The Canon Vixia/Legria HFR16 is currently sitting in Argos for £199.99. I bought mine with the intention of filming a few shorts, making the smallest of amateur films and basically using it as a stepping stone to get into all things digital and film-like.

I was in luck. My intention is to get that film-look everybody seems to crave. The professionals shoot in 24p, which is 24 progressive frames per second.

The HFR16 shoots in 25p, which is close enough to look awesome. You can shoot in 1080p. and in the right light, the picture is stunning. I've zoomed in on the smallest of things and it copes very well.

Gripes.

This IS a good camera..... however there are a few caveats.

I was looking at the HFR100 previously, had i done my research more thoroughly i would have known that the HFR16 doesn't include an external mic socket. so you are stuck with the camera's inbuilt mic. If you intend to shoot interviews with this, or amateur productions you're going to be limited in terms of audio quality. you'll pick up wind, echo from corridors and other ambient noise. not cool.

On the Plus side. for the same money, and if you don't need the external mic... This comes with 8gb internal memory. which is a real godsend should you be limited on SD card space.

The interface is VERY easy to use, and anybody with a basic grasp of camera terms can quickly adjust things to their personal tastes.

The camera itself is light, it looks premium, in shiny black with little chrome bits and shiny silver buttons. The only other gripe, which is similar with a lot of canon models is if you're mounted on a tripod you need to unscrew the camera to access the battery and SD card. Not so handy, but not the end of the world.

I have purchased an extra battery for my camera, the battery life is good, but it pays to have a charged spare on hand. These can be snatched on Amazon for as little as £5.99 and work as well as the canon replacements, which are more then 10 times as expensive.

I'd advise getting a case as well. It pains me to think of my camera getting scuffed, or even dirty.

A lot of people criticise the low light recording quality, and while i'm of similar opinion, this isn't a professional camcorder. If you buy it and find that out. research more. I went in knowing this, and i adjust my filming to suit it. When i want to film low light i'll buy a better camcorder. or mount adequate lights to compensate.

Overall for £200 you're getting a very capable, smart looking camcorder, which is more than adequate for shooting holiday videos (did i mention it takes stills as well?)

You'll be hard pushed to get something as good for the money, but if you buy one shop around. Currys and the like sell the lower models for upwards of £300. go in with caution and you'll come out smiling :)