There is already a thread on camcorders. But I am not looking for specific model recommendations.
I am more interested in finding out the major features of a camcorder one should look for when buying a camcorder? Could someone please list them all here one by one?
i recommend u look for image stabilization...alot of camcorders will say they have it...but u wont know which one is best until u try em out.
another biggie is image qual. again, u gotta test em out to see best qual.
thats my 2 cents...lets see other guppies respond.
Touch screen LCD. Makes life easier when you don't have to fiddle with too many buttons and knobs.
Flash for low light conditions. You can buy this seperatly.
Its a matter of personal choice.. and what you plan to use your camcorder. When I was researching camcorders, there were a few things which were important to me.
LCD display: For me that was a must. Looking through the view finder is a lot of strain on the eyes. Plus, having an LCD allows you to make movies by raising the camera up in the air, and turning the LCD downwards. This is especially useful if you are trying to make a movie from behind crowds e.g. parades or street-performers.
Color viewfinder: This may sound redundant, but I was particular to get a camcorder with a color viewfinder. Reason: the LCD drains battery a lot quicker. So, in many cases, you will want to use the viewfinder to preserve battery... and therefore it helps to have a color viewfinder and not to peek through b&w viewfinders.
Media: I wanted MiniDV due to its high quality. Price-wise older media-equipped camcorders (VHS-C, Hi8, Digital8 etc) sound attractive, but quality-wise MiniDV is a big difference. The cassette is a bit expensive though, comparatively speaking. Check the quality of the video and make up your own decision wheher it is worth the additional investment.
Zoom: This is my favorite part. I always want a camera to have high-powered zoom. This helps enormously in the quality of your movie (home movie, i.e.). The camera which I ultimately bought had 26x optical and a total of 760x zoom. Pls remember that the digital zoom is often quite useless in real life conditions, due to the grains in the picture. You can use is sporadically to get a particularly good shot, especially from a tri-pod where you can zoom in a lot at the start of the frame, and then gradually zoom out to capture the whole scene. Works very well, most of the time.
Image Stabilization: The more zoom you use, the more this becomes important. Even a slight shake will transform into a huge earth-quack (in the movie). Even regular movie-making is a lot better quality with a good image stabilization system.
Then there are a bunch of optionals.
Ability to take digital still pics. Not absolutely required as one usually carries a separate high quality digi-cam, but nevertheless it comes in handy sometimes. Especially when you are trying to take a picture at a far distance. Camcorders generally have much higher zoom than normal digi-cams, so they can take still pic with a greater zoom.
Connection to PC: This is pretty standard now a days. I don't like serial connection, as it is too slow. Firewire or USB is the way to go. This is to transfer movie and still images to your computer.
Night shot or external Flash: You won't use night shot often, as it has generally crappy picture quality, but external flash slot can come in real handy sometimes. Some Panasonic models actually have a flash built into the camera. Most camcorders are zero lux, which typically means that they record what your eyes see. Theoretically should work well in dim lighting, but practically the movie will be of crappy quality.
Mic: Most camcorders have builtin mic, which is typically just ordinary quality. Some models carry boom mic, which is pretty good. Or it can be an accessory. Good sound works to improve the movie quality.
Hope it helps.
Thanks guys. Faisal, that really helped a lot. Thanks. I think I will be back with some questions later on.
Dunno if it applies anymore to the camera but when I bought my camcorder in '93, biggest thing for me was the Zoom & the Lux. Lux is the ability of the camera to take pictures in low or no light. The lower the lux, the better. I think they now make 0 lux cameras which pretty much means that you can take shots in no light. So keep the "Lux" factor in mind...
RKH... yeah, the camcorder technology has enhanced a lot. If you read point #8 in my post, I have talked about the night-shot and lux as most new camcorders now are zero lux. The picture quality in low lighting, however, remain poor.
yeah...I guess they don't adverstise it that much now with everything going digital. It used to be mentioned alot along with zoom and color viewfinders but I guess it has somehwat become a standard and no one really bothers with it.
Maybe its time for me to dump that camcorder and step into the digital age. But it still takes such nice shots. Knock on wood!
Very interesting....Ok now I want all those 10 features. :)
Faisal, please write down a few good models if you will...Thanks. I'll check out the prices and budget accordingly. I'm thinking a thousand bucks would do..or shall I apply for loan? :)
BoSS... I'll always recommend Sony. Check www.sonystyle.com but remember that their MiniDV models will probably cost you around $700-1200.
Last year I spotted a fantastic christmas deal and bought the camcorder on amazon.com and I have nothing but praise for the quality of the camera. The one I bought is a Sharp WD255U. It has the following features:
And the best part was the price. I brought this one absolutely brand-new and the price was ..... $349 (after $100 mail-in rebate). :)
Included in that special christmas deal (in 2001) was FREE Shipping + camcorder bag (FREE), plus Tripod (FREE) + Cleaning Kit (FREE) + one MiniDV (FREE).
So, keep a look out on special deals in this holiday season. Good luck.
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*Originally posted by Faisal: *
26x optical zoom and 760x digital zoom
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Im Liking! Never seen a miniDV cam with 26x optical before!
btw does this cam have a canon lens? another good thing!
Yes, it has a Canon lens. More info on that particular model is at Amazon website. Though this particular camcorder is not available at Amazon at this point. Plus I am sure there are newer camcorders in the market to surpass these technical specs at good bargain prices.