HIGH-DEF vs. STANDARD DEF
The first consideration you should make when selecting a camera for your project is whether you want to shoot in high-definition. Of course, the obvious answer is that high-definition is way cooler, but there are some things you need to know before you take the high-def plunge.
First of all, standard definition is considered broadcast-quality – the same television standard that has been around for 60 years. If you're going to spend three times as much money on a high-def camera and then upload the video you shoot to low-quality YouTube, well, you're just wasting your money.
But most importantly, storing and editing high-definition footage takes an enormous amount of hard-drive space and computing power. Expect titles and effects to take at least twice as long to render, and be prepared to spend a little more on graphics cards, memory and software packages that are capable of handling high-def files.
If you're looking for a "cinematic" look to your footage, that is achievable whether you use high-def or standard-def. What you are looking for is a "progressive rate" camera.
Video cameras are designed to produce video in the NTSC standard – a broadcast standard that dates back to 1953! The NTSC standard relies on the use of interlaced fields to create the illusion of 30 individual frames per second (it's actually 29.97 frames per second). This means that at any given moment, all standard-def televisions are displaying about half the picture. But the refresh rate is so fast, your eye is tricked into seeing a continuous, fluid picture. If you've ever tried to videotape or photograph a television or computer screen, you might have seen the purple "scan line" moving across the screen line by line.
Progressive rate cameras do away with interlaced fields altogether. Instead, they attempt to capture footage the way that film cameras do – at 24 or 25 full frames per second. Any camera capable of shooting "24p" or "25p" can do this. Panasonic's workhorse DVX100 camera is a perfect example of a progressive-rate camera that is standard-def.
Another feature to look for, in order to achieve the best possible images with your camera, is a three-chip (sometimes you'll see this as 3CCD) image sensor. A one-chip sensor captures the three primary colors of video (red, green, and blue) all in one pass. A three-chip camera has separate sensors for red, green, and blue – for a color sensitivity at least three times higher than lower-end cameras.
So what does high-definition do for you? Well, it increases the resolution of every single frame of your footage. Whereas NTSC has about 525 lines of information onscreen at any time, high-definition has either 720 or 1080 lines of information in each frame. The highest available resolution for high-def, at present, is 1080p (this stands for 1080 scan lines and a progressive frame rate).
One good thing about high-definition filmmaking is that it is "backwards-compatible" with standard-def equipment. This means, for instance, that most high-def cameras are also capable of shooting in standard-definition. High-def and standard-def cameras even share the same MiniDV tapes and SD cards.
TAPE vs. TAPELESS
The next choice you'll have to make is whether to go with a camera that uses actual videotape (MiniDV is the standard 60-minute tape used by both high-def and standard-def cameras) or one of the newer cameras that use a hard drive or SD card as storage. The clear advantage of tapeless cameras is that there is little possibility of accidentally rewinding and taping over important footage.
Inexpensive tapeless cameras have the capability of storing more than 57 hours of standard-def footage on their internal drives. That's like having a camera bag full of 57 blank tapes! Tapeless cameras also have random access, meaning you can instantly play back a scene without having to rewind a tape. You can also delete bad takes right on the camera in order to clear free space and save time during post-production.
You will notice, however, that most high-end (or "prosumer") video equipment still uses tape. If you do end up going with a MiniDV camera, here is an invaluable tip: find a brand of tape that you like and stick with that brand for the life of the camera.
Why? Because MiniDV tape has a special lubricant that cleans the camera's playback and record heads as it is played or rewound. Different manufacturers use different types of lubrication for their tapes, and switching tape brands can cause a buildup of residue on the playback and record heads. This can cause bars to appear on screen during playback or worse, lead to cameras no longer recognizing the tape. Find a brand you like and stick with it.
AVOID DVD CAMCORDERS
DVD camcorders record standard-def video to DVD-R's and generally have the same picture quality as either MiniDV or tapeless cameras. Most DVD camcorders are marketed with this simple idea – after shooting, you can just pop the DVD into your home player and watch it. In other words, DVD camcorders aren't designed for you to load your footage onto a computer and edit it.
DVD's are encrypted in order to discourage consumers from easily copying them and making copies for friends (you can see how well that worked out). In order to use footage recorded to DVD, you'll need to "rip" the DVD to a standard video format, or use the software provided with the camera to do the ripping for you.
Another drawback to DVD camcorders is the wild variety of competing types of media that various cameras can use: there are 3" DVD-R's (for recording 30 minutes, but you can only record once) and 5" DVD-R's (for recording 60 minutes, but only once), DVD-RW's (which you can reuse, but have to be formatted first), DVD-RAM's (which you can re-use without formatting, but only work in Panasonic cameras and decks, and can't be read by most computers).
If a DVD camcorder is all you've got, you can use it much as you would a tapeless camera, but stock up on blank discs and test the camera's compatibility with your computer to make sure your footage will transfer.
OTHER FEATURES TO LOOK FOR
Almost all digital cameras and camcorders have a manual mode that allows you to adjust things like focus, white balance, and iris (or aperture). Here's what each of those things can do for you:
Most digital cameras have an autofocus feature that will keep the subjects in the foreground nice and crisp. Video has a very deep depth of field – that is, objects tend to be in focus in the foreground and background at the same time. In order to appear more film-like, you may want to vary your depth of field, and that might mean some shots with selective focus – maybe the subjects are in sharp focus, but the background is a little fuzzy. Higher-end cameras allow you to manually focus by rotating a ring near the end of the lens.
White balance is the feature that determines the color balance for an entire scene. Automatic white balance is actually pretty decent, unless the light changes significantly in the middle of a scene. You can manually white-balance the camera at any time – just hold a white card up to the camera and press the manual white-balance button – but remember to reset the white balance when the lighting changes.
Aperture, or iris, controls the amount of light in each frame. You can greatly adjust the quality of your image by opening or closing the aperture settings in manual mode. Wider apertures reduce depth of field – meaning you can have even more control over what is in and what is out of focus.
ZOOM
The amount of magnification (30x! 40x! 50x!) really has no bearing whatsoever on the quality of a camera's lens. Most lenses will capture everything from three feet to 100 feet away without much trouble.
Some things you will want to look for, however, are the amount of optical zoom a lens has. We recommend disabling the digital zoom on any camera. What's the difference? Optical zoom is an actual image produced by the lens and light sensor; digital zoom is the camera's best "guess" as to what the subject looks like up close.
Another, imperative feature for shooting close-ups is a macro focus mode – you'll want to be able to shoot objects closer than three feet, like wristwatches and handwriting.
VIEWFINDER
More and more consumer camcorders are chucking the viewfinder in favorite of the flip-out LCD screen. Flip-outs are great, but aren't of much use in bright sunlight and can even cause lighting problems when shooting in the dark. Viewfinders are a good thing.
JACKS
The more jacks, the better. You'll want a USB connection for your computer, but FireWire (also known as iLink or IEEE 1394) is even better. You'll want a headphone jack for monitoring the sound coming into your camera. And most cameras also have an analog out jack for connecting the camera to a monitor to watch either playback, or to monitor footage while it is being shot.
But the most important jack to look for is one or more microphone jacks. On low-end cameras, this will be a mini-RCA plug input. On prosumer cameras, you'll usually have two XLR inputs for connecting up to two external microphones. Without any microphone jacks, you'll be stuck with the on-board microphone.
BATTERIES
Without exception, the batteries that come with cameras at all price points are lacking in power. If you read the manual that comes with your camera, you'll often find that the battery that comes with the camera is the lowest-end model, with about 45 minutes to an hour worth of record time.
Inexpensive generic batteries from Amazon.com and eBay are an amazing value. Look in your camera's manual for the highest-capacity battery the manufacturer sells (usually 2000 or more milliamp-hours, or mAh) and troll eBay or Amazon for generics. You can purchase a 6- or 8-hour battery for as little as $10 (compare that to $80-120 for brand-name camcorder batteries).
One word of caution regarding generic batteries – there is no guarantee with them, so if you drop one or crack the case, it's better to throw it out than risk a leak. Also, shop carefully. Some generic batteries will only work with a generic charger – not the charger that came with your camera!
If you're too weak-stomached to handle attaching a $12 generic battery to your prized $2500 baby, you may be able to find a lower-priced replacement battery for your camera at a department store. Duracell and Energizer both manufacture the most common types of camcorder batteries. However, don't expect these batteries to be any higher-capacity than the ones that originally came with your camera.
CAMERA ACCESSORIES
Don't blow your entire camera budget on the camera itself. One item you'll need right away is a good camera bag. What, are you going to keep it in the original box? Look for a good padded case with plenty of room for extra tapes, batteries, charger, cables, microphones and other goodies.
Make sure the camera bag you select is big enough to easily access your camera – too tight a fit, and your cables will spill all over the ground every time you reach into the bag. LowePro, Portabrace and Petrol all make great camera bags with adjustable Velcro dividers that allow you to build little cubbies inside your bag to cradle your camera and organize all of your accessories.
Some folks prefer a hard case to a camera bag, and that's fine as well. Hard cases are typically made from tough plastic or aluminum, and you can design soft foam inserts that snugly cradle your camera equipment.
TRIPOD
Next you're going to need to invest in a good quality tripod. There are so many options and brand-names that tripod-shopping can be pretty intimidating. Here are a few simple tips that can help you choose a quality tripod.
First of all, when you purchase a tripod, you're really purchasing two things: the tripod head and the "sticks" that hold up the camera.
The main purpose of the tripod is to keep the camera rock-steady, so look for a sturdy set of sticks with thick legs and a decent weight capacity. Some lighter tripod models are easier to carry, but can't bear the weight of a larger camera and accessories. Find out how much your camera weighs and make sure the sticks will support it.
Next, you need to decide how important having a fluid head is to you. A good fluid tripod head provides smoothing resistance when panning the camera from left to right or tilting up and down.
If you want to shoot from really low (or really high) angles, check to see the maximum and minimum height of a tripod. Some tripod heads are ball heads, meaning that they sit in a cradle at the top of the sticks and can be adjusted by tightening or loosening a grip handle beneath the tripod head. Other tripods have a center column that can be raised above the sticks to get really high angles.
Another feature you might look for is a spreader, which keeps the three tripod legs the same distance apart. Some tripods have cleated spikes that anchor the tripod into the ground outdoors, and rubber or plastic feet for shooting indoors.
Some manufacturers offer accessories for tripods, including dollies that mount to the bottom of the sticks. One accessory you'll definitely want, if it doesn't come as part of the package, is a tripod bag to store your tripod.
