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Video Camera Buying Guide

By Mark Henry, ABWE Video Producer

There have been and continue to be, many different kinds (i.e. formats) of camcorders on the market. First, a little history. In the early days of consumer-level camcorders, the VHS format was the most common. These camcorders were large and heavy since they used the large VHS tapes. The tapes were compatible with the VCR’s that more and more people were buying for their homes. In the mid-1980’s, Sony invented the 8mm video format (not to be confused with 8mm movie film). These cameras were remarkably smaller because the 8mm video cassettes were very compact (slightly larger than an audio cassette). These cameras became very popular because of their small size plus the fact that the tapes would hold as much video footage as the bigger VHS (i.e. 2 hours). However, the 8mm tapes could not be played back in the ubiquitous VHS players in peoples’ homes. So, it was necessary to connect the 8mm camcorder directly to one’s TV in order to watch the video. In response to Sony’s wildly popular 8mm format, JVC (the inventors of the VHS format), came out with the VHS-C format. The “C” stood for “compact.” It was still VHS in all respects, just in a smaller tape cassette; and these compact cassettes could be played back in a VHS player using an adaptor. This resulted in much smaller camcorders but the tapes could only hold 30 mins. of video footage.

Both VHS and 8mm video formats are the bottom of the barrel as far as inherent video image quality is concerned. Therefore, I do not recommend purchasing a camera in either of these formats. Also, since these are old, obsolete analog formats, they are harder and harder to find new. In the late 1980’s, higher-quality versions of VHS and 8mm were developed; they were called S-VHS, S-VHS-C and Hi8. These formats, in my opinion, have good enough inherent quality for missionary video production. So, if you already have one in working order and are not in the market for a new camcorder, you could use one of these formats. Both Sony and JVC continue to market new Hi8 and S-VHS-C camcorders, respectively; but, if you are planning to buy a new camcorder I would not recommend either of these analog formats.

In the mid-1990’s a revolutionary new video format was introduced, called MiniDV (DV stands for digital video). Though it was initially marketed for the average consumer, the quality was so good that its biggest fans were semi-professionals, professionals and even major broadcast companies. This is the format I am currently recommending to our missionaries. There are other digital video formats on the market. Sony markets what it calls Digital 8. This is a digital format just like the MiniDV format, but uses Hi8 tapes. These cameras will also play back regular 8mm and Hi8 analog tapes. According to the documentation, these cameras are capable of the same high quality as the MiniDV cameras but tend to use lesser quality components (such as lenses). Sony also created the MicroMV tape format. It is digital but uses a different encoding technology than MiniDV and Digital 8. Consumer cameras that use DVD media are now on the market. There are also camcorders that use a built-in hard drive for storing video or solid-state memory cards, similar to those used in digital still cameras. These tapeless formats are still relatively new, so I’m not recommending any of them at this time.

No matter what camcorder you buy, you need to look for one that has certain features that I believe are necessary for you to shoot good quality footage.

These features are:

The following are essential add-ons to your camera kit: