Video Camera Deal

I wanted to get a camcorder to take to China with me. Looking around, I saw there were three options. Spend $1400 on a HD camcorder which I didn't want to make the investment, a hard drive camcorder, which I didn't want to spend that kind of money either... The cheaper hard drive camcorders don't produce that good of an image. A mini DVD camera, but that seems like a format that just isn't going to go anywhere, which leaves Mini-DV.

So, I looked at Circuit City and Best Buy and found that the minimum I was going to spend was about $250.00 and just didn't feel great about dropping $250 on the bottom of the line camera. 

I ended up dropping by Sam's Club to see if there was any thing reasonable there. Usually at Sam's Club there is about 2 or 3 cameras available and all-though the prices are better...  the cameras are not my first choice. 

Looking around and fighting the Saturday shoppers, I found that they had about 2 cameras right around the same price range as the other guys, and one on clearance for $79.00. So, I looked at that one, and found that it was about the same as the one at Circuit City for almost $200.00

After dealing with the high school girl behind the counter to get one that actually had all the cables and accessories, I used a $30.00 gift card that I had in my wallet, and ended up getting a Mini DV Video Camera for $53.00!

It should make for a good little tool while I am in Beijing to capture some more of the feel of the experience.

It is a Samsung SC-D372. Here are a few photos of it.