Home video making is extremely popular, mainly as technology has improved and made the use of recording devices much easier. The first recorders were, well, huge so you had to be extremely well planned to make sure you had it on hand when you needed it. Today with the popularity of sites such as YouTube home video is now mass market. This has been aided by the quality of digital camcorders and mobile phones.

Today’s digital camcorders are super powerful with extremely good picture quality and zoom. They come with image stabilizers, face recognition and much much more. However within the current range of models there are a wide variety of features and models so below is a quick buyers guide to help you pick the best digital camcorder for your needs.

Small And Simple= Choose a Digital Camcorder with flash media

If your looking for complete ease of use and transport then selecting a camcorder with flash media is a must. These models are generally the smaller slimline models and will easily be held in a pocket or small bag. The quality of picture is not as good as with the normal (larger) sized options but if you will be recording holidays or small clips this should fit your needs. Due to the reduced size you will normally find that extra gadgets will be vastly reduced as the technology cant fit inside such a small case.

Longer time filming with lots of extras= Hard Drive Digital Camcorder

Normally referred to as a HDD Camcorder the memory is held within the case on a hard drive. The size is actually quite bigger than a flash media option but still very small compared to older versions. The increased size allows a vast memory capacity meaning that you can literally video for hours without having to worry about running out of space. Most digital camcorders in this range will allow you to view and delete scenes on the screen, they will come with loads of gadgets aswell allowing you to add a little bit extra whilst filming. Have a look at the different memory capacities so you will always have enough space to film when you need it.

Extras to consider

Battery
All digital camcorders will come with a battery however, they are normally the basic version of battery so if you want to do more lengthy filming you might want to look at the battery life of your standard option. Standard batteries can last under a few hours so if you are filming something longer than that time you need to look for a better or second battery. Most camcorders will state the battery time on them so have a good look before you purchase.

Bags
Really a must have if you are spending good money on a new camcorder. Most bags on the market are ulti functional and you can fit your still camera in with your camcorder. You can normally also fit in spare batteries, SD Cards etc if you need them.

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