Currently I have a Canon SD700IS. It's a great camera and has good video recording quality(albeit mono low quality sound). However, it doesn't support SDHC, and it records in MJPEG, which takes a lot of space.
I'm looking for a cheap video recording device. I was looking at camcorders. Alas most HDD camcorders are way above my budget. There are cheaper flash-based camcorders, but from the reviews I read, their quality is not far from a good digicam (mostly they all use the same CCD).
Here's my preferred requirements:
1. Price: around $200, maybe cheaper. I don't want my SD700IS to be obsolete. It's still an excellent digital camera. If the price is creeping up to $300, I might as well get the SD850IS/870IS.
2. Uses SD/SDHC. That means no Sony nor Fuji.
3. Ideally uses MPEG4 compression to maximize storage capacity.
4. Optical/mechanical image stabilization.
5. Optical zoom
6. It should be a decent digicam too, just in case I can only bring 1 device at a time.
What I've been researching:
Canon A720IS: Can be found fairly cheap online. However, it's Canon, so it uses MJPEG.
Casio EX-Z1080: Anybody have any experience with this one? SDHC, MPEG4 video recording. Does it have image stabilization? But proprietary USB cable kinda turns me off.
I'm loving my spanking new SDR-S150 BUT prior bought and tested the much cheaper ($229 Circuit City) Panasonic SDR-S10. Only 8oz. Does not meet all your specs but does meet many or most. And no other camcorder quite like it. My SDR-S150 is 3-chip but bumped the price to %529 and WORTH all 10 ounces of it.
