When it comes to most electronics, consumers typically believe that smaller is better. A little over a decade ago, owning a camcorder usually meant having to haul a large, heavy and unsteady machine on your shoulder that typically produced poor images with low quality sound. Today, Sony and JVC MiniDV camcorders are capable of producing video and audio results that their larger and older counterparts could only dream of. Owning a mini digital camcorder doesn't mean having to give up on options. In fact, some Sony MiniDV camcorders offer an array of controls, including a 20x zoom, image stabilization, numerous image effects, a night-mode and a high quality Zeiss-designed lens. Such cameras typically use the popular MiniDV or DVD recording formats, meaning that consumers do not have to buy special and expensive discs or tapes in order to use them. Obviously, purchasing a mini camcorder does place a few limitations on the size of the chips within and built-in microphone. Although this means that image resolution and sound may be lesser than certain larger models, for most consumers, the convenience of a mini camcorder far outweighs any minor technical differences. Nevertheless, if you plan to shoot something in which high image resolution is a must, purchasing a camcorder with larger CCD chips would be recommended. For consumers looking for maximum convenience, recently released DVD mini camcorders may be the way to go. These revolutionary products work like regular camcorders except that they record directly to a DVD-RW instead of a tape. Not only does this simplify transferring the footage to a computer for editing purposes, but the newly captured footage can be played immediately using a standard DVD player and television. |
