Sony HVR-Z1U Camcorder

Before even stepping into a store to look at the choices available, there are two questions you need to ask yourself: What is your budget? And, what are you going to use it for?

When considering the budget, be realistic. Entry-level models start from around $ 2 500 or less. Advanced and professional models cost much more, climbing into the $ 5 000 range and beyond. As with any consumer electronics product, you pay more for features and functionalities, compactness and compatibility.

Assuming the budget isn’t a constraint, you should first get a fix on your needs. If your shooting is primarily indoors or at family events, the camcorder should have good lowlight performance and should be able to take good still pictures. An inbuilt “auto” light that recognizes the light conditions and automatically switches on is a good option to have. As is a popup flash that can be used for still pictures. Image stabilization is also important, and the zoom capabilities can be helpful when you want to take close-up shots.

If you’re planning to use your camcorder on vacations and in the outdoors, it should be compact and lightweight, have long battery life, be able to take good still pictures, and should have a good viewfinder. The functionality of the viewfinder can be replaced with that of an LCD screen, but LCDs typically are hard to see in sunlight.

You should also consider a wind screen for the microphone and the audio zoom feature that enables you to “zoom” into the audio in the direction in which the camcorder is focused or zoomed in. If you decide to do away with the tripod, be sure to check out for good image stabilization capabilities. Zoom features will also be needed if you want to take long-range shots.

For sports enthusiasts, your camcorder should support fast shutter speeds, manual control, image stabilization, and 10x or higher optical zoom. You should also consider a tripod if your shots are going to be over long periods of time.
Parents who wish to capture their kids’ every moment through school plays, elocutions and such should look for camcorders that give good low-light performance, good audio or external audio support, 10x or higher optical zoom, and a tripod.

If you are a budding film maker, you will want a camcorder that gives you a great deal of manual control, support for external audio and lighting, and widescreen and cinematic effects. You may also need features like in-camera editing and deletion of scenes, and a whole kit of accessories ranging from the basic tripod to professional audio equipment so you can get that perfect audio stream with your video.