Whether you are looking for a camcorder to shoot home video, or a professional video camera for production, wel’ll help you learn the basics about Video Cameras, and direct you to the best camera for you.
First, a little about how camcorders work.
Camcorder have three main parts; the lens, imager, and recorder. The lens gathers and focuses light onto the imager. The imager (usually a CCD or CMOS sensor) converts the light into an electrical signal. And finally, the recorder converts the electric signal into video and encodes it into a storeable form.
Gone are the days of tape-based camcorders which used VHS tapes to record video. Today’s modern video cameras record digital video formats such as Digital8, MiniDV, DVD, Hard Disk and solid-state (flash) memory, which all record video in digital form. In older digital camcorders, the imager-chip, the CCD was considered an analog component, so the digital namesake is in reference to the camcorder’s processing and recording of the video. Most recent camcorders record video on flash memory devices, Microdrives, small hard disks, and size-reduced DVD-RAM or DVD-Rs using MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 formats.
Ease of use, portability, and price, are some of the most important factors that drive the design and manufacture of modern video camers, thus compact digital cameras have become increasingly popular.
At the high-end of the market, there is a greater emphasis on user control and advanced shooting modes. However, most camcorders models are sold with basic video editing software, so users can easily create their own DVDs, or share their edited footage online.
Camcorders have found diverse uses from home video to electronic media. People can showcase homemade videos online or to document events. Camcorders are also often used in the production of low-budget TV shows and movies such as The Blair Witch Project and 28 Days Later.
Below you’ll find a list of the most popular video cameras sold today.
