HOW TO BUY A CAMCORDER

[anjusct]

                         If you are about to buy a new digital camera, the information here can help you decide the type of purchase that would best suit your photographic style and budget. If you had already bought one, then don't worry this we will help you to get a better understanding of your purchase.

A DIGITAL CAMCODER MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING PARTS:

1.   A miniDV RECORDING- DV is the standard consumer digital video format. A DV tape will be about the size of an audio cassette but the miniDV digicam is only half that size. The qualities of DV are that it provides superior images and sound. It provides upto 500 lines of vertical resolution as compared with 240/250 for VHS. Thus it is on par with DVD. It also provides CD quality digital sound at 48 Khz/16bit.

2.   ZOOM (optical & Digital) - Optical zoom is the ability of the camera to magnify an image without sacrificing its clarity where as in digital zoom a portion of an image is enlarged by many folds. But this can result in the loss of clarity. Generally the optical zoom may range from 8x,12x,16x,20x to 26x. The digital zooms may go as high as 780x.


3.   NIGHTSCOPE- This feature enables the user to shoot at night. It requires a 0 lux lens. Before buying make sure that the nightscope feature captures colour images in dark.

4.   MEGAPIXEL WIDE CCD & SNAPSHOT- Digicams having this feature will give a much sharper and better image. Presently CCD (charge coupled device) are of ranges 0.8, 1.0, 1.02 and up to 1.7 mega pixel. But Digital Still Cameras are much better with 3.3 Mega CCD. Also check whether the camcorder supports snapshot by which still pictures can be taken which will be stored in memory called Smart Media or Memory Stick.


5.   MEMORY- It is a card that is inserted into the camcorder .As mentioned above it is used to store still pictures. It can also store small video clips. The standard sizes are 8MB, 64MB & 128MB.Ensure that your model has memory compatibility.

6.   VIEW FINDER AND LCD PANEL- There are two parts for the camcorder that enables the user to see what he is shooting. The view finder (colour/black and white) help the user to see more clearly. But now we have digicams with LCD which opens out of the digicam body and is used to see the subject. The LCD is usually coloured and usually comes in sizes of2.5in & 3.5in.To check whether the LCD is of good quality, point the camera towards the bright sunlight and see if you are getting a clear picture on the LCD.


7.   PC CONNECTION- If you want to connect your digicam to the computer then your digicam should support DV-in as well as DV-out. We can also look for USB support which enables faster data transfer. The latest technology is USB2, but this would need to upgrade the PC to USB2 specifications.

8.   MICROPHONE- Some digicams have inbuilt microphones whereas some also have an attachment for a zoom microphone. A zoom microphone captures sounds in the immediate vicinity of the focused subject (even if it is a reasonable distance away).


9.   IMAGE STABILISER-.An image stabilizer is one of the most important requirement of a digicam. It eliminates the slight camera shaking from being recorded. There are basically two types of image stabilization-Optical and Digital. Both can reduce the camera shake and blurry images. But Optical is regarded as superior.

10.   BATTERY- Usually the standard battery supplied can run for 1hr duration. However one can buy batteries for 2hr, 4hr and upto 10hr capacity. It is recommended to buy an additional battery of higher duration and an external charging adapter so that when one battery is being used, the other can be charged.


11.   LENS FILTER- This is an absolute necessity which helps to protect the original lens. Also one can buy shaded lens filter to get sharper images when it is too bright. But this has to be purchased separately in most of the cases.

12.   CARRY BAG- This is also an important requirement. Insist on the original carry bag, as this will ensure the protection of your expensive product. One can easily make out between a fake and original carry bag based on the sheer difference of quality (external & internal).

EXTRA FEATURES OR PARTS:

1.   VIDEO CAPTURE CARD- This should be fitted into the PC if one wants to capture the moving video using supplied codes. It is not a very big investment and can be easily procured.

2.   MPEG-4 VIDEO CLIPS-This enables one to take small video clips onto the memory card and then the clips can be e-mailed or stored on the computer.


3.   WEB CAM FUNCTION-Some digicams can also serve as web cams. But the digicam gets quiet hot if kept on for too long. So this is not suitable while chatting on the internet. A web cam can serve the purpose better.

4.   FLASH AND FLASH LIGHT-Some digicams come equipped with a flash light that can be used when taking still pictures. Yet others come equipped with a flash light that can be turned on when the general lighting is dim.

So before you go out and buy, it would be a better option to write down your requirements (the features and specifications) keeping cost under consideration. By this you can easily arrive at a decision as to which model(s) you are interested in.

[ganeshbala]

Hi,

Thanks for the information

Can you mention any Best camcorder...?

[anjusct]

OFCOURSE,   I THINK SANYO XACTI CAMCORDERS ARE THE BEST!!!
YOU CAN ALSO FIND EXCELLENT MODELS IN SONY HANDYCAMS AND CANON VIXIA...... 

[ganeshbala]

Thanks for the suggesstion..

..