What camcorder features do I need for family events?

What camcorder features do I need for family events?

Tim Smith (Camcorder Training Specialist) gives expert video advice on: What camcorder features do I need for making video blogs?; What camcorder features do I need for sports?; What camcorder features do I need for family events? and more...

If you're picking up a general purpose camcorder or something you're going pull out at July and Thanksgiving, then one of the features that manufactures today push are stronger zooms, but in family event environments, it's about shooting something wider. So, look for a camcorder in that case that gives you widest angle possible; that gives you as much more information in that view finder left to right as you can get. You want to get that whole Thanksgiving table in there and you want everybody in the picture. You don't want to have to keep panning around or moving the video to try to get all that information in. So, look for something that's really wide. Stabilisation plays big into shooting video in general so that's something you want as well, and again, what's your platform going to be.