I need to buy a video camera - advice please

[DavidBanner]

I need to buy a video camera and I'm pretty clueless on what's around these days. I'd welcome any words of advice.

Here's my needs list (which I know is completely at odds with each other)

a) small & light - it needs to go in my DJ box and if possible a pocket

b) good in low light (I know I need a big one with a nice big lens to do this properly but size/weight is a massive issue) and or ability to fit a light onto it. A lot of the filming is going to be in dark clubs.

c) large storage - I need to be able to go for weeks/months away from HQ.

d) able to take still shots

e) reliable and easy to use

f) would be nice to get one 2nd hand off ebay to save some cash but not absolutely necessary

[Twin-X]

canon HV20 is the best on the market right now.

[Kartoshka]

c) large storage - I need to be able to go for weeks/months away from HQ.

non-removable storages like 60Gb cameras give you more flexibility with managing your recordings... how long can take transferring a file via firewire/usb2 compared to actual playing time if you record from regular cassete to computer....

[DavidBanner]

cheers twin-x, the HV20 looks perfect.

Now, they do the same camera with a hard-drive, but I think I'll still go for the tape version, cause if you run out of HD you are screwed, at least you can always throw another tape in....

[Screaming_Rabbit]

...I would go for SD-Cards... no moving  ;) parts and quick exchange

I just bought the Panasonic HDC-SD5EG. - Just perfect!

Greets, Roger