Camcorder Get

I have a Canon Optura 50 and it seems to be just what the doctor ordered. Image stabilization done in the lens (as opposed to in software, so you get better results), widescreen mode, manual focus...

Cost me in the vicinity of $500 last year, so it's probably cheaper than that now. It does use MiniDV, so if you really don't want to mess with tapes, it might not be the best idea. It is a damn nice camera, though.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I gotta second that one. I'm not sure if my Optura counts as "prosumer" or not, but I've never considered anything other than MiniDV. MiniDV+Final Cut (or, hell, any other NLVE package) is a match made in heaven and the tapes are cheap enough that keeping your stock up isn't really a problem.

Besides, I'd not want to mess with anything auto-burned to an end-user-friendly format right at the start. I like having control over my own DVD bitrates, menus, layout, tracks, etc. I don't know that the DVD camcorders actually do that, but it always seemed to me to be one of those stillborn marketing ideas: "You can film little Billy's soccer game, and then put the DVD right in your player for Grandma and Grandpa to watch!"

Um, no thanks, k. I'll do my own DVDs if it's all the same to you. In fact, I'm going to do my own DVDs even if it isn't all the same to you, Sony, and you can get frelled if you don't like it.

Just two little caveats: A. Final Cut Pro doesn't like some Canon firewire ports and can actually cause a kernel panic. Set it to use "Apple NTSC Firewire Basic" if you're using a Canon DVcam to import. And B. MiniDV tapes should be treated as "write once, read many." Just because you can tape over them doesn't mean you should. I've seen what can happen, and it is ugly. Ugly like the baby in Eraserhead.

There's nowhere I can't reach.