Camcorder Info - How To Choose The Right Camcorder For You

Camcorder Info - What do you need to know before you lay out your hard earned cash to purchase a new camcorder? What options and accessories are essential for good video taking and what are just industry hype? The following pages will empower you with the knowledge to make the right choice of camcorder for you!

Make sure you read all the right camcorder info when buying a camcorder and don't let any sales assistant rush or prompt you into purchasing a model that is not right for you. This is an important buy - so the more you know beforehand the more satisfied you will be with your final decision.

Camcorder Info To Consider When Buying A Camcorder

Cost

Whatever you may be purchasing, cost will always be a prime consideration. And with camcorders, this will most likely put you in one of three categories:

• Beginner/entry level user - first time or occasional user. You want to take home movies of parties or special occasions to keep as momentos.
• Intermediate user - more regular user and experienced with a camcorder. Knows the value of a camera capable of taking good shots. Does some payed work and edits footage on a computer.
• Pro/semi-pro user - has a full or part-time job as a videographer and needs to output product to a commercial broadcast quality.

Format

Common Video Cameras that you buy off the shelf will come in analogue format (Hi-8, VHS, VHS-C), digital format (digital 8, mini DV), or the new technologies of MicroMV and DVD.

To help decide between formats you can ask yourself this -

• Do you want to spend as little as possible and are not too concerned with picture quality? If yes, go with analogue.
• Would you like to create and edit home movies and videos on your computer at some point? If the answer is yes, go digital.
• Would you like to avoid the teething problems with new technologes? If that is the case then avoid MicroMV and DVD until teething problems and compatability issues have been sorted.

To get the most value for money the best choice will be from the mini DV digital range. Higher resolution images than analogue camcorders, superior sound quality as well as large (flip-out) LCD monitors and lossless transfer of footage to your computer.

Broadcast Format

You can often make massive savings by purchasing online, but there is one consideration to be if you are planning to purchase outside your homeland and that is - What is the broadcast format of my country?

NTSC - Generally the standard for American broadcasting (United States and Canada etc). When connecting to televisions and VCR's it is important to have compatible systems.

PAL - Used in Europe and Australia, PAL video is broadcast at 25 frames oer second.

Body Design

A new consideration is the choice between traditionally shaped camcorders and the new smaller, upright designed models.

This would be a matter of personal preference and even if you are going to purchase online it would be worth a visit to a store to see what feels comfortable in your hand and looks good in real life.

Camcorder Info - Controls And Features

Lens

The function of the lens is to gather the available light and focus it onto the CCD (imaging chip). Therefore the better the lens, the better the final image quality.

For practical purposes, one test you may wish to do with a new camcorder is to see how wide the wide-angle end of the zoom is. You will discover that a good wide-angle lens is more practical than a long zoom.

CCD

The CCD or Charge Coupled Device, converts light into a digital movie. It's measured in megapixels (MP) and a larger CCD will usually result in better image quality.

Focus

Most camcorders will have auto-focus that you will use most of the time. This can often result in blurred pictures in certain situations (when objects are moving or the light is low).

Make sure any camcoder you choose has a manual focus ring to allow you to focus exactly on what you want.

LCD Monitor

Get a BIG monitor! To have a much more enjoyable filming experience it is worth spending extra to get a larger (3.5") LCD monitor.

Program AE

Program AE (auto exposure) are a number of pre-set programs for specific situations like portrait, sports, twilight, sand and snow or low light.

For each of these programs the camcorder automatically adjust's aperture (the amount of light entering the lens), shutter speed and white balance so you as the operator doesn't have to worry about individual settings.

BLC & Exposure

Backlight compensation is a very handy feature when strong light from behind your subject turns them into a silhouette. A simple press of the BLC button correctly adjusts exposure for the subject (thus over-exosing the background). The exposure button and wheel does something similar, but also allows you to fine tune exposure settings.

Edit Search

While the camcorder is in Record-Pause mode, edit search allows for basic editing of footage by searching for a specific shot or the last frame of good footage. This is also a handy feature to ensure that timecode is kept continuous.

Playback Controls

At the flick of a switch your camcorder can be set to function like a VCR. With fast forward, rewind and play buttons to allow you to review footage. Some digital camcorders even have a record button to allow you to transfer footage from an external source back onto the digital tape.

Remote Control

Some camcorders come with a handy little infrared remote control. Similar to the remote that you use with your set-top VCR, it allows you to access difficult to reach functions and ones that cannot be accessed by the camcorder menu.

Another handy feature is being able to control the camcorder record, pause and zoom functions hands free enabling you to eliminate all shake as buttons are depressed when recording images.

Still Shot

Still Shot or Photo Shot is used to record still images. If you really want to take digital stills, it may be a better idea to purchase a dedicated digital still camera.

Memory Cards

Memory cards are used to store the digital still images and also lower quality video for PC or internet use.

Camcorder Info - Menu Functions

Picture Effects

Digital effects that can be added to footage include Black and White, Pastel, Sepia, Mosiac, Solarisations etc. As mentioned earlier, digital effects modify your master footage and can be added if needed later on by software. They are not reason enough to sway a purchasing descision.

Titles

Useful for naming an event or location for future reference. Another feature that can be applied using video editing software.

Steady Shot, Night Shot, Audio Dub

Again these are further features that don't necessarily enhance the quality of a camcorder and can be applied using better filming techniques and software.

Camcorder Info - Inputs And Outputs

To increase the functionality of your camcorder get one that has the following inputs/outputs :

• External microphone - the onboard camcorder mic just wont cut it.
• Headphone socket - especially useful if using an external mic.
• i.Link - also called firewire and IEEE 1394 digital connections.
• USB - used to transfer digital still images as well as MPEG video files.

Conclusion

It may seem like a lot to learn, but really, the only price you will pay for all this knowledge is power. The power to make an informed purchasing descision that will have you in possession of exactly the right camcorder for you!