My daughter has won awards for the last two years at campus movie fest, this year best drama in the whole california area. (she is a grad student in another field).  Both of her movies have been stop time animation. She used a canon camera for the competition (5 days on loan), which had a firewire so she could record directly to her computer. It was a model ZR8000, i think. She would like a camcorder for Christmas, and she says she thinks she wants a Canon, but her main requirements are that it have a firewire and usb, and she wants the lens quality to be really good. Can any of you make a suggestion as to what model you would recommend for her budding talents? Thank you in advance. Her movie can be seen at the campus movie fest website, and the name of her movies are: S is for Slicing and Medo and the Dragon. She was told Medo and the Dragon is playing on Virgin Airways!

