How to Choose a Digital Camcorder

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Christopher Rokosz, actor, producer, director, and I'm going to tell you how to choose a good digital camcorder. Okay, first thing that's going to dictate camcorder purchasing is price. You're going to find out that they're going to be in the $300, $800, $1200, $3000, $6000, $8000 range. So once you've decided where you want to fall, that'll help you out a lot. When you're doing it also you have to decide whether you want a flash memory or a memory that's locked into it. I highly recommend that if you're going that route that you also choose a camcorder that has a removable flash memory drive, whether it a memory stick, sd card, or some other thing. Because that way you're not locked into filling up its internal memory. That could happen very quickly especially if you're shooting in a high definition format and you don't want to run out of memory if you're on that shoot, whether it be a vacation or one of your own independent films. The other thing is that you could choose to use is a mini DV. Or mini digital video tape. Now, it says tape, tape says analogue, not necessarily, in this particular case, the DV tapes are a pure digital format, it's just being held on to a more standard or analogue style, meaning that of course there's tape in it and there's a mechanism to drive it. The other thing is within your price range you want to spend as much as you can on the glass, or the lenses. That's where the true value is. Even with a great pickup chip, with bad glass, you're not going to get the best picture that you want. And what are going to do with it? You're exporting... if you're planning on editing, you want to make sure that it has a firewire out. Some have an HDMI. If it has the analog outputs like super video or RCA, you're going to get an analog signal out of a digital camera. You want to take it in the best quality, store it in the best quality. So as a review, take a look at your budget. Take a look at how you want to use it. The features are vast. My recommendation, don't get caught up in the effects that it can do. You want a good focus. You want a good iris. You want good glass. The best you can get for your money. Keep those in mind and let me tell you, they're like extensions of my body. They're awesome things to play with and you'll have a lot a lot of fun no matter what you're doing with it. You've got to love video. I'm Chris Rokosz, we'll see you in Hollywood."