JVC GR-D290

When I will buy the next camcorder it will be a Sony, I understood that they are better.

The JVC GR-D290 looks compact and small but feels solid weighing about 510g with the battery.

It features a 25x optical zoom. This camcorder has a USB port for transferring digital stills to your PC, Firewire (DV) for transferring movies to your PC, A/V ports for playing back or recording from a VCR.

I found it incredibly useful for transferring my old VHS tapes to PC. Another nice feature is the mic input where you can connect a stereo mic (powered).

Like most camcorders on the market it does not come with a firewire cable.

The memory slot accepts SD Memory cards or Multimedia cards. It comes with an 8Mb Multimedia pre-installed. Max resolution of digital stills is 1024x768.

This lightweight compact JVC GR-D290 camera is excellent. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out how to use it. You can take still digital pictures as well as video. The monitor quality is excellent and the easy controls allow for decent recordings. You will need to invest in a stronger battery though as the 1 hr supplied is used up in no time. altogether though a good little camera at under £300.