A Guide To Choosing a New Video Camera
Consider a digital video camera over an analogue video camera. Specifically, choose a camcorder that records to the MiniDV format. MiniDV camcorders offer the best combination of price, performance, and flexibility. MiniDV cameras use CCDs (charged coupling devices) to capture light. In general, a camera with larger CCDs will have better colour quality, resolution and ability to selectively focus.
When my husband and I decided that we wanted to get a new video camera, we did a lot of comparison-shopping. We wanted to produce some good video footage for his band, but we did not want to spend a lot to do it. We found that when you look, you can find good prices in the stores, and you can find comparable prices online. We went with what we found in the store, but you should also look online because you may find the best price there. It depends on what you want to spend, what you need, and even when you decide to look.
New recording formats are also becoming more important. Most digital camcorders store your video on miniature tape cassettes or DVDs, but others record onto an internal hard drive or removable flash-memory cards similar to those you'd use in a digital camera. A few models combine two storage options, such as a hard drive and DVD or memory card, for added flexibility.
We found that most of the video cameras out there today are digital, and that is a very good thing. Though analogue has worked well for some time, they do not have the quality that digital has, and they lose quality as they are transferred from source to computer. When you get a digital video camera, you have a few options for saving your footage. You can get one with a small tape, one with a digital card, or both. You can also get a video camera that records on tiny DVDs. Whatever you like can be found.
A digital video camera is one that offers maximum flexibility, power and ease of use. Unlike analogue video cameras (that use an '8mm' video tape format) they offer the versatility of editing and better quality image reproduction. Digital video cameras come in a two formats - Digital8 and Mini DV.
Our digital camera was only two hundred dollars. I could not believe we saved so much money, and our camera is a Sony. It works very well and the quality is amazing. We saved a lot of money by looking around in many stores in our area, and comparing cameras and prices online as well. We were not afraid to look at the floor models in the stores and the lines that were soon to be discontinued. Those are often marked down and that is what we went with. We are completely happy and had so much money left over we could buy good editing software to go along with our purchase of a video camera.
Find a video camera that has good low light performance. As most home camcorders are used indoors, it is important to find a camera that can perform well in low light conditions. The better models will not only have a number of automatic mode settings in their menus for dark conditions, but will also allow you to manually set features such as the iris and shutter speed to allow more light into the camera.
What you want to know when you get a digital video camera is that you may not want to transfer your footage to your computer by using a USB cable. This is because you are turning the signal to analogue this way, and you do lose some quality. Instead, you may have to get what is called a Fire Wire (or other product of the same type). This will require a plug-in for your computer and a new type of cable. When you get this, you can then transfer your digital information from your video camera into your computer without losing any quality.
Find a video camera that is able to zoom well. On a digital camera there are 2 types of zoom. Optical zooms are the important ones, as they maintain picture clarity.
Still photos: Many new digital camcorders can also take still photos. This is handy if you want to shoot both video and stills but don't want to lug along two cameras - but even relatively cheap digital still cameras take better photos than camcorders.
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