Tips for buying a digital camcorder

I’ve discovered a great deal of reader interest in digital video recently. This happens every autumn, as the beginning of the winter holiday season rolls around. Users decide that they want to record their family’s holiday celebrations for posterity and set out to buy a new video camera.

They troop into their favorite superstore or head off on the World Wide Web, look around a bit, and buy the first thing that catches their virtual eye. This works for many users, but others wind up paying way too much for a piece of equipment that does not really fill their needs or is entirely too complicated for them to use efficiently.

This winter, I hope to help you avoid those problems. As the Information Age proceeds at full steam, benefits that were once available only to high-end users like the scientific and medical communities have begun to trickle down to the general public. Digital photography and videography fall into this category.

While nearly everyone has a digital still camera, some of which are equipped to make short movies, fewer people seem to have gotten the digital-video bug. Anyone taking their first look at home video cameras today is truly in store for an eye-opener.

Welcome to the age of tapeless video

Forget Mom and Dad’s old 8mm camera. Today cameras operate without film, so you will never have to worry about flipping a reel or changing cartridges. Some even function without a user-supplied storage medium, using built-in memory to store content until it is moved to a computer. Others use tapes and disks to hold digital motion pictures.

The video section of the electronics store is a wonderland and an easy place to become expensively confused. Assuming that my readers are not buying a camera to make serious professional movies, I can divide the digital video market into a couple of easy segments.

Cameras for video conferencing

These people like to have a digital video camera attached to their personal computer to effect video conferencing with their friends. This group gets off easy, with perfectly suitable equipment readily available for well under $100.

When shopping, look for cameras that are easy to install, generally through the computer’s USB port. USB 2.0 is much faster than the prior iteration, and can result in faster, smoother video. Other than that, make sure that your system meets the requirements specified by the camera maker, and you should be in good shape.

Cameras for capturing the milestones

That brings us to the next and most common category, the everyday user. These are video enthusiasts who are interested in capturing baby’s first steps, Junior’s basketball game or Cissy’s equestrian event. They want to record the high points of their lives, and they are the primary viewers of the end result.

These homegrown directors may want to share their work with others, playing their future NFLer’s touchdown over and over and sending copies to friends and relatives. Users in this group can get started for a modest investment of between $500 and $750.

Try out visuals and controls

Look for a camera that is small enough to handle and carry easily but large enough for you to be able to see and operate the controls. I find many contemporary devices entirely too small for my aging eyes and fumbling fingers. Pick up a few cameras and decide which ones feel good in your hands before shelling out your hard-earned.

Optical v. digital zoom

When shopping camcorders, many newbies are confused by the differences between optical zoom and digital zoom. The former uses the actual optics of the camera like a telescope to make the subject appear closer. This yields better quality. Digital zoom simply employs the camera’s microprocessor to make a portion of the image appear larger. Images enhanced by this method can appear grainy and washed out.

Indoor video users will probably find an optical zoom of 10x sufficient, while outdoor shooters will probably appreciate a longer optical zoom capacity. Current models are available with optical zoom as high as 30x and beyond. As always, let your wallet be your guide, and buy the most competent equipment you can afford.

Other features worth having are a low illumination rating to let you make movies in less-than-optimal light conditions. Automatic exposure and focus are important, as is sufficiently high resolution to ensure quality playback. Storage media include mini DVDs, microdrives and removable flash cards. Avoid old-style analog media that may add extra steps to your video-making process unless you are already equipped to manage them.

Check for compatibility with existing equipment before launching into a system that will require you to re-buy items you already own. You’ll want to check for input and output compatibility, usually IEEE 1394, or FireWire, USB 2.0, or S-Video.  Make sure that your new camera comes with software to help you manage your home video. Some camcorders also take still pictures, which may also require software.

Pay more, get more

If that weekly lottery ticket finally paid off and you have decided to invest a little more money in your home video tool chest, you can find a wealth of exciting features in camcorders priced around $1,000. I fell in love with one unit that was easily handheld yet large enough to use comfortably, sporting a clearly visible 3.5-inch swivel screen.

This camcorder offered a 10X optical zoom and 120X digital zoom, with over 1,900 effective pixels of resolution, more than enough for my video needs. The jump in price also yielded two exceptionally handy features – image stabilization and night-shooting capabilities.

Both features can dramatically improve the quality of your videos, removing the shakes and jitters that are frequently found in freehand video. If you don’t plan on shooting from a tripod, you will find both of these enhancements exceptionally useful.

I liked the fact that it saved video to DVD. This drastically shortens the viewing and distribution process, making it easy for end users to just pop the DVD into their home player and watch their dailies. In addition, the disks can be duplicated in minutes on a home computer when Aunt Maizy wants a copy of the latest home productions.

Check return and repair policies

Camera preferences are distinctly individual. I truly encourage you to go to the store of your choice and look at cameras before you just buy one. Find out what happens if the camcorder does not work when you get it home. Make sure it can be returned to the store for an exchange rather than sending it back to the manufacturer. Before buying any equipment, always find out what to do if it needs repairs. Sometimes the choices are not pleasant.

For now, that is my introduction to digital home video. My aim was to give you a basic overview that can help you begin your search with some foundation information. If you have more questions you can always drop me a note at granese{at}juno.com or consult your favorite electronics vendor.