Weigh in GLP techie's
Looking for the best HARD DRIVE camcorder for UFO filming

Any input ??


There are not too many good HDD camcorders that are good for filming UFOS. For the simple fact that most HDD camcorders have a low optical zoom, horrible night mode and don't have viewfinders or mounts to attach LED lights to them. To even attempt to brighten the filming area at night. Even though some do have a high optical zoom level. To say the least. The image quality becomes distorted at anything higher then 25x optical zoom. So it would be pointless to by a HDD camcorder with a optical zoom level higher then 25x.

Remember that Hard Drive (HDD) camcorders are not High Def camcorders. HDD camcorder have the same CCD quality camcorders as with the old digital 8's and mini dv camcorders. With an image quality level of only 480 pixels.

Here is a list of a few Hard Drive camcorders Ive' found. That might be suitable to fit your needs however.

Sony Dcr-Sr42/40x optical zoom, night shot/infrared.

Panasonic Sdr H85/78x optical zoom

Panasonic Sdr H40/42x optical zoom

Sony HDR-HR150/ 20x optical zoom/ no viewfinder.

Now if you want High Def. I would recommend these following camcorders.

(1)Panasonic HDC Sd60k <---This one takes a media card. Its not HDD or takes dv tapes.
*it saves information on a media card!

(2) Sony HDR HC9 (10x optical zoom)
However the right telephoto lens could fix the weak optical zoom level.

Like I said previously *there isn't any really good ((NEW)) camcorders out there that really gets the job done for filming UFOS. As far as upping the quality. I'm waiting for Sony or any photograph company to make that dream camcorder. High Def/dv tape with still photo SD card capability, at least 25x optical zoom, a viewfinder with good lux plus.night-shot and mounts to add LED lights or an Infrared illuminator.

To add in, You can get a Hard Drive camcorder but make sure you can attach a LED light to it for night sightings. Because these new Hard Drive camcorders have a horrible night mode. You can barely see what your filming at night. You will be wasting your money. If I were you I would go with the Sony trv260. Even though its not HDD or HD. It gets the job done for me while filming UFOS.