And touching up on my previous post, I just realized the interesting coincidences that I happen to share something in common with both James Rolfe and Doug Walker:
Like James, I shot all of my earliest work on a JVC camcorder.
Like Doug, I eventually moved up to a Sony AVCHD handycam.
Interestingly enough, the camcorder was able to achieve something that I never have quite been able to with either my previous digital camera that shot SD video, or my Sony camera, and that's decent lighting outdoors. With the SD camera, that was something that couldn't be avoided (it was always best to film in cloudy conditions, because sunlight could really wash out the picture), but even with my Sony camera being able to play with the exposure and color temperature and everything, I somehow still can't get outdoor shots to look as good as I was able to with just the camcorder - the camcorder was so good with outdoor lighting that you could tape in low-light conditions (like sunset or dusk, for example), and it could come out looking like mid-afternoon on tape.