5 of the best summer camcorders

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GoPro HD Hero2 Outdoor Edition

Ah, summer. Season of sun, sand, and… extreme sports. If you’re at your happiest leaping off cliffs and into waves, you’ll want to capture your adventures for posterity. The GoPro HD Hero2 Outdoor Edition is the best action camera out there, with a waterproof case and many mounts, a wide-angle lens with adjustable field of view, and 1080p recording skills that can even take 11MP snaps. And thanks to the new easier menu you can spend less time faffing and more time dicing with death.

Sony HDR-TD10

£740, amazon.co.uk

Lamenting the quality of 3D films at the cinema? Make your own with the Sony HDR-TD10. This is the best 3D camera you can buy, offering two lenses coupled with a pair of Exmor chips for superbly sharp footage. It might be pricey – but the depth of shots and easy touch screen controls make it worth every penny.

Sony NEX VG-20

£1,450 insight.com

For the budding Spielbergs out there, this is the camera that will make you look like a pro. The Sony NEX VG-20 might be pricey, but with good reason, well a few of them actually. It shoots at a super fast bitrate, making for smooth video, and features a 16.1MP MP Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor capable of 1080p at 60fps, 5.1 surround sound, and an 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 E-mount lens included – and seven others to chose from. The only downside is you’ll have no excuses for your videos being anything less than perfect.

3M CP45 Camcorder Projector

£230, personalprojector.co.uk

The whole point of making videos is to share what you’ve seen with others. But watching it on the camera’s tiny display or getting it to a screen isn’t always ideal. The 3M CP45 Camcorder Projector lets you show off your filming efforts anywhere with a white wall. Waiting for a Tube? Crack out your camcorder to show off its 720p at 30fps footage or 5MP stills right there on the wall at up to 65in across. And with 100 minutes of battery and (admittedly weak) speakers, you’ll be the toast of the Underground. Or really annoying.

Panasonic HC-V500

£340, currys.co.uk

If a simple, compact camcorder at an affordable price is what you want, you won’t find better than the Panasonic HC-V500. Not only does it offer 38x zoom, 2D to 3D conversion, and a CMOS sensor capable of 1080p, it also features image stabilisation that’ll make even your wobbliest efforts look good.

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Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.