Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 18 years and 5 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

While filming the holiday party movie for work, my 7-year old Sony miniDV camcorder‘s CCD finally gave out. In a rush to replace it, I picked up the Samsung SC-D353 on the cheap at Circuit City. Well, you get what you pay for: the camera’s autofocus was horrible, it had a black-and-white internal viewfinder, and poor sound quality … so back it went.

After a little more research (and less rush), I decided to graduate to a 3 CCD camera and chose Panasonic’s PV-GS250. Three sensors means very accurate color reproduction and this camera delivers. It’s chock full of options and connections (S-Video, Firewire, etc.), includes a 3.2 megapixel still camera with a built-in flash (which saves photos onto an SD card), color viewfinder and screen, and is overall a slick looking piece of equipment (very sturdy). Included accessories included a corded microphone which also doubles as a remote control, an actual remote, and the various necessary cables. Hopefully this lasts me another 7 years like my Sony did.