I’ve been researching camcorders to fit the following specifications:

• Less than $600 (Prefer around 500)
• 3CCD
• Great Picture Quality
• Editable in Premiere CS4
• Records to SDHC Memory Cards

This is for a series of youth group videos, and I was thinking of getting 2 when I thought I could spend about $400/ea. but research has been more than confusing, as people generally have so many various views of great cameras, and in certain budgets they compare a $600 camera to an obviously superior $1100 camera.  (Duh, the higher priced camera is going to be better… it’s nearly twice the price!)

I’m not looking for anything TERRIBLY high as all the videos will end up on YouTube and perhaps DVDs to give to the kids after the summer.  I also want something that’s slightly future-proof.

Anything from Panasonic? Canon?

I found the Panasonic HDC-SD9 that seems to fit the specifications, some reviews I’ve found have scared me a little.

Sony uses their own super expensive MemoryStick Pro cards… don’t know if that’s really within budget.

Anyone have some insight?  What would you do?

You can either comment here, or at Videomaker.com, or at Amazon.com

But then I stumbled onto a post on Twitter about Stanza, created by LexCycle.  Someone said that Stanza is the reason that no one will ever need a Kindle.  So I looked that up, and found that it, too, is a potential option.  The only thing is that I’d need an iPod Touch.  Not only that, but the books look like they’re cheaper on Stanza.  Sure, they don’t have the same level of selection as Kindle, but they do have the books that I would want. The real downside is that you need a wireless connection to make the connection.

In fact, both devices offer all of the books that I would love to be able to have with me wherever I go.

And this morning I discovered Plastic Logic’s eReader, which seems like it won’t be available for at LEAST a year.

So I’m at a loss for what device or software would best serve my needs / wants.

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