The huge selection of digital camcorders on the market means there´s a model to fit everyone´s requeriments, and you won´t have to pay a bundle for it. In this article we will check the four most importants features, once you understant the fundamentals and are aware of what is available in today´s digital-camcorder market, you´ll stand a much better chance of buying the model that´s exactly right for you.
1.- Recording Media --
The DV-cams have four basic formats to record, Tape-Based (miniDV), 3 inch DVDs, internal Hard Disks, and flash memory. Now we will see these formats a little more in depth.
Tape-Based Media: this is the single most common DV-cam format, tape´s drawbacks are numerous: Unlike all the other record media, for example, tape is not a random-access medium. This makes it difficult to locate specific scenes without spending a lot of time fast-forwarding and rewinding. Copying a tape´s contents to your PC´s hard drive for editing is also a slow process. On the upside, tape delivers the highest quality because the video undergous the least amount of compresing during capture. Tape offers the easiest method of importing video into a PC-based editing package. The cassettes
are cost-effective, too (about $15 for a two-pack, with each capable of recording up to 60 minutes of material).
3 inch DVDs: Some DV-cams record direcly to 3 inch DVDs, there are two types the DVD-RAM, and the DVD-R, you can record up to 30 minutes of video on either. DVD-RAM can be erased and reused as many as 100 times; but the discs are les univerally compatible with DVD drives and players than DVD+R and DVD-R.
Internal Hard Disks: There are DV cams that record directly to internal hard disks. Because the cameras are entirely self contained, you don´t need to carry any extra tapes or accessories. A 30GB drive can hold about seven hours of DVD-quality video in MPEG-2 format.
Of course, when the drive is full, you´ll need to delete (or at leat archive) material in order to record more.
Flash Memory: unlike any of the other media, is nearly impervious to skipping. The downside is its extremely limited capacity. One gigabyte of flash memory is capable of recording just 22 minutes of high quality video.
2.- Image Sensor --
A DV cam´s image sensor (CCD) absorbs light entering the camera through its lens and converts it into electrical charges. The larger the CCD the more sensitive it is to light ad the more capable it is of capturing image detail. Most consumers models have a single CCD, while high-end cameras boast three (one each for red, green and blue light). I recomended an image sensor that´s at least 1/3-inch across for best performance. You want one that´s capable of at least 690,000-pixel (effective) video resolution and 2 megapixels of still-image resolution. If you play your video on a widescreen TV, look
for models that can record in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. And because it´s unlikely you´ll always be shooting outdoors in bright light, look for a DV cam with a low minimum ilumination requirement (a lux, or candlepower, rating in the one to three range). The lower the number, the better the camera will perform indoors and in low-light conditions.
3.- Lens Quality --
Without a good lens, the best sensor in the world won´t mean a darn. Digital zoom has improved considerably, you should at least 10x optical zoom. Image stabilization is another important feature; here again, optical is better than electronic because the latter manipulates the image being recorded, wich can result in visible aliasing in your final video.
4.- Ports and Connectors --
Firewire (IEEE-1394) is the fastest means of transferring video to your PC; USB 2.0 is the next best thing. Better cameras support both. Most DV cams also funtion as digital still cameras, storing images to flash memory. Some models can print stills directly to a printer
(with PictBridge being the most common cross-brand standard).
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