video. I don't want a high end camera (who knows what'll happen to it in his hands), but I want something that will work well. I'm new to video cameras, so I don't know what features I should be looking for or avoiding. Any help is much appreciated!

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asked on Jul 22, 2008

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comments and reviews

I LOVE my Flip Video camcorder: http://www.theflip.com/

It's simple, inexpensive (~$130), and takes about an hour of good video. It's been written up in the NY Times, WSJ, and just won a BusinessWeek design award. It's kind of like the ipod of camcorders.

I also have a ~$1000 Sony digital camcorder which is starting to collect dust.

#1 - posted on Jul 23, 2008 (4:26 pm)

The Flip seems like a good choice for a kid (or plenty of other uses). As I understand it, though (I don't have one), it has a couple of serious limitations:
- no removable memory (you are limited to its builtin capacity)
- fixed-focus lens

I have one of the Sanyo Xacti flash-based cameras, which I like a lot. More expensive than the Flip, but I've been very happy with it. Every now and then the video will get a little hiccup but for the most part it works great.

Whatever you do, I advise you against a tape-based camcorder. I assume that your son will want to get his video onto the computer and doing that with a tape-based camcorder takes forever and can be frustrating.

#2 - posted on Jul 25, 2008 (5:51 pm)

thank you both. I went with the flipvideo, which my brother also recommended. My son just used it this evening to tape my younger son's play. It's great!

#3 (reply to #2) - posted on Jul 25, 2008 (7:34 pm)