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Video Cameras
A video camera (or camcorder) is a handy electronic device for recording video and audio using a compact built-in recording unit. The camcorder contains both a video camera and a video recorder in the one unit.
Early camcorders, developed by brands like JVC, Sony, and Kodak, used analog videotape. Since then video recording onto digital video tape has became the norm. Now days video tape as storage media is being rapidly replaced with media solutions like optical disks (dvd video cameras), hard disk drives (hdd video cameras) and solid-state memory.
Video Camera Types
All tape camcorders have removable media in the form of small video cassettes.
Solid-state camcorders can have removable media in the form of memory cards, or built-in memory, or both.
HDD camcorders usually have non-removable media in form of a hard disk drive.
Video cameras that use multiple types of media, like built-in HDD and memory card, are sometimes reffered to as hybrid camcorders.
Video Camera Popularity
The evolution of the camcorder has seen the growth of the video camera market as cost reductions and size reductions make new video cameras much more accessible to a wider audience. When they were first introduced, they were bulky shoulder-operated luggables that costed a considerable amount of money.
Digital Video Cameras
Video cameras generally contain 3 main components: the lens, the imager, and the recorder. Commonly, the optics and the imager are referred to as the camera section. You should consider all parts when buying a video camera.
Modern camcorders include Digital8, miniDV, DVD, Hard drive and solid-state (flash) memory, all of which record video in the more versatile, and portable, digital form.
Digital video storage, as an important milestone, was a major factor contributing to the huge number of sales that video cameras now enjoy.
MiniDV media storage allows full resolution video (720x576 for PAL), unlike the old analogue video standards. Digital video doesn't experience the old camera problems such as; colour bleeding, fade, or jitter.
Theoretically digital information can be stored indefinitely with zero deterioration on a digital storage device (ie. hard drive or DVD), but other types of media can have problems. Both analog and digital tape formats are prone to deterioration over time.
Video Camera Recording Media
Some recent camcorders record video on flash memory devices, Microdrives, small hard disks, and size-reduced DVD-RAM or DVD-Rs using MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 digital video formats.
Most other digital consumer camcorders record in DV or HDV format on tape and transfer content over FireWire (some use USB 2.0 as well) to your computer, where the large files (for DV, 1GB for 4 to 4.6 minutes in PAL/NTSC resolutions!) can be edited, converted and stored or distributed.
Hard disk camcorders are appearing more and more comon these days; JVC, Sony and Canon are the main brands of these video cameras. Increased storage capacity over other types of media is the main advantage with these hdd models; however, with this follows a slightly reduced image quality and loss of flexibility when compared to other formats such as MiniDV, making the ease of transferring the footage to a PC for quick editing the main attraction of hdd video cameras.
Video Camera Media Timeline
Video8 (1985): Small-format tape developed by Sony to compete with VHS-C's compact palm-sized design; similar to VHS or Betamax for quality, but not compatible. Obsolete.
S-VHS (1987): Largely used in high-end consumer and professional video camera equipment; rare among mainstream consumer camcorder equipment, and rendered obsolete by video camera gear like DigiBetacam and DV.
S-VHS-C (1987): An upgrade to provide near-laserdisc quality. Now limited to the low-end consumer market.
Hi8 (1988): Enhanced-quality Video8; roughly equivalent to Super VHS in quality, however not compatible. Now limited to low-end consumer market.
Tapeless: Low-end digital tapeless systems often use an MPEG-4 codec and flash memory;
high-end versions, on the other hand, store video data to hard disk, optical disc or solid-state memory.
MPEG-2 codec based format, which records MPEG-2 program stream or MPEG-2 transport stream to various kinds of tapeless media (hard disks, solid-state memory, etc). Used both for standard definition and high definition video camera recording.
H.264 codec based AVCHD format, which records MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) compressed video to various kinds of tapeless media (recordable optical discs, flash memory, hard disks, etc). Used mainly for high definition recording.
DV codec based:
MiniDV (1994) and several derivatives, including DVCPRO from Panasonic and DVCAM from Sony. DV records the highest quality pictures (generally agreed to be at or near broadcast-quality) on DV tapes that are easily transferable via Firewire / USB to personal computers. Though designed as a consumer standard, there is extensive use of MiniDV in low-budget film and television production.
Digital8 (1999) uses Hi8 tapes. Some models of Digital 8 cameras have the ability to read older Hi8 analog format tapes. The format's technical specifications are of the same quality as MiniDV (both use the same DV codec), and although no professional-level Digital8 equipment exists, D8 has been used to make TV and movie productions.
MPEG-2 codec based:
DVD (seeing the biggest market increases): Uses either Mini DVD-R or DVD-RAM. This is a multi-manufacturer standard that uses 8 cm DVD discs for 30 minutes of video. DVD-R can be played on consumer DVD players but cannot be added to or recorded over once finalised for viewing. DVD-RAM can be added to and/or recorded over, but cannot be played on many consumer DVD players, and costs a lot more than other types of DVD recordable media. DVD camcorders are generally not designed to connect to computers for editing purposes, though some high-end DVD units do record surround sound, a feature not standard with DV equipment.
HDV: Records up to an hour of HDTV MPEG-2 signal roughly equal to broadcast quality HD on a standard MiniDV cassette. |
Video Camera Models and Brands
The following camcorders are examples of popular models of video camera in the low to mid price range.
Samsung video cameras
VPDC171WI
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Sanyo video cameras
Xacti VPCCG6
VPCHD1A |
JVC video cameras
GZMG275
GZMG175
GZMG135 |
Canon video cameras
DC210
MV920
MD160
DC22
DC220
DC230 |
Panasonic video cameras
VDRD160
NVGS60
SDRS10
VDRD310
NVGS320
VDRD250
HDCDX1
NVGS180 |
Sony video cameras
DCRDVD608
DCRDVD610
DCRHC48
DCRHC48E
DCRHC38
DCRSR42
SDRH20
DCRSR62E
DCRSR82E
DCRHC96
HDRSR1
DCRDVD905 |
Video Camera Prices
Video camera prices on the Australian market vary in price from hundreds of dollars to many thousands of dollars depending purely on the type
of video camera your require for your professional or consumer purposes and the video media that you plan to use with it. However, I can tell you this...
For the best price video cameras what you need to do is research online and firstly find the type of video camera that meets your needs, you should check as many online electronic and gadget related sites as possible to do this. Once you find the type of video camera you should then narrow it down to a particular model or two specific models and then go back and cross reference the sites you researched and compare prices on that/those models for the best price video camera that you can buy. You will nearly always buy cheaper online, though you must make sure to count for delivery costs (plus other costs ie. extended warranty? delivery insurance?) in the total cost comparison.
Good luck with buying the best video camera for your needs at the best price.
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