[dburna]

[I tried this over in Eye-Fidelity and haven't gotten any response, so I thought I would try it in this forum]
Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I'll try anyway.....

My wife and I are expecting to travel abroad this fall some time to complete an international adoption.  As our house's designated technology "expert," I am trying to put together a video/stills solution that enable us to document our adoption process.  As a result, I'm looking for a good digital photo solution and video camera to take on the road with us.  I am expecting that we will have a running blog going during our trip, so I am looking for a no-muss/no-fuss process to interface with a PC laptop so I can upload/download photos and videos easily.  I would like recommendations on cost-effective solutions (video: $500-600 range; camera: as low as possible but still good quality) that provide the following benefits:

1. Small footprint/portable
2. Easy-to-use (I'm a gadget hound, but my wife is not)
3. Reliable (if anything goes wrong while we're away, we're out-of-luck)
4. Decent battery life
5. Easy interaction/connectivity with a PC
6. Easy conversion to foreign voltages is a plus.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can provide.  This will be of great help to me as I start my research.  I'm looking for specific brand recommendations, though model numbers are always helpful.

One last question about timing: we really don't need either of these pieces until the fall, so if you know of any specific items coming down the pike, we can certainly wait on them.

-dB (a unit measure of noise)

[Bob in St. Louis]

Hey there,
Are you looking for an "all-in-one" video/stills unit? Or two seperate pieces?
I've got a decent harddrive based video camera that also does stills. The harddrive based storage is nice since it's one less thing to have to worry about (keeping track and labeling all the tapes).
Conversion to PC seems pretty straight foreward. It's a JVC, I'll get the model number tonight when I go home.

Bob

p.s. Congrats on the adoption dude. I've done it twice, both American kids. 

[dburna]

Well, I would be interested in an all-in-one solution as long as the picture resolution was good.  I saw some combined units that only provided a 2-3MP quality.  Given that relatively cheap cameras are 8MP now, I didn't want to compromise on the stills quality.  Thanks for looking up the JVC model number for me.

Might be one adoption, might be two.  We just have to see what the fates allow.  Thanks for the good wishes.  With all the hoops and obstacles we've overcome to get this far, we need all the luck we can get.

Best, -dB

P.S. I'm hoping I can talk my wife into another road trip to St. Louis this summer....

[cliffy]

Congrats on the Adoption   My wife and I adopted our daughter from China almost 3 years ago.  She is the light of our life.  We are in line for a second but the China program has pretty much come to a standstill.

We brought a Panasonic Mini-DV camcorder, a small Canon digital, and a Nikon 35mm film.  Our next trip we would just bring our new digital DSLR and a small camcorder.  Most electronic equipment is dual voltage for the battery charger.  Look at the label to make sure.  If that is the case, just bring a power strip and one plug adapter and you can power/recharge multiple devices.  (i.e. laptop, IPod, camera's.etc...)  Just make sure you don't need any power conversion, only plug configuration adapter.

Have a great trip and enjoy the freedom while it lasts

Spencer

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ok, the model #: GZMG155
It doesn't appear they make it anymore, but here's the new generation:
http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp?productId=PRD1207000&pathId=119

Actually, regarding the camcorder (CC), my recommendation would be to get something high definition. If you don't already have HD in the house, you most likely will sooner or later and your babys photos will look like crap. So, if you can swing the cash, get something with the best picture quality you can. Remember, whatever CC you buy today, probably won't be around in 10 years. But your shitty lookin' home movies will be around forever.

My kids movies have been recorded on "Hi-8", and now the above model number CC. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not greatly impressed with the the picture quality of any of it. This CC has USB 2.0, 16:9 widescreen, and every other bell and whistle you could ever want. But what it really comes down to is what does it look like on your tv. Nothing else matters. I bought this one because I *thought* it was 'future-proof'. The internal harddrive, and an internal SD card, USB 2.0 and the 16:9 I thought would help guard against upgraditis. But I forgot one thing; "What does the picture look like"? 

You're right, taking stills on a camcorder isn't a good idea. Better to get a middle of the road pocket digital for the stills.

It's a shame that one of the huge containers on that monster ship that travels from China to US couldn't be full of babys instead of cheap plastic junk.  Do you have to live over there for 30 days?

Bob

EDIT: By the way, when you click on the JVC link, the CC's you see all have "HDD" on the side. That is NOT High Def.
That stands for "Hard Drive".

[dburna]

Thanks, Bob, for the kind words.  Yes, we are in fact going to China -- didn't mention that before in this message.  Not to hijack my own thread, but I'm sure Cliffy and others can tell you that the international adoption process is an arduous undertaking.  We're very close on the list, but with the severe slowdown on adoptions, we probably won't travel now until the fall.  Hey, what's a few more months when we've been waiting over two years?   

I appreciate the tip on a JVC video camera.  Someone else had suggested one as well.  I'll have to look into this further.

Best, -dB

[Bob in St. Louis]

The wife and I went through fertility "treatments" for almost ten years  before we gave up and started the adoption process. Five years later, we decided to adopt a second child from the same agency. We couldn't be happier with our healthy beautiful children. Although we regret sticking with the gyno and his experimentation for as long as we did . The last straw for me with the gynecologist was seeing his F&@%ing house shown in "Architectural Digest" and the pictorial of his EIGHT fireplaces. 
I couldn't believe, for the life of me, that he was bold enough to have this magazine in his waiting room.

Bob