What are some additional features I should look for in a camcorder?

What are some additional features I should look for in a camcorder?

Tim Smith (Camcorder Training Specialist) gives expert video advice on: How do I decide which camcorder to buy?; What factors should I consider when comparing one camcorder to another?; What camcorder features are unnecessary? and more...

When you're looking for a camcorder, you're looking for some pretty obvious things, like zooms and things like that. But if you dig a little bit deeper, you find some really neat features in today's camcorders. One of them might be even something as simple as a built-in lens cap. And it may sound like a little thing at the time, but the idea that it's built-in, and doesn't disappear, plays a big deal for you. Or digital effects in a camcorder. The ability to do a little bit of creative stuff inside a camcorder. If you're someone that doesn't like to add it, and you want to jazz up your video, there's tricks you can do inside a camcorder to make it more interesting, and those features are in there. The other thing you need to look at is battery life. Battery life is a feature of a camera, so which ones produce the best--give you the most run time? And that's a function of not only the battery, but the camera. So those kind of subtle features really have to be considered when you're in the market for a camcorder.