Features To Look For In A Camcorder
By Richard Gazzo, Fri Dec 9th

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If you're on the look out for a new digital then youneed to know what type of features to look for. It's easy to getconfused and hard to make sense of all the specifications.Looking for the right features is the key in finding the best camcorder for your needs. While you comparedigital reviews and ratings, there are some items toconsider.

You should have a general idea of what you need the mini dv camcorder for. Do you need a video camerafor home movies? Or are you looking for a professionalcamcorder, for your next feature film? Think about what you arelooking for so your comparison shopping won't take aslong.

Zoom

All digital camcorders have a zoom feature. Older analogcamcorders only had optical zoom, but new digital video camerashave both optical and digital zoom. There is a differencebetween these two types of zoom. Optical zoom physicallylengthens the lens,and will still give your videos high imagequality. However digital zoom basically blows up the scene in adigital format. The problem with digital zoom is that when youzoom in on a subject the video becomes pixilated and blocky withlittle squares giving the video a blurred and distortedlook.

If you're wondering which zoom is better and more important,optical zoom. The more distance that your optical zoom can do,the more flexibility that you have when focusing in on asubject. I suggest a minimum of 10x optical zoom for mostconsumers.

CCD Sensors and Resolution

The video quality in a dv camcorder is dependant on the CCD, which is anabbreviation for charged-coupled

device. The CCD is an imagesensor that converts light into pixels to produce images; yourdigital camera works in the same way. You can find camcorderswith one CCD or three CCDs. One CCD camcorders are less costlyhowever you will compromise the color quality in the video. 3CCD camcorders on the other hand provide the best color quality.The reason being is that there are 3 CCDs. Digital camcordermodels with three CCDs (one each for red, green and blue) giveyour video the most vivid colors possible, but the price is morethan 1 CCD video cameras.

Viewfinders & LCD Screens

It's important to find the best possible viewfinder whencomparing camcorders. The viewfinder is the heart of thecamcorder without it you can't see what you are filming.Viewfinders cam in black and white, if you buy a cheap camcorder you will be stuck with a black andwhite screen. Personally I like my color screen, you can see theexact color and video quality as it will appear in the video.Sizes for LCD screen range from 2 to 4 inches across.

Digital Video Editing & Still images

Almost all newer digital video camcorders have FireWire(IEEE 1394). This feature enables you to transfer digital videofootage from your to your computer system in thefastest possible way. The newest models even have the ability totake digital still images and video and transfer them to yourcomputer for emailing to friends and family.

About the author:

R Gazzo offers info on where to find the best digitalcamcorders. You can read camcorder ratings as well as camcorder reviews