Camcorder talk
Pick the right hardware for your burgeoning digital video career
So you're ready to buy a digital camera. When you're shopping, pay attention to the number and size of CCDs (Charge-Coupled Devices), since that information relates directly to video quality. Specifically, three CCDs are better than one, and 1/3in. chips usually deliver better quality than 1/ 4in. or smaller ones. For this reason, most camcorder specification sheets prominently note the number and size of CCDs.
Photos to boot
If you want your DV camera to perform double duty as a digital still-image camera, be sure to check out its maximum still-image resolution. If you really want to capture stills with your camcorder, you should also look for a USB terminal, a flash memory slot and a pop-up flash. But be warned: the stills you get from a camcorder will never equal the quality of those from a good dedicated still camera.
Nuts and bolts
Next, be sure to differentiate between optical and digital zoom. With optical zoom, optics in the lens magnify the image. In contrast, digital zoom increases resolution through a process called interpolation, which adds pixels to those the CCD sensor has collected. In essence, a digital zoom makes an educated guess about what information additional pixels would have contained if more had been collected. If you're taking a picture of a Rothko painting, you'll see little to no degradation. Images that contain a lot of fine detail, however, may not look as crisp.
If you like to tinker with video settings or plan to use your camcorder in a wide range of settings, choose one that offers manual adjustments for exposure and/or a variety of programmed modes for conditions and settings such as night, sunlight, sports and snow. Many of the cheapest DV cameras offer only fully automatic shooting modes, although manual focus is essential for anyone doing serious work.
Also, make sure to check the camera's lux rating, which determines its ability to shoot in low-light settings, such as in museums or at parties. The higher the lux rating, the lower the camera's ability to capture high-quality images in low-light settings.
Although it's easy to love compact cameras, tiny devices deliver notoriously poor audio quality. To achieve a good balance of audio and video quality, you may be forced to pick a bulkier camera. Of course, you can also plug in a microphone if audio quality is important -- most cameras feature a mini-jack that allows you to do so.
If you plan to edit your video on a computer, ignore on-board digital special effects such as sepia, black-and-white and mosaic, or inter-scene transitions such as fade or dissolve. You can produce these effects much more easily and accurately using video editing software on your computer. And unless you're into videotaping the nocturnal habits of animals, you also can safely ignore infrared capabilities, which produce video with a green pallor.
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I installed a belkin usb2/firewire card but cant use it as there is no capture card for video transfer from my digital video. Any suggestion