8 part series
By Lorraine Grula
Internet Video Gal

PART 6
CAMCORDER BASICS - USEFUL CAMCORDER FEATURES

Walk into any digital camera department and you will see modern technological marvels begging to be held.

If you love video cameras like I do, there’s nothing more fun than fondling what’s for sale at Best Buy. Every single camcorder on the market today will do an excellent job. Don’t be afraid to pick the best one…you really can’t go wrong. Technology has come such a long way that these beauties have every bell and whistle imaginable and they still weigh less than a pound.

BUT…

Some features are more useful than others. And it depends on how you want to use the thing. Here’s a list of some common features and you decide what’s important to you.

IT SLICES AND DICES!
Well, not quite. No camcorder can chop tomatoes like a ginzoo.

But camcorders today do multiple things. Sometimes that can be convenient, but be aware that it can also decrease the quality of it’s main function…get decent video.

Still images and mega pixels - Many video camcorders have the ability to record both video and still images. Some cameras produce very low resolution results, and some are as high as 4 mega pixels. (A megapixel is a unit of graphic resolution and looks like a dot when seen up close.)

The more mega pixels, the better the picture quality. On a practical level, this means you’ll have more room to crop your pictures and do digital zooms if they have a higher mega pixel count. If you look at your video on a big screen, it’s easy to notice a low pixel count. If your goal is internet video, it doesn’t matter as much. Compressing video down to a file size suitable for the internet chops your resolution anyway.

However if high quality resolution is important to you, here’s a reality check… Don’t expect the still pictures produced by a video camcorder to be up to a high end digital camera, but they can provide decent quality and it sure is convenient to be able to do both with one camera.

Super Night Shot Infrared System – Are you going to constantly be shooting in low light situations? Then look for a feature like the NightShot Infrared System by Sony. Sony claims you can “capture natural looking video even extremely low light.” I beg to differ with the use of the phrase “natural looking” but it’s remarkably good compared to getting grainy shadows.

Sony’s system records subjects up to 20 feet away using the built-in infrared system.

Sony’s system says it gets natural color and it is, relatively speaking. Many of these systems make your video look green and grainy but even so, it enables you to get pictures where it wasn’t possible before.

Wireless Remote - A wireless remote is included with most camcorders in case you want to operate it from afar. This can be an incredibly handy feature if you take advantage of it.

Using a remote allows you to stick a camera in an out of the way place and then start it at the proper time. A friend of mine got a great high angle shot of his church’s Easter play by remotely controlling a tiny camera logged in the ceiling.

Remote also lets you control the playback of the camera when it’s hooked up to a TV set. Different models allow different levels of control, especially in record mode.

Cinema/Cinematic Mode – Most professionals always felt like film looked superior to video. So…the video engineers have tried to make video look like film. In my opinion, they haven’t had much luck with this feature in the low-budget side of the market. The Cinematic mode is meant to simulate the look of film. Some modes will adjust the tape speed in frames/second to further make the video look like film. Sometimes, this feature can cause unintended compatibility issues so personally, I never mess with it. Some folks think it’s a “must have” feature but in my humble opinion, 95% of your audience won’t be able to tell the difference. So save your money!

I hope this information on video camcorders was helpful to you. Happy shopping!

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