<p>want to get my D a small video camera for Christmas</p>
<p>Needs to be small and simple</p>
<p>Is it best to get one that films to a memory cardm, to dvd, to harddrive, </p>
<p>Budget of about $440</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>it will be used for school projects, her internship, etc</p>
<p>Citygirlsmom, I was at our local Costco (have I ever mentioned Costco in my posts? 
), and they had all sorts of videocameras on display. There was a very nice Sony camcorder with a hard drive, but I did not remember the price. With a small portable camera, image stabilizer is a must to have, especially if you are zooming on distant objects. Another important factor is an optical zoom (digital just does not cut it). Our old Sony camera is almost 8 years old (one of the very first mini-DV models), and has survived many trips around the country.</p>
<p>Food for thought</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/technology/circuits/20pogue.html?pagewanted=print[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/technology/circuits/20pogue.html?pagewanted=print</a></p>
<p>I think a lot of this depends on how you think you may use the camera, and for what exact purposes.</p>