Camcorders - reviews and price comparison

This guide is primarily for digital camcorders, but also contains some useful information about other camcorders.

Digitala Camcorders and editing

One big advantage with digital camcorders (DV camcorders) compared to analogue camcorders is that the raw material easily can be transferred to a computer for editing. This is usually done by connecting the camcorder to the computer through the firewire port. The movie is then edited in special movie editing programs. The firewire port on camcorders is often called i.Link and can also be called IEEE 1394.

Firewire port

Firewire input

After editing your movie on the computer you can write (burn) it to a DVD, provided that your computer has a DVD-writer and the required software for it. If your computer does not have a DVD-writer you can transfer the edited movie back to you camcorder again, provided that the camcorder has a firewire input. The camcorder can easily be connected to a television set for displaying the movie.

Zoom – Optical versus digital

When it comes to zoom it is important to separate optical from digital zoom. The difference is that an optical zooming can be done with the picture quality intact, while digital zooming leads to a more blurred picture the more you zoom. Because of this the optical zoom is most often of much greater interest for the consumer than the less expensive digital zoom.

From the back: DVD, 8 cm DVD and a miniDV-tape

Format

MiniDV is the most common format on the market and thanks to its small size it enables very compact camcorders.

However, during the latest years new camcorders recording directly to DVD-discs or to a small built-in hard drive have been released.
The advantage with recording directly to a disc is that you can simply put the disc in your DVD-player to directly show it on your television. The DVDs used in camcorders are usually 8cm discs, in other words smaller than the feature film-DVDs sold in stores.
If the camcorder on the other hand has a built-in harddrive you have a large storing capacity without having to deal with a bunch of tapes or discs.

The transfer from camcorder to computer is usually somewhat easier with a hard drive- or DVD-camcorder, but it also works with a MiniDV camcorder.
You can show your video on a television either by connecting the camcorder directly to your television set or by transferring the movie to a computer and then write it to a DVD after editing it. If you have a DVD-camcorder you can play the disc directly on your DVD-player.

The Formats of the Future - High Definition (HD, HDV)

HD and HDV are the formats of the next generation, with HDV being more consumer friendly since it’s using a larger compression and stores recordings on a ordinary MiniDV tape. Both formats support resolutions of 1280x720 and 1440x1080 pixels (compared to miniDV 720x576 pixels). These two new formats have taken the picture- and sound quality to a whole new level which can be seen on the price tags of the new camcorders. It is also important to note that the new camcorders require significantly more of your computer while editing than the MiniDV format does.

What about AVCHD? (show text)

AVCHD is a technique for storing videos in computer files. The files can be stored on DVD, hard drive, memory card or tape. AVCHD uses a more efficient method for compressing the video so that almost twice as much information can be stored on a certain space compared to other HDV camcorders using the common MPEG-2 compression.

If you edit your movies in the computer it can be good to know that AVCHD requires even more from your computer capacity.

Some camcorders are already using AVCHD, for example Sony HDR-UX1, UX3, UX5, UX7, Panasonic HDC-SD1, SD3, HDC-DX1, Canon HR-10, HG-10.
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Memory card slot – for those who want to take stills

A digital camcorder can also store still pictures. A memory card slot in the camcorder enables you to store pictures with significantly higher quality than normal. (more on memorycards)

There are different models of memory cards with similar features, but which don’t work together. Among camcorders the most common types are MemoryStick and SecureDigital (SD).
If you already have a memory card of a certain type you might want a camcorder that can read that particular type. Apart from that, the type of memory card is not of high importance.
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If you choose a camcorder with a built-in hard drive there is no need for a memory card.

Still image resolution

There are digital camcorders with a resolution of several megapixels, these can match simple digital (still picture) cameras. A condition for this is of course that the resolution is high enough, especially if you plan to develop the pictures and make enlargements of them.

Size

Most of the amateur camcorders weigh approximately 600 grams, but there are lighter models. It is, however, difficult to make the camcorders smaller without losing the picture quality or removing features.

Rating/awards

On testwinner.co.uk all the different ratings given by expert testers have been translated into a percentage from 0 to 100 with 100 being the maximum rating.
The average rating for a product can indicate different things. A low average rating is a warning that the product maybe won't live up the expectations created by the ads for the product. A high rating often means that the product has great features and works well. The more tests of the product the better accuracy in the average rating.

The amount of test wins/awards shows how many times the product has been named winner or been selected "Editor's Choice", "Best Buy" or received similar positive awards in tests. An award means that the product stands out from the competition in one way or another. It can be by giving value for money or by being innovative, or simply by just filling its purpose in a really good way.