Mini DV Cams any suggestions?

[Kurt Hulst]

At first i was looking at DSLRS, a little pricy. Then I just gave up on it. Then I thought hey Mini DV.

Is there any MINI DV's that are in the 400$ price range. I already have a sony D8 but was thinking about adding a MINI DV to my arsenal?

Are there any quality MINI DV's in this range.

What have you used in the past? What works well for you?

 

[Brad Emel]

I have a Canon Elura 65. I haven't been able to chase with it yet, but so far its a great camera. I've got extra batteries, lenses, and a few other addons for it. NewEgg has it for 479.99 right now. The Elura has a little bit bigger CCD than the ZR series.

 

[John Diel]

I use a Canon Optura 20. Nice camera and we actually put out decent broadcast video with it. However, a potential issue that was pointed out in an earlier thread is that it loads the tapes from the bottom. If it's mounted to either a tripod or vehicle, you WILL have to remove it to load a new tape.

Our station uses some older Sony models for local small stuff and we have an Canon XL1 for the stuff we really want in good shape. We also have a very nice Sony DVCAM that I'm trying to convince the program manager to let me take out in the field.