What should I look for in a camcorder?
Well, price is obviously the first consideration for most and, I think, what you're going to find now is that camcorders are extremely affordable, anywhere from the low 200s on up to very expensive. But all of them basically do the same thing. All of them will deliver your memories to tape or let you relive those moments on tape. But there's some features you really need to think about. Zooms are a big part. Some cameras are 1 power zooms or 2 power zooms. What are you going to be shooting? Do you shoot soccer? Do you shoot sports? Then a zoom becomes important. Stabilization is another feature that's always probably talked about during a sales presentation, but it's a really important feature and there's different kinds of stabilization so you want to spend some time with your sales person determining which one is best for you. But stabilization is a feature that absolutely is a must. And then, how good is the image. Images do vary. They all do a pretty good job these days regardless of model or regardless of price. You'll probably be impressed with the image you get on every level of camera but, obviously, picture quality goes into price so the more you budget, the better image you're going to get. And then again, format. You want something that is future proof. Something that you are going to be able to see or, at least, transfer to whatever the next big thing is in terms of storage of media. If it's a format that's been around for a few years, you're gonna save some money but you may find yourself in a couple of more years having to buy something new and then spending the time transferring all that over so you need to consider all of that when you're shopping for a camcorder.
