Santa Is On His Way
My parents have already begun their Christmas shopping for this year as a smart way to beat the crowds and stress. I admire how organized they are.
They are getting us a camcorder and I’m really excited about it. You don’t see too many people using camcorders anymore. I always used to love camcorders when I was a kid. I would make mini movies with my friends and even write the scripts. In retrospect, it’s pretty clear they were being written by an 11-year-old. 
There are dozens of choices on the market these days. The most obvious and popular choice is a camcorder that records everything to a chip or a DVD. But to get a good camera in this range, it’s still pretty expensive. Hey, I’m trying to make home movies here, not cinematic masterpieces.
So I decided on a camera that uses MiniDV tapes (cue the gasp from the crowd). Yes, I’m using tapes. I know they are outdated and uncool, but MiniDV is still considered a very good choice because it is reliable and the quality is very good, all for under $300.
I settled on the Canon ZR950. It has a high number of positive reviews and is Consumer Reports’ pick for best camcorder in this price range. Now I’m counting the days until Christmas, just like a kid.
I also bought a Firewire, which will let me transfer the video to my Mac and edit it, then burn it to a DVD. Lots of fun!
My only regret is not doing this sooner. I have wanted a camcorder for years to shoot videos of our nieces and nephews as they grew up, as well as to capture video of some of our loved ones, which have since passed away. Now I’m making up for lost time.
Maybe I’ll even have some entertaining videos to post on my blog. We’ll see what I come up with.
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Hey, it’s only October and in the last two days I have talked about the holidays and, now, you have too! Congrats on the great decisions.
Oh cool.
I’ll have to invest in one of these one day. Looking forward to seeing some of your home movies!