Today’s technology make shooting video a breeze. Once the movie is recorded, you can easily download the image or production straight to your computer. Once it's on your computer, you can enhance or add special effects using commercial or preloaded software then save it on a DVD to send to relatives, friends and family. The type of camcorder you may want to purchase depends on the situation or type of video you plan to record. For example, many professional photographers that record video as a business may use a camcorder costing anywhere from $5000 to $25,000. These types of units incorporate excellent low-light performance features, and high quality lenses.
In addition to high quality video, they also have enhanced audio and noise filtering capabilities. Probably not something you would want to record Grandmas birthday with, simply because of cost and lack of need for its high quality features.
Many camcorders sold today down at the local electronics store are high definition camcorders, also know as HD. These systems allow the user to record video straight to DVD as the operator records the event. The cost of these types of systems is higher than standard-resolution camcorders, but has a few drawbacks. Although this type of camera can record in HD, most editing software can only output standard resolution. This means that if you plan on downloading it to your computer to add special effects, menus, and other custom features, you lose the HD quality. Make sure the software editing program you are using is compatible with this type of camcorder.
Whatever your budget or event that you plan to capture, there are some key features to pay attention to when purchasing a camcorder.
The LCD Screen:
Having a large LCD screen built into the camcorder makes recording easier. The operator can view the event on the screen as it is being recorded. Although this causes more drain on the battery, the user won’t have to keep one eye on the viewfinder and reduces eye strain. If you plan on shooting for a widescreen output, make sure your screen has a 720X480 pixel format.
Lens:
The zoom feature can be a positive or negative result when we talk “digital” and “optical” zoom. Optical zoom uses the actual glass optics that is built in to the lens.
Digital zoom has limitations since it uses “pixels” or the dots that make up the picture.
The higher digital zoom the operator uses, the more distorted the picture will become.
Still image capture:
Most, if not all camcorders come with “still shot capability” The operator can take pictures as the unit records. The drawback to this feature is the quality.
Most recommend a separate still shot digital camera to captures pictures in digital format.
Audio:
Built in microphones are common on all camcorders. One thing to keep in mind is the desired audio quality you wish to capture. You may want to look into a unit that has remote wireless microphone capabilities.
Low-light capture:
One feature that most camcorders are capable of is capturing images in low light settings.
This feature can be adjusted from the control panel. The most important thing to remember when recording video is the source light, providing an external light on the event yields a much better quality video.
Image stabilization: All camcorders image stabilization, usually -optical or electronic—or both to reduce jittery video caused by the camera movement. The best cure for this is using a tripod if possible. Although this may hinder user positioning, it provides a more professional quality recording.
Hard Drive Camcorders:
One feature you may want on your unit is a built in hard drive. This allows instant fast forward or reverse viewing. If there is a portion of the video that you want to delete or edit, you can quickly access that portion and make the change. The draw back is having to download the image once the disc becomes full.
Buying a digital camcorder can offer a lifetime of rewards.
When shopping for a camera, make comparisons on features , quality and price.
And most of, have fun!
