Father’s Day is right around the corner and I’ve put my thinking cap on for you. Here’s a gift that he’ll love and you’ll both enjoy plus it’s a perfect way to keep good ole dad occupied at the horse shows! Whether it’s your sporting events at school or your extra curricular horse competition or even homecoming or prom or you heading off to university, both you AND your dad are sure to love this father’s day gift!

I have the Sony Handycam DCR-SX65 in Blue and it’s, out of the box, über simple to use. This is a super affordable camcorder for a little over $200. The zoom goes way wider than I think anyone would ever use but even at 70x it’s still pretty steady just as a handheld. I like the blue color because it’s a sweet departure from the professional cams we work with in production for HorseGirlTV. Black and silver just get so old but, if you’re not a fan of the blue you can get it in red, silver or black. My favorite thing about this and it’s HD bigger brother is the built-in USB cable. It’s easy to pop it out, plug it in to your laptop. This also means you can charge your camcorder from your laptop OR use your super awesome Zagg Sparq to charge it! The box said it was compatible with iMovie. I use Final Cut Pro but both FCP and iMovie do have challenges with MPG files. If you’re even remotely techie then you can just download a converter and change it into any of the oh so Mac-friendly files like MP4, MOV or even FLV if you’re not needing a super crisp compression. It fits comfy in my hand right alongside my iPhone so you know it’s compact and therefore cute factor takes over BUT it’s not so tiny that it’s not manly enough for dad. Here’s a snippet my awesome hubby (think big Marine hands using it) was kind enough to shoot for me this past weekend. Oh and the audio is SUPER! I could hear my awesome BFF and coach, Geoff, from the external mic via his normal voice! So perfect for Dad and the horse shows or videoing your lessons even! It’s called the… Sony DCR-SX65 Handycam Camcorder (Blue)

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Now all those nice things said about the DCR-SX65 I’m thinking of going long term with the HDR-CX210. I mentioned it’s the SX65s big brother and that does about sum it up. This seems to be pretty much the same Sony with almost identical features yet packed in a slightly higher price point due to the HD shooting in 1080p! This one is also available in the lovely blue but likewise can be found in red, black and silver if you so choose. When many of the HD camcorders our there are still reaching into the $700s, this is a fresh change of pace weighing in at around $325! I actually found this package deal online that I’m probably going to go with. One can never have too many saddle pads, breeches OR tripods! Here’s the package deal I am talking about! Sony Handycam HDR-CX210 8GB 1080p HD Video Camera Camcorder (Blue) with 16GB Card + Battery + Tripods + Case + Accessory Kit