Tips For Buying A Digital Camcorder

by George Kissi

To be able to buy the perfect digital camcorder for you, it is important to arm your self with a few good tips before you your purchase. This will ensure that you do not wind up with a digital camcorder that does not meet your needs or expectations. Outlined below in no particular order are a few tips to help you along the way.

Take a Look at the LCD screen in daylight, if at all possible

Certain screens will fade out in bright sunlight, and you need to ensure your ability to easily see what you’re recording under any circumstances. If you’re unable to view the images on the screen in bright daylight, resort to using the viewfinder. Not only will using the view finder get the job done but it will do so without using up a lot of your battery power.

Examine the lens’s optical zoom ratio rather than the digital zoom ratio

Optical zoom actually delivers a closer view of the image as opposed to digital zoom which merely makes the image larger through the view finder. It’s important to ensure that the camcorder has a minimum of 10X optical zoom.

For Longer recording times buy an additional high capacity battery

Majority of camcorders come with a battery that only lasts an hour or so. However, you can purchase a longer lasting battery for about $50 to $100 so remember to include that in the budget. Running out of power in the middle recording an important event could be very frustrating!

Better audio results can be achieved with front mounted microphones

Buying a front mounted microphone camcorder is is better than a camcorder with the microphone mounted on top. Rather than the camcorder capturing the event being recorded, the top mounted microphone has the tendency to capture the voice of the person using the camcorder.

For best sound buy an external microphone

For the best sound possible, factor in an extra $50 to $100 for an external microphone if the camcorder you’re interested in has the ability to connect an external microphone.

Become familiar with the controls and features of the camcorder before you purchase

A bigger camcorder model may work better for you if it’s more comfortable to handle, particularly if you have large hands as the smallest camcorders ocassionally can be difficult to use

Exposure controls and low-light options are to be examined

Quite a few camcorders allow you to control certain functions and modes like adjusting apperture settings to permit more lights to enter, low light options to enable you to shoot in dark environments using infrared light or long shutter mode. These are manual features available on certain digital camcorders even though all camcorders come with fully automatic mode.

Look for wide-screen shooting and know your format

If you own a high definition TV, you’ll get a full picture with no black bars at the top and bottom if you record with a wide-screen model. Also it is important to know the format the camcorder records in. Majority of camcorders record onto mini-DVD discs or MiniDV tapes. Bear in mind that MiniDV is the most widely available format which is a major boost if you find yourself short on tape while on vacation mainly because Mini-DVD discs are ofttimes difficult to come by.

About the Author:
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