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When it comes to video recording, whether you are a novice, a video enthusiast or a professional videographer, one thing is common to all – the quintessential camcorder. It’s the shortened form of the term video camera recorder. There are a lot of camcorders out there with a numerous of capabilities, along with this is the problem of how to choose one that’s just suited to your preference and needs.
In this buying guide for camcorders, we will try to pinpoint the camcorders that you should take into consideration and the specifications that you should look into before picking out any camcorder in particular. Since there are several types of camcorders, it is better that you should go behind the external and go internal. Number one on the list in a buying guide for camcorders should be its form of storing your precious video files. Today’s camcorders store video in different ways and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Way back then, they used tapes and then they gradually shifted in other forms of memory storage.
Flash Memory
A vast majority of the camcorders in the market today are flash and dual flash camcorders. These use flash memory cards to store video, either hot-swappable or built-in. The very same kind used by digital cameras. Without having to use a tape mechanism or a hard drive, these camcorders are commonly smaller in size and are more compact. They also have improved battery life. Most use a compression technology called AVCHD to store high definition videos. Prices range from the low-priced mediocre ones to the highly prized ones with excellent sensors and advance features. Their lens is the only moving part. A lot of these camcorders use SDHC or simply SD cards. At the present, you can get them up to 16 GB but recently 32GB have been introduced.
Dual Flash Memory
Dual flash memory camcorders are quite similar to the flash memory, minus the memory cards. These have built-in memory for storage. Since then, these have become more and more affordable and are now a popular choice.
MiniDV tape
These have been extremely popular over the last ten years. Since most camcorders now use flash memory, you might have a hard time looking for MiniDV tape camcorders. There are still a few of these available on the market since professional camcorders still use the tape mechanism. For usual standard definition camcorders, you get maximum quality because videos are transferred with minimal or no compression at all. Tapes are economical and can give you 60-90 minutes, depending on the chosen quality. The videos from these camcorders can be viewed on your TV by using cables. For video editing, MiniDV camcorders are a great choice since compression is kept to a minimum. The tapes in MiniDV camcorders can also provide you with excellent archiving storage backup.
Hard Drive (HDD)
Combine your notebook computer’s hard drive (HDD) merge it with a camcorder you get a camcorder with a HDD as its storage. These camcorders will give you the convenience of having a built-in memory for hours of videos. This will be more than enough to suffice for the covering vacations and events. Just download the video via cable to your computer when u get home and you have your video archived or you may edit it or burn it to a DVD. Make sure to backup your videos to an external hard drive as your computer might crash.
MiniDVD
Once dominated the consumer camcorder market, these record your videos directly to MiniDVDs and are now unpopular to many. You can readily play the DVD in your home DVD player with no modifications. These camcorders have previously gained popularity because MiniDVDs are cheap and yields around 20-60 minutes of recording time per disc depending on the quality setting. For those who always need to edit their videos, DVD camcorders are not for you. You have to transfer your video to a computer and edit them there. The video quality may also be poor as DVD camcorders compress videos more than any other method.
Here are some tips for each specification you may come across:
• Video Quality
Generally, it you have good lighting especially on bright sunlight, camcorders perform well. Camcorders with large video sensors (CCD’s) perform better than camcorders with smaller ones, especially in low lighting conditions. Video sensors function like the retina in your eye. The larger it is the more superior the quality of your videos and more details are recorded.
• Low light performance
As stated above, a large sensor will do away with this problem. So if you anticipate the need for shooting during low light conditions, it might be a good idea to take note of this.
• High Definition (HD) or Standard Definition
Camcorders that yield standard definition videos are said to be DVD-like quality. High definition videos greatly exceed DVD quality and are more expensive. The camcorders of the future will be in HD but you still have the option to shot in standard definition or high definition and also play it in a standard non-HD TV set.
• Professional Video Quality
If it is a must for you to have top quality videos and you won’t compromise, then you should opt for a professional video camera. It is generally larger than conventional camcorders, have larger video sensors, lenses are also bigger. Moreover you may choose from standard definition or high definition. Most professional camcorders are used in making documentaries, shows, and large events and even full length movies. It is a popular choice among independent (indie) filmmakers. Most have interchangeable lenses, separate microphones, wireless microphones, and many other attachments.
• 3CCD Imaging Sensor
These are special sensors, composed of 3 separate sensors. Most professional sensors carry this type of sensor. Generally, this is better than a single sensor.
• Optical zoom
This is the ability of the camcorder to “zoom in” a subject or object. A 10X optical zoom will be twice as close as compared to a 5X zoom. The bigger the lenses the better, because you will have more options. Versus a digital zoom, which is just an electronic version of the optical zoom, the later is preferred as you do not lose resolution.
• Microphones
Interestingly, all camcorders record in stereo sound. Some have the integrated surround sound recording system. Additional microphones can be fitted by plugging them into microphone jacks or by accessory shoe to latch onto the camcorder.
• Manual Features/Zoom
It is a standard issue for camcorders to have an automatic focus feature. For some instances you have to go manual on “zooming” as automatic focus is not that helpful. All professional camcorders are focused manually.
• LCD Size and Resolution
The LCD is the screen onto which most of your interaction with you camera takes places. This is where you can digitally manipulate certain settings and menu. For this, the larger the screen size and the higher its pixel count the better it is to use.
• Snapshot feature
This feature allows the user to take still photos. Since it is not built for taking photos, most only take still pictures that are of modest quality as compared to a digital camera. This is more of a convenience feature when you don’t have a digital camera at hand.
• Image Stabilisation (IS)
This is a technology that reduces the blurriness of a video when taken in low light conditions or when the one handling the camcorder is shaking during recording or when the subject is fast moving. This is valuable and very useful. Optical stabilisation is best if available.
• Built-in Video Light/Flash
Most have this feature as it is expected than you have to sometimes do recording under low light conditions and an artificial source of light will be of great value. Video light is for video recording whereas, flash is for taking still photos.
So there, always remember those simple guides in buying a camcorder and you might just find your very own camcorder that’s just right for your needs and one that is within you budget.
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Clarins
