Bomber's Camcorder err... Corner

Elv asked a while ago about camcorders. I've long coveted the idea of buying one of these and becoming some sort of guerrilla film maker and becoming famous, or something. Lack fo cinematic talent has worked wonders as a cautionary influence so all I've done is dribbled and never bought. From my experience dribbling one thing is clear; camcorders these days are the nuts. Used to be if you wanted one that didn't need a shoulder strap you'd have to pay 2000 USD+. Nowadays it's more like 400. What this means to me is that you need to go for the geek factor as, at these prices, you can afford the top of the range. Elv mate, I assume you want the following from your camcorder;

• Small
• Good quality image
• Cool looking
• Bragging rights

theer's only one choice, a compact 3CCD camcorder. For the uninitiated, most camcorders record all colours onto one sensor (CCD) a 3CCD model splits the light into Red Green and Blue and records them separately. Colour saturation and definition are (supposed to be) greatly improved and all Pro video camera have this, which adds legitimacy to the pose factor. Most importantly; they have "3CCD" writen in big silver letters on the side, which looks cool. You might ask "why not buy a normal one and just put a 3CCD sticker on it?" Well, you could but that would be like owniong a Beemer 316M, now wouldn't it. Again, 5 years back you needed a truck (and a mortgage) to carry one of these babies round in and, cool as they make you look, the back ache might make you question the trade-off. Nowadays, you can (almost) fit one in your pocket and they can be had for less than a grand.

As for hands-on advice, I can't really give you any as, well, I haven't got one. However, CNET have several and they review them here. They recommend the Panasonic PV-GS250 at 700-1,000 USD street but for bragging rights, it's got to be the JVC Everio GZ-MC500. First off, JVC is a cool brand. Don't know why, it just is. Second, the camera itself looks cool and finally it doesn't take a tape but writes direct to a hard drive, making it unique and therefore currently unbeatable in the bragging rights stakes. The cost is higher (around 1,500 USD) but I rekon that's a small price to pay for this much cool.

The boss has invited us out to dimsum today, so gadget shopping in the Wan Chai CC is off. No worries as I'm cutting out early and off to bangkok for a weekend of sex shows catching up with friends.

Bomber out