In these days, having a nice camcorder is crucial to capture the most important moments in your life. Weddings, soccer games, or even just making home movies - it's always important to invest in something that will grant you the quality you expect without breaking your piggy bank.
Here are a few of the most important things to research first before buying a camera.
What Recording Format?
MiniDV has always been the standard and is the most popular amongst consumers. A camcorder that can record onto miniDV tape gives you more recording speed options and allows you to tap into your computer for easy editing.
Flash memory however is becoming the most popular, as a camera that contains a good sized built in hard drive saves on the cost of disks or tape and allows you to not have to worry so much about running out of tape.
Stabilization
All camcorders these days have zoom functioning that rivals that of a still shot camera, but quality is very important.
Most camcorders all allow you to zoom in from far distances, but it's the stability of the shooting during close shots that is important. A good HD camcorder should have excellent stability so that even if you have a shaky hand you can take very steady looking picture.
Battery Life
Many people skim over this key part of buying an HD camcorder, but it's one of the most important issues to discuss.
When reading over the specifications of a camcorder, make sure the issue of battery life is addressed, and favorably - check to see what real users have had to say about the battery life of specific model.
Low Light Shooting
One of the biggest dilemmas that camcorders have always faced is the ability to be able to shoot good quality in low lit scenarios. Night mode was something that was common years ago, but this usually did little other than make the picture look really grainy.
The plain fact is that some makers of cameras address this problem up front, and have worked hard to develop internal technology that will eliminated the problem. In fact, there are some higher priced models of HD camcorders that really deliver when it comes to low lighting shoots.
Audio Quality Is Important
Audio is important because you can't always control the sound quality of a certain environment that you might be in. If it's a particularly breezy day out on the soccer field, then everything that you are saying will be washed over with swooosh noise.
When buying an HD camera, read carefully over the details about the onboard microphone, and you may want to make sure that the camcorder has a shoe for a mic that you can attach to that model. This is because the mic that you choose to go with the camera may have a wind screen to filter out the hissing noises of air.
Regardless, you may just find a high-end model that has onboard noise reduction anyway.
Still Image Quality
Camcorders allow you to take still shots just like you would with a regular camera, but it's the quality that is important if you plan to do a lot of this as well as shoot motion picture.
Check to make sure that the Megapixels will be up to par. A good rule of thumb is above 8MP, but some of the newer cameras go way beyond this.
LCD Screen
Since many people don't like to use the viewfinder, make sure that the flip out screen for your camera will be copascetic. A 3.5 inch screen is ideal and ensuring that it displays good quality of what your shots will look like is important.
Also note that using the flipout screen typically uses more battery life, so again - the longevity of a camcorder's
battery is important.
Finally
What's the ultimate way to be sure about a camcorder? Easy! go to a video hosting site such as YouTube, type in the model of HD camera that you are interested in and look for test shots and demos that people have uploaded.
Your eye can be the best judge!
Want to know a great HD camcorder to buy this year? read about the Sony HDR-CX550V.
