RED has made another huge splash this year at the NAB show.



Particularly of note is their new 3K Scarlet mini camcorder. This 3K resolution camera is not a consumer camcorder, but at its reported price of $3,000, it is within the price range of a hardcore prosumer.

Wedding videographers, film schools (and students) and professional video podcasters will be lining up for this beauty.

Tags: camcorders, red, nab

Tracy and Matt have unboxed one of those hot new Sony camcorders (well, the European version, at least, which has a slightly different model number) and posted their first thoughts. This one in particular is special because it's small and records 1080i.



If you're willing to give up a pile of bells and whistles, this is an awesome camera. The common dilemmas with this type of hardware relate to size vs. quality and size vs. features. Since the size vs. quality dimension is eliminated, you need to evaluate whether the small size is worth giving up more advanced features. Of course, it all depends whether you're a budding Quentin Tarantino or just Joe Average.

If you've finally realized that you are not the next Cecil B. DeMille (and it takes a big man -- or woman -- to admit that), I tend to think that this is a very nice camera to consider picking up. The Sanyo Xacti's are nice too, but when it comes to consumer camcorders, your two best bets are usually Sony and Canon.

Tags: sony, camcorders, hdr-tg1, hd

Like the Flip on steroids, Sony's new handycam, the HDR-TG1 is zexy.



As with most small form factor camcorders, you'll be faced with multiple performance compromises, not limited to 1080i, no optical viewfinder or accessory shoes/sockets.

In the end, the price you pay in expandability and capability will likely be recouped in higher usability and portability. What good is a high priced camcorder that's too clunky to take everywhere?

Tags: camcorders, sony, flip, hdr-tg1, hd

The Flip Camera, a camera that basically came out of nowhere, has captured 13% of the camcorder market in its first year.



I think that the appeal of the camera is its deceptively simple interface and its "disposable technology" pricing. This is far from a leading edge product, but with a price lower than an iPod Nano, people are clearly accepting the passable SD video quality.

Tags: camcorders, flip

CamcorderInfo.com has a review of Canon's new Vixia HF10 Camcorder.



It's a zexy camera that I really want to love. It's a third generation flash-based AVCHD camera with a higher bitrate (17Mbps!) Tape seems archaic these days, but it's still a hard format to beat. The hard core users are still using tape (better quality, easier to get into your edit suite, etc.), but with media prices falling, it's hard to resist a flash or hard-drive based device.

The first of two things that give me pause about this camera is the AVCHD format, which is a great format... if you don't want to make edits. Unless you've got the latest Mac Pro, you're probably going to be waiting for AVCHD to convert to an intermediate, editable format. You'll also need to contend with the 4:1 disk space requirements. That is to say, if you've recorded a 16GB AVCHD file, you'll need 64GB to edit it. My second concern with this device (but also with most flash-based HD camcorders) is that it doesn't have optical viewfinder - an underrated feature. If you shoot lots of footage, you'll find that you prefer a viewfinder over the LCD screen.

If you are looking for a flash based camcorder, this Vixia is hard to beat. Outside of the performance of the camera alone, however, caveat emptor.

Tags: camcorders, avchd, canon, hd