Please Help This Newb With Purchase

[James G]

Please help: I have been an advertising photographer for 18 years shooting stills for ad agencies, magazines etc. I have been asked to shoot very simple video of talking heads and interviews. Does anybody have any recommendations for a video camera than is low end and can accept wireless clip on mic and has a hard drive instead of tape? Second question: is this the route I want to take? Any and all suggestions would be most appreciated. Thank you.

[DVDShrink Rules]

I've used a variety of camcorders and I'd only buy Canon, as they simply can't be beat for reliability, image quality, and the customer service is SUPERB.

An inexpensive model is:
Canon FS40 Black 1/6" CCD 2.7" 112k LCD 37X Optical Zoom HDD/Flash Memory Camcorder. I've seen it for $299

get a 32 or 64gb quality SDHC card and you're in business. No need for the expense and troubles of a HDD in a camera. I'm not aware of any that accept a wireless mic. You can upload right from the card to youtube if needed.

good luck.