If you’re on the look out for a new digital camcorder then you need to know what type of features to look for. It’s easy to get confused and hard to make sense of all the specifications. Looking for the right features is the key in finding the best camcorder for your needs. While you compare digital camcorder reviews and ratings, there are some items to consider.

You should have a general idea of what you need the mini dv camcorder for. Do you need a video camera for home movies? Or are you looking for a professional camcorder, for your next feature film? Think about what you are looking for so your camcorder comparison shopping won’t take as long.

Zoom

All digital camcorders have a zoom feature. Older analog camcorders only had optical zoom, but new digital video cameras have both optical and digital zoom. There is a difference between these two types of zoom. Optical zoom physically lengthens the lens,and will still give your videos high image quality. However digital zoom basically blows up the scene in a digital format. The problem with digital zoom is that when you zoom in on a subject the video becomes pixilated and blocky with little squares giving the video a blurred and distorted look.

If you’re wondering which zoom is better and more important, optical zoom. The more distance that your optical zoom can do, the more flexibility that you have when focusing in on a subject. I suggest a minimum of 10x optical zoom for most consumers.

CCD Sensors and Resolution

The video quality in a dv camcorder is dependant on the CCD, which is an abbreviation for charged-coupled device. The CCD is an image sensor that converts light into pixels to produce images; your digital camera works in the same way. You can find camcorders with one CCD or three CCDs. One CCD camcorders are less costly however you will compromise the color quality in the video. 3 CCD camcorders on the other hand provide the best color quality. The reason being is that there are 3 CCDs. Digital camcorder models with three CCDs (one each for red, green and blue) give your video the most vivid colors possible, but the price is more than 1 CCD video cameras.

Viewfinders & LCD Screens

It’s important to find the best possible viewfinder when comparing camcorders. The viewfinder is the heart of the camcorder without it you can’t see what you are filming. Viewfinders cam in black and white, if you buy a cheap camcorder you will be stuck with a black and white screen. Personally I like my color screen, you can see the exact color and video quality as it will appear in the video. Sizes for LCD screen range from 2 to 4 inches across.

Digital Video Editing & Still images

Almost all newer digital video camcorders have FireWire (IEEE 1394). This feature enables you to transfer digital video footage from your camcorder to your computer system in the fastest possible way. The newest models even have the ability to take digital still images and video and transfer them to your computer for emailing to friends and family.

About the author:

Chris Vorelli offers info on where to find digital
camcorders. You can read camcorder
ratings as well as camcorder
reviews, on Sony
camcorders, Canon camcorders, Samsung camcorders, and more.

Reprint permission will all hyper links intact.

Did you know that in many cases digital photos are cropped by the time they reach paper? If you have never “cropped” your photos manually, you may not be aware that it is happening.

What is cropping?

Cropping is the process of trimming portions of the digital image so it fits in the shape of the paper. Let’s say we have a 5″ x 7″ photo. The problem is, the frame we want to display is 4″ x 6″. One of our choices is to take scissors and carefully trim away the least important edges of the photo until it fits into the 4″ x 6″ frame. What we have accomplished is “cropping”.

In the world of digital photography, cropping is performed with software. When the photo is comprised of bits of data, there is no need to crop for size alone—the software and printing process can stretch the image to fit. We do, however, have to crop digital images to fit the paper’s shape.

A more detailed look

Let’s look at an example. My Canon camera has a sensor size of 1536 x 2048 pixels. Dividing these numbers by the highest common denominator of 512, we get an image shape of 3 x 4.

How many print sizes do you think fit this shape? Not many. If we want 4″ x 6″ prints, the shape of the 3 x 4 digital image will not fit. It is possible to stretch the image into the 4 x 6 shape using software, but this will distort the image, which we don’t want.

Our only option is to crop the 3 x 4 image into the 4 x 6 shape. If you are thinking, “I never had to crop my images and they always looked fine,” then chances are the cropping was done for you automatically. Who would do such a thing behind your back?

Don’t be alarmed, cropping was always done on our behalf, even with film photos. When we drop off our digital photos at a lab to have them developed, or insert them into our printer, the images are loaded into the computer system and are automatically cropped. How does the computer know which sections are OK to crop and which ones are not? It doesn’t. When the decision is left to the machine, it will trim an equal amount from two edges.

Have you ever received a photo from the lab and something important near the edge was cut off, but when you saw it on the computer screen it was there? That is a result of automated cropping.

Do your own cropping for maximum control

Under most circumstances automatic cropping produces good results with our snapshots. In cases where we want to control precisely where the image is trimmed, we need to take the cropping under our own control.

Cropping can be accomplished in several places such as your photo editing or printing software, online developing services, or the kiosk machine available at many local labs. I find that the best place to crop your photos is on your own computer using the software you are most familiar with. If you have never used this feature of your photo editing software, I urge you to learn how to use it. The other two cropping methods are typically more time consuming. You may also be rushed during the delicate cropping procedure if a line forms behind you at a kiosk machine.

Charles Kerekes is an amateur photographer and maintains the Flying Sam Digital Photo Guide (FlyingSamPhoto.com) web site to help others find fun and unique digital photo finishing products and services.

Today I hesitated, and watched the skies. Okay, they don’t move - something to do with the Firmament being placed there by God, in His wisdom. But the clouds looked as if they might be getting ready to do something nice.

So I tossed a coin. Then I tossed another one, because I lost the first. This new one decided for me: I SHALL go out and see what photos I can take, even if there’s nothing worth while.

The trouble is, I wanted to convince myself that there was nothing worthwhile to take a picture of. I was warm and snug at home and there was lots of coffee on tap and some good programmes on TV.

But that changed dramatically; the sky lightened, the sun peeped through, and a glorious sunset descended over the world - well, my part of it anyway. I waited a little longer, and the sky turned red - so red that it seemed on fire. I posted the pictures on the Shutter forums, and I think they’re as good as it gets.

Another time, another place, another coin - and I probably wouldn’t have gone outside at all. But the moral of the story is, of course: have faith, await inspiration, follow your judgements and don’t forget the coffee will still be there when you get home.

Well, that’s more than one moral but I’m not counting. I’m just musing over some great images.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com