Video cameras have many features, some are important and some are completely unnecessary…how do you know which is which? Well, here are the main features to look for, in part 2 of our blog on selecting a camcorder.

Zoom

Don’t be impressed by huge numbers like “2000 times zoom.” That’s a digital zoom, not a physical zoom – it means the camera is enlarging the pixels to give the appearance of zooming into the image further. This degrades the picture quality dramatically. You can have a digital zoom, but I wouldn’t ever use it for a production that you will show to others, because the image quality degrades as soon as it kicks in. A good zoom of 10x to 12x is fine for most camcorders. It’s nice if it also has a macro feature allowing you to focus on objects really close to the lens. The test of a good lens is to focus on an object while zoomed in, and then zoom out and in again and see if it maintains sharp focus. You’ll need to turn auto focus off for this exercise.

Auto/ Manual Features

Many cheaper consumer camcorders only have auto features, like auto white balance, auto iris, and auto focus. Having manual versions of these settings is good, because it gives you more control.

Manual Iris: The iris controls how much light is allowed into the lens. When you pan from a dark subject to a bright one, the auto iris closes. It can be distracting, because a moving camera continually adjusts its iris – and in some cases (for example, when you have a subject in front of a brighter background) the iris will adjust itself to the bright background, making the subject in the foreground appear too dark. With a manual control, you can open up the iris in order to see the subject without “blowing out” (allowing too much brightness) the background and avoiding continuous adjustments.

Manual White Balance: Light comes in different color temperatures. Outdoor light looks blue and indoor light looks orange. To see things normally, a camera needs to white balance – that is, to set the camera so that white looks truly white. Most cameras continuously adjust the white balance, so that when you move from inside to outside, the camera changes in order to keep whites white. These color changes can be distracting, so if you can turn off the auto white balance and set the white balance using a white card, then the camera will stay at one setting. You will, of course, need to readjust the white balance whenever you change locations.

Manual Focus: Auto focus can be especially annoying, because it allows the camera t to decide what subject to focus on, and the camera is not always correct. An example is when you are zoomed into a subject, and the camera keeps switching focus between the subject and a bright spot in the background. Turning off the auto focus, zooming in and manually setting the focus on your subject, will ensure that your subject looks sharp every time.

Viewfinder/ LCD

Most camcorders have a viewfinder and/or and LCD. The viewfinder is a built-in mini screen or window showing what you are capturing. The flip-out LCD screen is another television-style imager that provides a larger screen, and can be viewed from a distance while you shoot handheld. One thing to know about the flip-out screen is that it can’t compete with direct sunlight. If you are filming outdoors, it is good to have both, so you can use the viewfinder to see the details of what you’re shooting in bright light.

Lux

This is the camera’s ability to perform in low light. Most camcorders on the market do well in low light, and this is not the issue it once was.

Image stabilization

Most camcorders have some form of image stabilization, which is used to reduce the jittery video caused by shaky, handheld camera work. In an ideal world, you will get a tripod or steady cam and turn this feature off. Short of that, this can come in handy. The two types of image stabilization are optical and electronic. Optical stabilization usually provides better results and can be found in some moderately priced models.

Batteries

How much do they cost? How long do they last? Remember that whatever time the manufacturer says they will last is based on turning the camera on with the LCD closed and not using any features. When you zoom, use the LCD, or play back material, you will draw more power and use the battery faster. It is always a good idea to carry an extra charged battery whenever you go out.

Microphones

Sound is extremely important for any video, and people tend to forgive poor image quality over poor sound. Microphones work based on proximity to the subject…the closer to the sound source, the better the sound.  Ideally, you’d get a camcorder that has an external microphone input with an adjustable volume and a way of monitoring levels.  This can be an expensive feature, so if you just have the mic input, that will help. This way, you can place a mic near the speaker and run the cable (or wireless receiver) to the camera.

Note that camcorders with front-mounted microphones tend to produce better sound than those with microphones on top of the unit. Top-mounted microphones often pick up the voice of the person operating the camera, drowning out everything else. Some camcorders offer zoom microphones that emphasize the subject’s voice when the zoom lens is used.  This can be useful.

Still photography

Many digital camcorders today can take still images as well as recording video. This saves carrying two types of cameras. The results (with the exception of the expensive DSLR cameras, like Canon 5D) are not as good as dedicated still cameras. Look for high megapixel counts (up to 12-megapixel camera) and watch out for models that produce interpolated high-resolution images from lower-resolution sensors, because they look bad.

Things you don’t need

There are many unnecessary bells and whistles that can affect a camera’s price. Examples include bleeping sounds when you switch functions, graphic character generators for writing titles (and most of these do a poor job compared to even the cheapest editing programs), effects like black and white, reverse, moiré, freeze frame, fade out/in (not needed unless you’re making an art film – and anyhow, you’ll get better fades in the editing room), and inserting separate audio (once again, best done with an edit suite).

Things you do need

How sturdy is the camera – does it look like it will fall apart in your hand? How sturdy are the flip screen and other moving parts? Does it come with a warranty? Is it expensive enough to justify extending the warranty? How does it feel to hold and use? Is it comfortable? Are all the controls easy to reach and use?

There’s really nothing like standing in a store, and trying out a camera for yourself. “Try before you buy,” is my final advice. And happy shopping!

Video production equipment can be broken into two parts.

1. The first is what you need for acquisition – that is, the videotaping or production phase. This includes a camera, tripod, microphone, lights and grip (everything that goes in front of the lights, reflectors, gaff tape, etc.).

2. The second is what you need for delivery – that is, the post-production phase. This includes editing software, a computer, an import device (probably your camera), encoding software (software that turns video into deliverable formats) and maybe a DVD authoring and burning package.

This is a big subject, and what you order in one category will have an impact on the other category.  For example, if you buy a high-end camera, you will need editing software and a computer that can handle that camera’s video format and turn it into one you can show on the Internet.

The two big factors defining your choices are price and ease of use.

These elements are, in fact, closely related…typically the higher the price, the harder it is to figure out how to use it.

The market for video production equipment is broken into three categories: broadcast professional, pro-sumer and consumer, which I’ll discuss in more detail now.

1. Broadcast Professional
This is used to shoot television and cable shows, cameras like the Sony HDW-F900R CineAlta 24P HDCAM package, which retails for $76,300; or Avid’s Symphony Nitris editing station, which can easily cost $36,000 without storage. In this market, the learning curse is as steep as the price tag, and people tend to specialize. A broadcast camera, for example, might need a crew of five people to operate: one person runs the department (the director of photography), another operates the camera, another will work on focus, while yet another person runs the slate and tracks footage.

2. Pro-sumer
If you’re looking at the prosumer (professional consumer) market, you can spend anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000 on gear and still have a steep learning curve. You’ll get high-quality results in the right hands, and some prosumer gear can be used for broadcast production. Popular cameras in this market include the Panasonic HVX200a ($3,700 plus $600 for 32MB Media Cards) and the Sony PMW-EX3 (which retails around $8,320).  At the low end of this market are cameras in the $1,500 range. Editing software includes Final Cut Pro Studio, which costs around $1,200, and Avid Media Composer at $2,500.  Both require a large investment of time to learn, and need some serious computing power.

3. Consumer
Most business owners are in the consumer market, where products are easier to use and prices start in the hundreds. In this market, the cameras are often called camcorders and start as low as $150. There are many popular consumer cameras like the HDR-XR150 120GB HD Handycam Camcorder, which retails at $550, or at the top end the Panasonic HDC-HS700K High Definition Camcorder at $1,200. Editing software can be as simple as iMovie, free with a Mac; or, for PC owners, Vegas Movie Studio at $90 or Pinnacle Studio Collection for ten dollars more. Both offer editing, authoring and conversion to web formats with an easy-to-learn interface.

But wait, there’s more:  Web cameras
The simplest and cheapest way to get into video production is to use a web-based camera like the Flip ($150 and up). These cameras record an image so compressed (reduced in quality and size) that you can upload it directly to the Internet and it will play (no need for editing or encoding software).

In my next entry, I’ll look more closely at cameras, focusing on the consumer market.