Im guessing you're talking about cameras that film on tape, there's 3 main types to think about.
MiniDV - You can find these anywhere, they're alight quality for tape but each tape is really expensive. You can find cheap little shitty palmcorders the mid 2000s or go with a prosumer from the early 2000s like the vx/gl/hdv etc camera
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1015462/minidv--mp4
Hi 8 / video 8 - These are your stereotypical vhs looking tapes, you can find these cameras for around $100 dollars and the tapes are dirt cheap. Some hi 8 cameras are digital 8, which are just higher quality than regular hi8 cameras.
Digital 8 recordings on my Sony trv280
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1015463/hi8-mp4https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1015464/video8-mp4Video 8 footage, this is what most hi8 footage looks like, filmed on my trv57
In general brands don't matter, just look up camcorder related to the tape and find whatevers cheap. Do NOT cheap out on a crusty ass prosumer camera.
