Are any camcorders good in low light environments like indoors?

best camcorder low light conditions 2011 image

Paranormal

I have a camcorder I bought for â¬235 in 2011 which is 10MP. Indoors it is always grainy and fuzzy except in some very bright lighting. Outdoors it's better. Are there any camcorders available that are sharp indoors and in low light/dark environments and have little/no visible noise/grain?
My camcorder only has ISO controls for photographs and not video. It has a "Night mode" and white balance but no matter what settings I use, I almost always get grainy video indoors even with lights on.
My camcorder is Toshiba Camileo A35.

Answer
Good low-light means large lens filter diameter and large imaging chip. The large lens allows in more light; the large imaging chip can deal with what little light is available. You have already discovered that small lens diameter and small imaging chip doe not behave well. As camcorders increase in price, their lenses get larger - so do the imaging chips... You did not tell us which camcorder you are currently using, but at your price point, I would guess 30mm filter diameter and 1/6" single imaging chip. or you are using a digital still camera (maybe even a bridge camera) that happens to capture video as a secondary "convenience feature".

For low-light conditions, at a minimum, I use my Sony HDR-FX1. This was replaced by the HDR-FX1000. 72mm filter diameter lens and 1/3" 3CCD imaging chip. If it is really dark, then Panasonic AG-HVX200 with 82mm filter diameter and 1/3" 3CCD imaging chip works well... above this they start to get expensive.

If these cameras are too expensive, you have an alternative... learn to shoot "day for night". ADD light during video capture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MaC44MU4iw
and use a decent video editor...

Camcorder help? External mic?

godzilla53

I am very frustrated: My birthday is coming up (today is april fools 2011, my b'day is 5/30). I want an hd camcorder (i will take movies of EVERYTHING: me drumming, i will bring camcorder to New York Rangers games, me making comedies with friends, my baseball games, my hockey games, EVERYTHING). I want FULL hd (1080p). I need pretty good zoom, and a port for an external mic. My birthday list is as follows:
Olympus camera = 267.99$
Archos 4.3 android mp3 player = 130$
External mic = 22.11$
HD camcorder = ??
TOTAL MUST BE <540$ (540$ or below)
With the things i listed, it all equals 420$, which gives me little spending money for camcorder (but i am unwilling to take away money on the camera, and i already bought the archos, as my ipod broke). It gives me about 120$ for a camcorder. I don't care if it is used, refurbished, etc. I don't care if went through the pits of hell, as long as it is in great condition when i get it. I can't seem to find ANY camcorders <300 with an external microphone port. Well, that makes my job A LOT harder! Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance
THE CLOCK IS TICKING ;)
PS: It must have the body of a videocamera: NOT the body of a flip, Kodak zi8, etc. I will NOT accept a rectangular piece of shit (i don't care if the video quality of those little rectangles are great, they have no zoom and no low light performance!). I don't REALLY care about low light performance that much.
THANKS
@Palidin... Thanks! I will most likely get that (i've seen that on amazon, but hesitated because it looks kinda weird :D) If you are a witness of its quality, than who am i to say otherwise? BUT, does it have a place to hitch an external mic on it? I understand that it has the appropriate port for a mic, but can it hold it so the camera man doesn't have to?
thanks for your answers!! I really appreciate it!
ok, one thing i found out about that canon: its not HD. Is there a difference between High Definition and Standard Definition? I mean a difference that makes it worth it for me to save up my money for an HD camcorder rather than the canon Standard Definition camcorder.

Answer
You would need $3500 in order to buy a HD camcorder that could get any where near the video quality of a $300 MiniDV tape camcorder. A HD camcorder is a disaster as sports videos.

You go visit here http://www.amazon.com/Canon-ZR930-1-07MP-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B00114163O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301702929&sr=8-1-spell.

The Canon ZR 930 is a MiniDV tape camcorder with a Mic jack, you can attach a Mic, mixer or music making device to this camera easily. I own a Canon ZR500, ZR800 and a ZR930. I have shot weddings with them, clients loved the Video Quality they got back.

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