A camcorder is a handy consumer electronics device used for recording video and audio. The camcorder contains together a video camera and a video recorder in one unit, because of which it is known by their amalgam name camcorder.
In simpler terminology, Camcorders are portable video cameras, which can record images and sound to some form of media, either tape-based or digital.
All tape-based camcorders have detachable media in form of video cassettes. Camcorders that do not use magnetic tape are often called tapeless camcorders or hybrid camcorders. They use built-in HDD and memory card for the purpose of recording.
We should compare camcorders by looking at optical zoom and available manual settings. Camcorders have two types of zoom namely optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical zoom represents how much a lens can zoom without enhancement. The more optical zoom the lens can tackle, the more flexibility we will have while shooting close-ups or at a distance from our subject. A 10x minimum optical zoom works best for most consumers. We should ignore digital zoom numbers while shopping because digital zoom enlarges pixels and large amount can distort an image.
The initial and most basic camcorders employed analog recording onto videotape. Since the 1990s, digital recording has become the custom but tape remained the prime recording media. Starting from early 2000s tape as storage media is being progressively replaced with tape less solutions like optical disks, hard disk drives and flash memory.
Camcorders enclose three key gears: lens, imager, and recorder. The lens gathers and focuses light on the imager. The imager converts the incident light into an electrical signal. Finally, the recorder converts the electric signal into digital video and encodes it into a storable form.
A good number of digital consumer camcorders record in DV or HDV format on tape and transfer the content over FireWire where the mammoth files can be edited, rehabilitated.
All camcorders provide automatic focus, a feature that selects the subject in the foreground of a video. Professionals and hobbyists should look for a camcorder with a focus ring or dial to manually shift focus.
As the technology for cameras has became more sophisticated, quality has increased and the size has decreased. Even better, the prices have gone down.
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