Motion Picture: Digital Video Cameras

Digital video cameras have evolved a lot in the past couple of years. You can now buy them in almost any size, colour or style and the technology that goes into these cameras just keeps getting more impressive. Follow our advice to find the perfect camera to suit your budget and expertise.

If you're buying a video camera, then buy High Definition (HD). HD video can offer up to five times more detail and clarity than SD, and now there’s little to no price difference, depending on what kind of camera you’re looking to buy.

Mini HD cameras

Pocket-sized HD cameras are a cheapskate’s dream at around $300. Larger, standard definition camcorders sell at their lowest price point for around $450. Of course, SD cameras come with more features, like optical zoom but if you want to record high-quality video with extreme portability, a pocket-sized camera will do the trick. Plus, some of them plug directly into your computer’s USB port, making it easy to transfer video from camera to computer or upload video directly online.

Full HD on a budget

If you’d still rather have a full-sized camcorder, there are plenty of sweet options out there that won’t cost too much more than an SD camera. Full HD devices that would have cost around $2,000 last year are now rolling out at around $800 or $900.

Storage options

Ignore tapes and DVDs; nowadays you’re more likely to see cameras with built in hard drives (HDD) to store data or removable SD memory cards. Even flash-memory, a computer storage chip that was in many cameras this time last year, is starting to become a thing of the past.

A tiny storage capacity won’t get you too far when recording something that’s as much of a space-hog as HD video. Look for cameras with much larger hard drives - 80GB is fairly typical and some more expensive cameras have a whopping 240GB.

A lot of cameras with HDD storage also give the option of using a removable SD memory card, which you buy separately from the camera.

Other features to look for

The world’s first 3D camcorder for home use at IFA is coming before Christmas. Panasonic’s HDC-SDT750 consists of a normal camcorder that comes with a 3D conversion lens.

If the camera’s battery can’t last more than an hour, it’s probably not going to be good enough for you. Fortunately, you can always buy a better battery for a camcorder for around $50, so a dud battery shouldn’t keep you from buying a camera that otherwise meets all your requirements.

Most new video cameras can now take some pretty good photos, at the highest end going up to 14.2 megapixels. That’s as good as a still camera with a pretty large price tag on it.

An external microphone, which plugs into the back of the camera, will deliver better sound quality than in-built microphones. However, if you’re not keen on an extra mic; mics mounted on the front of the camera tend to produce better audio than those mounted on the top.

This will help you keep the jitters to a minimum if you don’t have a tripod.

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