Panasonic VDR-D210

This is an "entry level" digital camcorder. It doesn't take a college course to run it, but it does produce decent videos, imho. Suggest using the highest resolution setting for quality movies when they're rendered, especially in wide screen mode on large screens. Also get familiar with the user manual, don't pass it up. Batteries are expensive, however there are generic ones on the 'net which are reasonable. It writes it's data (video and photo) onto a mini-disk DVD. They are not too expensive and you can use either DVD-rw or DVD-r. I use the DVD-r and save them so I can go back and process them into another movie on the computer at a later date. This model (VDR-210) only has the 3-pronged output ("video") cable, which is designed to play into your video box on your TV. So i use my Pinnacle Breakout Box to get the videos and photos into my computer to make home movies and videos for others. The still photos it takes are actually 8-second stills, are separate from your video-movies, and take up 8-seconds of your mini-disk. But they play and download as one sequence. It *cannot* (afaik) hook up to download via USB or Firewire, so be aware of that if you want to put the data into your computer movie-maker program. The impressive long-range zoom capability is good for my money; 32x-on the lens, and 1,000x digital. That was actually the deciding factor for me in buying it. I spend a lot of time outdoors and many of the little critters are hard to get close to without zoom. "Use a tripod, or sit it on a big rock!"
I had another Panasonic, VHS-C that I really liked however gave that one to my daughter. I bought this one because it was inexpensive and I didn't want to spend a lot of time with fancy settings. And I have a half-dozen other cameras that I use anyway. I got my money's worth on this Panasonic VDR-210.
If you are one of those jet-setters who is in competition with the neighbor for the latest-best-most expensive, don't buy this, your friend who is in hock to the credit card company will make fun of your camera. If you don't care what anyone else, who doesn't pay your bills anyway, thinks, and you just want a small digital video cam that works pretty good, you might like this one as well as I do. Google for other opinions. ;-)

This was just what I ordered. Exellect deal and A+ Seller I would do business with this person again. The order was delivered quickly and well packaged