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Buying Digital Video Cameras
By Trevor | June 28, 2007
The choice in digital video cameras now is quite amazing.
You are not limited any more to just buying digital video cameras, nowadays you get a choice, as well as the ordinary camcorder, you can have a video phone, a still camera with video capability or an iPod to playback your videos on.
There are a number of things to be aware of when stepping into the market to buy digital video cameras though:
Battery size and duration - it seems everything runs on batteries these days we are in the ‘rechargeable world’. You need to make sure that you have enough capacity for what would be your normal shooting time, most digital video cameras come with shorter battery life than you would like however.
I recommend you purchase a spare battery to be safe. There is nothing more annoying than running out of power just when the shot of the day is coming into range.
It’s always frustrating, that missed shot always seems to linger in your mind as the one you should have got above all others.
Lens quality - always get the best you can. The lens makes the picture and if you save money here you will always have compromised pictures. I have a Leica lens on my Panasonic video camera and it is just superb. When I playback my films to the family it is difficult to see where the pictures are different from broadcast quality.
They certainly beat VHS video at least.
Knobs and dials - it is very easy to be drawn in by the sales pitch to the latest greatest thing. We all do it - these people are experts at selling digital video cameras to us - but just ask yourself whether the new features really will enhance your digital video, or is the money better spent on the outgoing model and a few well chosen accessories.
Research - personally my favourite part of the buying process. You can’t do enough groundwork when choosing your next camera. If you are like me, you will regularly read the photography magazines anyway. But remember that you don’t always have to buy the magazines.
The supermarkets of England are littered with men reading the magazines whilst waiting for their wives to finish the shopping!
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