Checklist - Make Sure You Choose The Right Camcorder

When buying a camcorder, it's wise to use this checklist, to make sure you're not disappointed by limited abilities in the future, when you get more video savvy.

MiniDV.
The first essential is to ensure that your camera uses the MiniDV format. These are tiny cassette tapes, like a miniature version of the cassettes you'll find in your old VCRs. That professional cameras, costing several thousand dollars also use a slightly larger version of these, proves these are the best for serious work.

Do not buy a camcorder that records direct to DVD.

Microphone socket.
It's also very important that you can plug in an external microphone, because the mikes that are built into the cameras - although sometimes reasonable quality - are omni-directional. This means they will pick up sound from all round. That means if you are recording a video where the talent (the person being videoed) is not really close up to the camera (showing little more than the head) the sound quality will sound like it's been recorded in a metal bucket!

So, you need a plug in mike with a lead, which can be positioned very close to the talent. You can buy lapel mikes for about six dollars at Radio Shack. I've got a Sony lapel mike which works fine and only cost about eight dollars.

Tape loading.
The third major feature you must have is either a top or side loading camera. This means you can load or unload your MiniDV tapes, without taking the camera off the tripod. The mistake I made with my first camera was to get a bottom loading one. This means the camera has to be taken off the tripod, when I need to change the tape.

Not only is this time consuming, but there's a very real risk of altering your zoom and other settings in the process.

       Top loading camera with tape ejected

1394 Firewire cable.
Be absolutely sure your camera accepts the 1394 fire wire or Ilink. This is the special high speed cable you need to transfer your recording to your computer. It's also worth checking your computer also has this socket!

Size.
Finally don't buy too small a camera. I bought a very compact Sony, as a first camera, and found my hand was so much larger than the tiny camera my fingers often strayed over the lens, even when holding it correctly.

Those are the "must have" features. Now let's look at a few more features it would be nice to have.

Headphone socket.
This will save you a great deal of time, because you can quickly establish your external mike is working (most of them have batteries and must be switched on before use). So it's not unknown for the mike to be left switched on after the previous session and for the battery to now be dead.

So headphones are a quick way of checking. I would advise unplugging the headphones, once you've checked the sound is recording, as some cameras tend to get a bit of hum, when recording with the headphones plugged in. For the same reason, always record using the camera battery, rather than running off an adapter, plugged into the main electricity supply.

CCD.
Another consideration is the element that records the color, called the CCD. Two things to watch out for here.

Ideally you need a 3CCD element. The "3" signifies three elements, each dealing with different parts of the spectrum. This means better color reproduction.

The other factor to consider with the CCD element is the size. The larger the size, the better the reproduction and depth of color, so don't consider anything smaller than 1/4".

Zoom.
Ignore the figures for digital zoom which is pretty much useless. You want an optical zoom of 10X or better. Ideally this should be up to 18X.

Remote control.
You also need a remote control, so you can operate the camera... turn the recording on and off and alter the zoom, when you are the talent.

Manual focus.
You also need to be certain you have manual focus, as well as automatic. So you can lock the focus when taking studio shots at a fixed distance.

Manual white balance.
For the same reason, you need manual white balance, so you can make sure shots taken in the studio, under artificial lights are reproduced with the colors correctly balanced.

More sophisticated features would include...

Manual exposure control.
If you can set the exposure manually you'll avoid unintended exposure changes due to movement or reflections during presentation, when recording under studio lights.

Manual audio gain control.
Audio gain control automatically adjusts the sensitivity of the microphone based on audio recording level. When turned on, AGC will raise mike volume during quiet segments, causing background noise to be heard, so you want to be able to switch this off.

Steady camera system.
This is an electronic system, found in the more professional cameras, with sensors that acquire  motion feedback information to adjust the image slightly to compensate and reduce small movements.

If you are doing studio work with a tripod this won't be a requirement, but it's good to have if you plan to do outdoor work.

Summing up...

You definitely want...

* MiniDV format
* External microphone socket
* Top or side loading of tapes (NOT bottom loading)
* Accept 1394 firewire or iLink cable (check your computer, too).
* A reasonable sized camera.

These would be quite handy...

* A headphone socket
* A 3CCD element 1/4" or larger
* Optical zoom close to 18X (forget digital zoom - useless!).
* Remote control.
* Manual focus.
* Manual white balance.

And if you're really professional...

* Manual exposure control.
* Manual automatic gain control.

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