Sorting Through the Terms

Sorting Through the Terms

With new technological advances everyday, and variety of features on competing products, it is difficult to decide which make or model of a product to buy. The average consumer is overwhelmed with information provided by the manufacturers and retailers. Digital video cameras are a great example of a product with constantly changing features that often leave potential buyers confused and paying for features they will not use. Terms like Hi-8, stabilizer, mega pixels, or LCD screen size get lost in the mix. By breaking down the various features, and how much they affect the final product, can help consumers maximize their dollar. Once gaining a better understanding of how the various features affect the performance, the perspective buyer can compare cameras and make a more informed decision. After a brief description of some of the more important features on these video cameras, I am going to look at two similar cameras, the GR-D93US by JVC and Panasonic’s VDR-M50. These are similarly priced, but differ somewhat in the technology.

The first thing to consider when purchasing any new electronic is what the intended use is. Many people want a camera to archive memories. Some are interested in recording and editing the video into a more sophisticated film---possibly for company promotions or very low-budget films. A select few may have a serious interest in this area and want to put quite a bit of money into this, but for our purposes, we will assume not. There are hundreds of models out there which can range from $300 to over $3000, but the truth is the average person is not in the market for the high-end camera, so we will look at the more popular hand-held cameras and what effect all the features have on the price.

Digital Zoom vs. Optical Zoom:

The numbers associated with zooms can often be misleading. Advertisers try to entice the buyer with large digital zooms, when in fact these numbers should not impact your decision. With simple computer editing, a digital zoom can be achieved, and in fact using the digital zoom on the camera can often make the video quality worse. The important quality to consider with zoom is the optical zoom. This describes the amount that the actual lens can zoom in on the subject.