Panasonic PV-DV401 Mini DV Camcorder

Pros: Lightweight, picture quality, USB, features, free second 8Mb MMC by mail
Cons: Remote is optional, could be cheaper

The Panasonic PV-DV401 MiniDV digital camcorder features a 3” LCD, color viewfinder and PhotoShot still camera mode. It replaces the DV400, improving the optical zoom from 18x to 20x and CCD resolution to 680,000 pixels.

MiniDV...

Pros: 3" LCD, Color Viewfinder, USB connectivity, 0-lux IR mode, size, weight, durability
Cons: Zoom noise in quiet scenes, wide angle not wide enough, no remote

Physical Features
The PV-DV401 is remarkably small and lightweight. I recently took it on a trip to the Alaskan interior (along with my trusty Nikon F4), and it posed no significant weight problems. It easily fits in one hand, and is...

Pros: Great Pictures,Great Sound capture,Great Mini DV Camera!!!!!
Cons: The menu is not very accessable while taping.

What A great camera!I've used many many video cameras,and this is the most top quality camera I've ever used.The piucture clarity is supreme.The sound quality is even better.I really mean this the sound quality is out of this world.Ive taped concerts...

Pros: overall a good camera for the $
Cons: software incompatible with windows xp

I bought my camera at Sam's Club for $599 in August 2002... seemingly a good price. The camera, so far, has been up to my expectations. It's easy to use, and has some real nice features compared to my 9 year old Hitachi. The included battery doesnt...

Pros: Light, small, lots of features.
Cons: No light. No remote.

This is really a great camera for the price. I paid around $500 a couple of years ago for it and I have zero complaints. It has tons of cool features, like the memory card, the still photos, the zoom, the especially large LCD viewer, but the thing I like best is how easy it is to edit video with it. You need a Firewire card for sure, but beyond that you are good to go. If you're running Windows XP, just plug it in and you're away. The camera is just so flexible in so many ways. I can't describe all of the cool things you can do with it, it's got infra-red for nighttime viewing, the LCD totally does a 180 degree inversion so you can see stand in front of the camera and see what it sees (the image also inverts so everything is right-side up) it's got a lot of little cool ideas like being able to take a digital snapshot with accompanying sound bite. It's just been really well thought out. A remote control would have been nice, but it's got tons of other things to make up for it.