Part I From Design to LUX

I started writing this article because I have this dire need to buy a camcorder. Why you ask? Because we here at UltiMesh have decided it is finally time to be part of the real world. And by this I mean we want to make a cool ad,video, pod... whatever you want to call it these days. So, since I like to be educated on my purchases and my blog needed some serious updating I have decided to write this entry.

So the first question I asked myself was, what kind of features are available in these modern day video recorders? My first stop led me to a great review called camcorder buying guide . Inside this article by CNET, they mentioned several areas to focus on such as design, lens type, sensor, illumination rating, recording format, ports and connectors, exposure and focus controls, viewfinder and lcd, price, and of course cool features.

Since I am a sucker for order in my life, I will start by describing each one of these areas in the order I listed them. So lets begin with the design of the camera. There are several different features that incorporate the design of a camcorder such as horizontal, vertical, compact, ultracompact, combo. Horizontal designs are the traditional and typical shape of a camcorder; whereas, vertical cameras are fairly a new look in which the camera, and you wouldn't believe it, is designed to operate vertically. Now what a simple innovative trick to distinquish your camera from the rest. Horizontal cameras tend to be bigger and weigh a bit more than their vertical counterparts. Compact, is just as it sounds, small and easy to carry along and usually its dimension does not exceed five inches. Ultracompact is much smaller than compact and it typically weighs less than a pound. The combo feature is a new type of camera that is not usually recognized as a typical camcorder but, it tends to look more sleek or for you innovators futuristic. "Anywho" the design is totally up to the individual and there are plenty of different options for the deco type.

Now, the next piece I am going to write about is the lens. The lens is a very important aspect to camcorder enthusiasts. Some models have built in zoom capabilities; whereas, others require interchangeable lenses to do a little "zoomy--ing". A little note, optical zooms are much better than digital zooms because it does not distort the pixels. Some lenses have optical image stabilization while other less costly cameras have electronic stabilization. There are also the types that have both optical and electronic stabilization built into the one device. Wikipedia gives the following description of the lens. "The lens is the first component in the camera-section's "light-path". The camcorder's optics generally have one or more of the following adjustments: aperture (to control the amount of light), zoom (to control the field-of-view), and shutter speed (to capture continuous motion.) In consumer units, these adjustments are automatically controlled by the camcorder's electronics, generally to maintain constant exposure onto the imager. Professional units offer direct user control of all major optical functions (aperture, shutter-speed, focus, etc.)" Basically, the lens works like your eye it can control the amount of light that enters the camera and it can help focus the image.

Now onto some rather technical blah called the sensor. The sensor's job is to convert the picture or light image to a digital or electronic signal. CCD(charged-coupled device) is the chips that make up the sensor. More expensive cameras will normally include up to three of these chips. Typically the sensor specs is where you would find the minimum and maximum pixel resolution. A little note about the pixel resolution, the larger the megapixels, the better quality of the image. Also, remember if your not an enthusiast, then you probably don't need the 40 "Cah Gillion" Megapixel camera, because your computer screen will most likely not be able to display all of it.

The illumination rating, also known as LUX. LUX is a unit for measuring the amount of light illuminating a specific area. This is usually stated in terms of a candle illuminating a given area in a totally dark room. The lower the number, the more sensitive the camcorder is to picking up the candlelight. Two to seven lux seems to be the standard across many of the cameras. The idea here is that the smaller your illumination rating the more likely you will get a good recording quality in poor light conditions.

So that concludes Part I of my camcorder madness please return next week for Part II which will discuss in more detail recording media, ports and connectors, exposure and focus controls.