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Thank you for a timely article. I especially appreciated your comments on using DSLRs for video work. I had been taught to use video products for video and still cameras for stills but well schooled earlier this year by a Macworld forum reader as to why DSLRs can be better than similarly priced camcorders for the reasons you stated.

It is for this reason I wished you had included recommendations of which budget DSLRs can do good video work with the resulting benefit of providing a back-up camera body and other advantages. Also I wish you had written of Sony's translucent mirror tech and its impact on video from a DSLR.

Nothing compares to a RED Scarlet-X with Canon mount. You get what you pay for.

Xenu, on 29 November 2011 - 05:06 PM, said:

Sure - but for who? For most it would be a bit like swatting a fly with an elephant.

Xenu, on 29 November 2011 - 05:06 PM, said:

Ooooh. We're so impressed. However, I'm guessing less than one-tenth of one-percent of readers here are in the market for a RED.

You missed the Sony NEX-5N which can shoot 60p and 24p beating most everything in the "dslr" category hands down with those features, and retailing at just $699 with kit lens!

You left out a feature that could be very important to iMovie users - support for Apple's iFrame format. Some camcorders also support this in addition to AVCHD. iFrame makes for much faster data transfers to iMovie and easier editing, though at a 720p picture quality rather than 1080. I tested several different camcorders and had severe interlacing problems that made many test recordings almost unwatchable on my 52" HDTV (edges looked like they were crawling with ants). Recording in iFrame format made a remarkable improvement.

What would anyone recommend as best for under $200 with best video quality and easiest uploading to you tube and ustream vimeo etc? Gotta have it soon.