My brother just picked up a Sony TRV-340 a few weeks ago for $540 shipped. It's the older model, and uses Digital-8 tapes instead of Mini-DV, but the quality's good. It has most if not all of the features you would ever use, and also has a better optical zoom than the newer models(25x compared to 10x for the mini-dv cameras). I wouldn't bother looking at which has better stills, as any $50 digital camera is going to take better pics than whatever tech the camcorder has. It might be nice to have, but is not something I use myself. I really wish the lcd was better, I can still see individual pixels even while holding it a foot or two away from my head. The viewfinder is clear though. We had also looked at the Panasonic 601(can't remember the exact model) but dedided against it either because of features or ccd quality. It might fit what you're looking for though.
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