Video cameras delight us for quite a long time, because for the first time they became popular in the seventies of the last century. Over this decent period of time of 40 years, camcorders have undergone a huge number of changes, starting with downsizing and ending with a completely different principle of operation. Therefore, now more than ever, in almost every house there is an inexpensive good video camera or a professional and sophisticated video camera, which is better - this is a matter of your personal choice.
Analog or digital camcorder, which is better?
The original source of the first camcorder, of course, was its analog model. An analog video camera has almost always been distinguished by its impressive dimensions and serious power consumption. And all the information captured on such a device was always recorded on a cassette, which, by the way, also underwent a huge number of changes. All kinds of analog video recording formats were invented, from VHS to Video 8, but, ultimately, all these innovations in the field of analog video cameras, today, are simply history.
Based on the poor quality of the material shot by the analog video camera, as well as the difficulties in processing this material, the leading manufacturers of video cameras managed to find a positive way out of this situation. A new video format was invented and used, which was called the digital recording signal. The digital video format of the image completely coped with the problems of analog, and in addition, the recorded information can easily be transferred to a computer.
The sizes of digital video cameras are 2-5 times smaller than their analogue ancestors, and information can be recorded on a laser disc, a small video cassette or a memory card. The most used digital video formats are micro MV, mini DV, DVD and Mpeg4. The first two formats are recorded on a video cassette, DVD on a laser disc, and Mpeg4 directly on a memory card, by the way, the latter option, as for me, is the most convenient and practical. Therefore, in a dispute in which an analog and digital video camera is involved, which is better not to say, because everything is as clear as God's day.
Optics, zoom, stabilizer and other nuances.
Having stopped on a digital video recording format, no less attention should be paid to the optics of your camcorder. One of the world’s giants of video and audio equipment, for example, JVC puts on video cameras only its optics specially designed and designed for a certain type of video camera. But companies like Panasonic and Sony prefer to trust Carl Zeiss, a specialist in optics manufacturing. Surely you have already heard about this brand more than once, because Carl Zeiss optics is considered one of the best, for more than one hundred years.
The camcorder also has a zoom that allows you to zoom in several times, usually ten, but in truth, it is in a digital camcorder that there is zoom only for show. The fact is that when approaching the captured video using the zoom function on a digital video camera, the quality of the resulting image is very spoiled, that is, the image is closer, and the number of pixels on the contrary becomes smaller.
Video enthusiasts often encounter a small problem while shooting. The camera held by the hand trembles a little, because shooting takes place in motion, as a result, the resulting picture can also tremble. In order to maximally remove this jitter in the frame, modern video cameras have a stabilizer, the main function of which is precisely to keep the picture from small jitter.
Of course, it is desirable that the camcorder has as many additional connectors as possible. It is impossible to say with great certainty that this or that video camera which is best for you is the coolest, here is the main criterion. By the way, the best camcorder of 2011 is perhaps the Canon LEGRIA HF M41, but nevertheless, the new Sony, Panasonic and JVC models are unlikely to give up their palm in the near future.