Becoming a Movie Maker: Digital Video Cameras
Buying a digital video camera and digital video camera software can be a fun and exciting proposition, with many different easy to use options on the market today. There are also choices available whether the individual is a budget buyer and wants to stay under five hundred dollars on the purchase, or if they use the camera for their advertising business or other media production company and can spend thousands on a camera. Depending on the buyer, there are certain features that should not be neglected in order to have a quality product that can be enjoyed for years to come.
On a Budget
For buyers of digital video cameras who are on a tight budget, they will need to look for at least the minimum specifications in a camera. The lens of the camera should have a zoom of at least ten times on it as well as a stabilization feature so that the camera does not have to be on a tripod for filming. In addition, the megapixels should be over six in order to have clarity of picture and the ability to do some editing to the film. The illumination rating should be at a minimum seven lux so that the lighting does not affect the film quality as badly, as well as having an automatic exposure control so that the individual does not have to know as much about shooting video in order to still have a good video quality. The focus of the digital video camera should be automatic with the electronic zoom available with the trigger. The LCD screen should be large enough to clearly view the video, so about three inches is the best. In addition to these features, there should also be a FireWire, USB 2.0, A/V, S-Video, and a microphone port in the digital video camera for the different attachments and hookups.
Often, even with these budget digital video cameras, there are software programs that come with them to help individuals edit and specialize the videos once they are finished and want to store them. Some of these features are editing software that helps individuals to splice different sections together, add music or other sound recordings to the sound of the video clip, fade into and out of the video, and add captions. There is also software available that can help individuals that have older versions of film recordings, such as 8mm or Hi8 video, and be able to convert those into digital recordings for better preservation of the film.
