The Panasonic HDC-HS100 ticks just about every box for a camcorder. It's compact but still grippable, while boasting a roomy hard drive. It sports a number of high-end features while still being a piece of cake to operate and benefitting from ...

Manual lens ring ; clever automatic settings ; excellent video

Some grain in low light

Ticking every box -- compact frame, large capacity, high-end features -- the Panasonic HDC-HS100 delivers excellent high definition video in a package both acessible and powerful. The manual lens ring and viewfinder are nice touches in a very polished ...

We're happy to report that you can find the Aiptek AHD Z500 Plus for under £200, which is great considering it's a 'full HD', lightweight camcorder. It's a true point-and-shoot and yields crisp images and movies and performs well in most situations -- ...

It's HD on a budget

Not many features ; poor sound

The Aiptek AHD Z500 Plus gives decent enough high definition video, but doesn't back it up with decent sound or features. That said, the price and ease of use may motivate you to make a few compromises if all you need is a simple, pocketable HD shooter

At a budget price, the Canon FS10 is small, stylish and provides a reasonably expansive feature set for an SD card-based camcorder. With 8GB of flash memory built in as well, it's a compact and convenient video camera with a hybrid zoom for very long ...

Compact, attractive design ; mic input

No optical image stabilisation ; ineffective wind filter ; no headphone jack ; modest video quality

Convenient, well-designed camcorders that look pricier than they are, models in the Canon FS series -- FS11, FS10 and FS100 -- nevertheless deliver typical budget video in line with their price tags

The Sony TG3E camcorder is perfect for people who are sick of making compromises -- either in quality in favour of size, or size in favour of quality. Though it isn't exactly mini at 240g, it's portable and, significantly, yields amazing HD footage ...

Size and portability ; video quality ; stills quality

Confusing controls ; AVCHD format ; no mic socket

Sony's forte is high-quality, cutting-edge technology delivered in highly desirable, stylish consumer products. That describes the TG3E perfectly. Serious videographers may scoff at some of its omissions and weaknesses, but for non-experts happy to ...

The Flip Video Mino's more compact design makes it more pocket-friendly than its predecessor, the Ultra. Its 2GB of memory is decent, it uploads videos to YouTube with ease and this version has an integrated rechargeable battery, which will save you ...

Tiny yet functional design ; easy to use ; relatively high-quality sound and video for its class ; one-touch video uploading to YouTube

Expensive ; no SD/MMC card expansion slot ; rechargeable battery isn't removable or replaceable

Despite some minor flaws, the Flip Video Mino is the best mini camcorder for straight-to-Web video currently available -- but it also costs more, and it can't match the features of a video-savvy point-and-shoot camera

The best thing about the Sony Handycam DCR-SR45E is the touchscreen -- and the compact size, and probably the price, too. It is still a basic camcorder, however, with only standard-definition videos that won't appear that sharp if played back on a ...

Compact, lightweight build ; stores video to 30GB hard drive or Memory Stick Pro Duo cards ; touch screen

Barely passable standard-definition video quality ; no optical image stabilisation despite ultralong lens ; Windows-only software

The Sony Handycam DCR-SR45E has a good design and reasonable feature set for its price, but the video quality doesn't measure up to the rest of the package. It's fine if you just want it for the most basic of grab-and-go videos, but there are a number ...

There's a whole lot to like about the Sony Handycam HDR-SR12. Not only does this shooter capture beautiful video to its impressive 120GB hard drive, it also shoots excellent still photos. If you're in the market for a hard drive-based high-definition ...

Excellent video and performance ; impressive still photos for a camcorder ; adequate manual controls ; nice CAM CTL dial

No wind filter ; doesn't include HDMI cable

If you're in the market for a hard-drive-based high-definition camcorder, you won't go wrong with this Sony. It delivers top notch performance and image quality

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 is one of the smallest and lightest full-size camcorders we've tested, and yet it still manages to pack in a good number of features -- you can even manually adjust aperture and shutter speed, which is unusual in this class

Compact and lightweight ; saturated colours

Moderate to low-light videos look cloudy ; some awkward design choices ; smallish LCD with terrible colour reproduction ; awful bundled software

The Panasonic HDC-SD9's compact size is great and it's relatively inexpensive, which is always a good thing. But despite its trio of CCDs, the video quality and performance are too inconsistent for us to give it a full thumbs-up

High definition may be all the rage, but not everyone is ready to make the leap to shooting in HD. Some just want a small, unobtrusive camcorder that records good-quality footage and doesn't cost the earth -- JVC delivers that with the MG330 that ...

Good quality footage ; great 35x optical zoom ; low price ; easy to use

Standard-definition recording only ; low-res stills

A low price tag and great performance make the JVC Everio GZ-MG330 difficult to resist. If you're not interested in being able to record HD footage, you'll find this standard definition gem is a very good bet

The novelty of waterproof gadgets takes a long time to wear off and we'll never tire of drop-testing products, which is why the shock and water-proof Panasonic SDR-SW20 camcorder certainly has the fun factor. It looks great too and is highly ...

It goes underwater ; small, sleek design

Fiddly controls ; average video quality

The cool factor of waterproof gadgets is high, even when there's a subsequent trade-off in performance, as is the case with the Panasonic SDR-SW20. Anyone going any deeper than snorkel depth will need to look elsewhere, but at least the price reflects ...