Panasonic SDR-H60

Pros: proper camcorder functions, expandable memory, large internal memory, battery life seems to get better over time, stereo mic, takes pictures

Cons: included software is too slow, pictures only go up to 0.3 MP, no picture light, no video light, format isn't video editor friendly, battery sucks at first

Summary: This is a very very nice camcorder, and everything I use on it is optical. I also liked that the low quality video was still very nice. Something I didn't like was when I imported the video into something like windows movie maker, there were lines on the top of the video that looked like a crumpled film in a bad projector, this is fixed with a proper video converter, but still. The battery life sucked very bad at first, but, as I got into using it more and more, the battery seemed to be lasting longer, and owning the camera for two years, that makes it sound much better. I also liked that the camera takes pictures, but the pictures are only VGA quality, pretty good for a SD (standard deffinition) camcorder, not very good for a $500 camcorder. I did NOT see any result of digital compression, it actually looked better than any footage I got off my friend's miniDV camcorder. I definitely recommend this camcorder for anyone who wants to upgrade to digital video, this camcorder will not disappoint you. It is good for capturing those precious memories that you want to share.