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Buying Your First Camcorder

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Buying Your First Camcorder

Since I'm always recording and always making videos, I always have a lot of people asking me what sort of camcorder they should buy. What should they look for? What brand? What features do they need? What format? Hopefully, with this lens, I can answer a few of those questions.

What Will You Mainly Be Using Your Camcorder For?

The first thing you should figure out before you begin seriously looking for your camcorder is what you plan on using it for. Here's a short list of the most common uses.
  • For recording family events (recitals, graduations, births, weddings)
  • For vacation and travel videos
  • For producing online video - paid or free
  • For making short or no-budget indie films
  • For on-the-fly recording (if you want to keep one with you in case someone does something really stupid and you're privileged enough to witness it.

What do you plan on recording with your camcorder?

And if you already own a camcorder, what do you find yourself using it for most often?

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Mini DV

Mini DV is probably one of the most popular formats of camcorders presently. Here's a list of the pros and cons of Mini DV
  • Pro - The digital format gives a much clearer image than analog tapes.
  • Pro - The media is fairly inexpensive. You can buy a pack of five tapes for around $20 at most retail outlets.
  • Con - You still have to fumble with tapes.

Mini DV Camcorders at Amazon

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Mini DVD

Most newcomers to camcorders hear the term "DVD" and their eyes sparkle. Is it really all that it's cracked up to be?
  • Pro - Just as you would suspect, once you've filmed your video, you can pop the DVD out, put it in your player and watch it instantly.
  • Con - You can't edit your video as easily. Editing Mini DVD takes special software and isn't available for editing on standard editing suites such as Windows Movie Maker, Final Cut Pro or Sony Vegas.
  • Con - Media is more expensive than some other formats.

Mini DVD Camcorders on Amazon

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Hard Drive Disk Camcorder

  • Pro - No worrying with or spending extra money on tapes.
  • Pro - Easy to transfer video from camera to computer.
  • Con - Many people cite that, if you travel without a laptop, you're a slave to how much video the camera will hold.

Hard Drive Camcorders at Amazon

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Analog VHS-C

Analog VHS-C is considered by many to be an archaic format. Most VHS-C cameras don't have the built in ability to be connected to one's computer through IEEE or USB interface. Here's the pros and cons of the VHS-C format.
  • Pro - Media is inexpensive.
  • Pro - Many users find the familiarity of the device to be good for simply hooking the camera up to the television and watching their recordings.
  • Con - Most VHS-C recorders don't come with the capability to be connected to a computer for digital editing. One would have to buy some sort of digitizing capture device in order to enable capture with a computer that lacks audio/video in ports.
  • Con - The quality is going to be much lower than its digital counterparts.

VHS-C Camcorders at Amazon

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Books on Producing Video at Amazon

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blondeheroine

Kel has a love of the 80s, Muppets, Disney and other assorted madness. You can usually find her flitting between the 80s and present day in her Delorian.... more »

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