How to Choose the Best Camcorder
I just noticed that the guys’n'gals over at Camcorderinfo .com have posted their top camcorder choices for 2009. Although I feel pretty confident in talking about video editing software here I would be the first to admit that when it comes to camcorders I don’t have that much of an idea!
For me, because the technology is evolving so fast and new models are being released all the time, trying to keep up with it all is best left to the experts and in this case I totally defer to camcorderinfo.com. Anytime I have purchased a new camcorder since I first started playing with video I have simply gone to that site and have never been steered wrong.
Now having said that it is also good to keep in mind that those guys are total video uber-geeks and although they work very hard at remaining understandable to the average Joe… well sometimes the sheer amount of technical data gets a bit overwhelming!
Over the years I have developed my own system for using Camcorderinfo.com to safely make a great choice of camcorder and retain what remains of my sanity along the way. So here’s how to simply use Camcorderinfo.com to choose the best video camcorder for your needs.
Before you start you need to decide between high definition or standard definition and the key points really are quite simple. HD is going to require the need of a tripod or VERY steady hand while shooting for the moment. The codecs being used for both HDV (MPEG2 on crack for high definition) and AVCHD have some way to go before they will handle motion as smoothly as SD. Running around doing hand held shots of the kids in HD is not going to go well!
HD also means that you need a cam with a seriously good auto-focus feature as well as good manual control as anything even slightly out of focus looks terrible. SD is much more forgiving. HD will also require some pretty sizable computing horsepower for editing and in the case of AVCHD you need a Ferrari.
So really if you are going to using the cam for lots of fixed shooting and have the computing power to deal with it then HD is for you.
If you don’t fit into the above then I would go with SD at the moment. There are some very good SD cams on offer now because they are on the way out and for incredibly low prices. Additionally there are a number of video editing software producers that have come out with SD to HD video upscaling features that perform very well. These will only get better with time but even now they do a pretty good job of converting your old footage into HD specs.
So now that you have chosen the format here is the procedure:
1. Go to the Camcorder Ratings page and take a look at the top 20 to 25 camcorders. Understand that all the camcorders on this page are good. The only difference between them is whether or not they are good for you and your specific needs. Choose the ones that are the right definition for you (SD or HD) and are within your budget. Eliminate the ones that are not applicable. Eg. You don’t want a mini-cam like a Flip Mino etc.. You should be left with a list of ten or more cams that roughly fit nto the style of cam you want.
2. In a new tab on your browser or new window click on the first camcorder to go to the review page. Scroll down to the Good/Bad grid and check to see of there are any “deal breakers” in there. If yes, eliminate it, if no keep going.
3. Scroll back up the page and click on the “Conclusion” entry. Read the info and again look for deal breakers. If yes eliminate it and if no then note down the cam.
4. Go back to the Camcorder Ratings page and repeat for each camcorder you have on the list. It is very likely that by the time you finish this process your list will have reduced a lot.
5. Once you have completed those steps go through each of the remaining models and look for features you definitely want. The reviews are broken into sections so you can quickly go through to find these.
By now you should be down to about three or four (or even less) choices. Take your time and read through the reviews one by one. Take notes if you have to. Here is the important part:
6. As you are reading he reviews you must adopt an utterly selfish and self-centered attitude! The reviewers are attempting to write for everyone and from everyone’s point of view. You are only interested in your point of view. Keep a realistic view in mind of what you will be using the camcorder for and under what circumstances and conditions.
Eg. The reviewer may note the cam’s lack of manual controls and downgrade his evaluation of the cam because of that. I on the other hand, have a ten year old son who only operates at two speeds. Dead stop or 1,000,000 miles per hour! There is no way that manual controls would ever be necessary for me. I would never have time to set them. I need really good auto-controls.
Once you have completed this process one thing will become clear… there is no perfect camcorder for you! All you can do is get as close as possible to the best one… not the perfect one. Good luck and I hope this helps.
