The Best Video Camera . But what really makes it better than your phone and worth carrying around is its form factor. Unlike a difficult- to- grip phone or a large DSLR, a video camera is actually designed for extended shooting from a variety of angles. If you’re planning on recording something for an extended period of time, like a sporting event or a vacation video—or anything at an odd angle that would otherwise require you to squat or stretch to see the screen, like a baby’s first steps—a video camera with a rotating screen, superior zoom capabilities, quick autofocus, and a high- quality microphone will be a godsend. More on this later. If you want a simpler point- and- shoot video experience in a smaller package, the $3. Canon Vixia HF R6. Although the video and audio quality isn’t quite as good as the Panasonic, it’s still light years ahead of a cell phone, and it comes in a compact, easy to use package that will slip into a coat pocket or bag when you aren’t using it. It also captures better quality sound and video than other video cameras. If you can track one down for cheaper, last year’s Panasonic HC- V7. K is essentially identical to the V7. K. Excluding some rather minor features you’re probably unlikely to rely on (a new HDR video mode, a switch from mini HDMI to micro HDMI), they’re pretty much the same camera. So if you can find last year’s model for a notably lower price somewhere, then it’s probably worth picking up. Table of contents. Why you should trust me. I’ve spent more than 2. Reviewed. com, PCWorld, and a number of other other fine publications. ![]() ![]() I designed and revised most of the testing used by Reviewed. Suffice to say, if it has buttons on it, I’ve probably reviewed it at some point over the last 2. This wide- ranging experience has taught me how to figure out not just how tech works, but how tech impacts people’s lives. My experience informs how the features that products offer can become useful (or, more often, not useful) when they get into users’ hands. ![]() Who should get this? A video camera represents the best of many worlds when it comes to recording video. It’ll give you video quality and a zoom that a smartphone can’t match.
It is easier to use and able to record longer footage than other camera types, and it has better built- in sound than a DSLR (more on this later). If you’re planning on shooting a whole day of video, a video camera is designed to be comfortable to hold for extended bouts of filming. Video cameras hold a particular attraction to parents, especially those with new kids. Every parent wants to save their child’s first words and steps permanently; thanks to the rotating screen, you won’t be forced to bend all the way down to record them. And the long zoom also means that once they grow up, you can record their onstage or sporting debut from a distance away. A little digital readout of your WiFi signal strength. It can also show you the name of the network you're connected to, or the signal strength as a raw. So if you want to record all the major events of a childhood and want a device where you can see your child bright and clear, regardless if they’re across the room or the other end of a sporting field, a video camera is the way to go. Why not a smartphone?“Hey,” you may say, “why do I need a video camera? I’ve got a cell phone that takes video!” That’s a fair point: for casual shooting a cell phone is fine. But cell phone video is all about limitations: A decent video camera does things that no cell phone or tablet can do. As anyone who’s attempted to record a performance on their smartphone knows, that’s somewhere your i. Phone can falter. The most obvious of these is the quality, because as anyone who’s attempted to record a performance on their smartphone knows, that’s somewhere your i. ![]() Phone can falter. A video camera has a lens and sensor that are far, far better than the one in your phone, because both are bigger. The video camera can gather more light, which makes for better quality video when the sun is out and doubly so when things start to dim. Compression is another part of what makes the footage look good. Cell phones and tablets squish your video down as tight as a lemon in a citrus juicer. With video, once you’ve lost quality by squishing it down, you’ll never get it back. By comparison, camcorders use less compression, which means better quality and the ability to edit the video later. ![]() Sure, the less compressed video will take up more space, but with SD cards being very affordable, that’s not a huge worry. The models we looked at can use memory cards of 3. GB in size, enough to hold hours of video. Unless you’re packing 1. GB or so, your cell phone or tablet probably won’t have that much available space after accounting for music, apps, movies, and everything else. The lens on your cell phone is built to fit into the limited size of your phone, which means it can’t zoom. Latest trending topics being covered on ZDNet including Reviews, Tech Industry, Security, Hardware, Apple, and Windows. From Wifichannelscanner: WiFi Channel Scanner gives you detailed views of all WiFi wireless hotspots around you. WiFi Channel Scanner is a free WiFi network scanning. By contrast, the video cameras that we tested offer zooms of up to 5. While your cell- phone- shooting friends are taking videos of the back of each other’s heads at the school play, you are zooming in on the adorable actor that just happens to be your child. Of course, a smartphone or tablet is fine for the odd selfie or video—they are easy to carry and shoot with when you need them. But if you want your video to be more than a cute five- second clip on Facebook, a video camera is what you need; modern video cameras are small and light enough that they won’t weigh you down. Why not use an SLR?“Ahah!” I hear you cry. If you want to do both, then they are a great hybrid option. However, they can involve serious compromises when it comes to audio and video. In particular, dedicated video cameras offer major advantages for sound, focusing, zoom, and clip length. The microphones on DSLR and mirrorless cameras are often an afterthought, capturing weak sound and often picking up the sound of the camera itself—and some don’t have options for external microphones, either. By contrast, video cameras offer glorious stereo (or better) sound, and some have zoom microphones that work alongside the zoom lenses to pick up sound from a smaller angle in front of the camera as you zoom in. Using a video camera means you’ll actually be able to hear the specific thing that you’re recording, rather than being drowned out in background noise. Another problem with cameras is that they tend to have issues with focusing while recording: they can only do it slowly. Unless you do what the pros do and pre- focus manually, you are going to get blurry video while the camera see- saws back and forth to lock on focus and struggles to catch up. Video cameras include dedicated focus sensors that work continuously, quickly shifting the focus to adapt as you move the camcorder around. You also won’t see anything like a video camera’s zoom on an SLR. The kit lens of your camera is probably a 2 or 3 times zoom—and even most expensive telephoto lenses will cap out long before the 2. Unless you’re right in the midst of the action, the zoom on a video camera will be much more useful than that on a DSLR. If you’ve ever wanted to record a music recital or a play, a DSLR will leave you hanging, because it won’t be able to record the whole thing. Many cameras can only shoot clips of 1. Video cameras can shoot for as long as there is space on the memory card. On a camera like the Canon HF5. GB memory card. But if you’re interested in the more artistic side of filmmaking, where you can use interchangeable lenses and get a narrow depth of field, and you are willing to work around the focusing problems and record video in shorter chunks, a DSLR might be a better bet. How we picked and tested. Compared to a few years ago, the range of video cameras available to buy has shrunk to all but nothing. With the popularity of cell phones, the manufacturers have cut their selections down, focusing on a few models aimed at those who want more than a cell phone can offer. That’s the middle ground that we looked for here: video cameras that offer better quality and a wider range of features than smartphones but don’t require that you spend a fortune. Our research revealed that camcorders ranged from $3. Above that are the professional and serious user models that offer features like 4. K shooting, but are more complicated than what most people need. Go much cheaper than $3. To pick our contenders, we first looked for existing reviews. However, we found a scarcity of good information out there; many sites have stopped reviewing video cameras. CNET, for instance, hasn’t reviewed a non- action video camera for over a year (even the JVC Everio GZ- R1. There are still some sites out there that are reviewing these devices, though, such as Reviewed. Consumer Reports, and Top Ten Reviews. From this list, we eliminated action cameras (covered separately by Brent Rose here) and products that cost more than about $9. If you are spending that much on a video camera, you are a serious video maker and need a different class of video camera. Digging through these reviews led us to a shortlist of 1. Based on the name, you might assume that the Canon Vixia HF R5. Canon Vixia HF R5. They aren’t; the only significant difference is that the R5. GB of built- in memory and a Wi. Fi interface. Otherwise, the two models are identical even sharing the same manual.)After some discussion, we focused on models that did not include built- in memory. Although built- in memory does have some advantages (it offer lots of capacity, and you can add even more with an SD card), it is more expensive than going without and just recording straight to SD card. We also removed models that had gimmicky extra features, like shooting in two directions at once. For our hands on testing in 2. Canon Vixia HF R5. Panasonic HC- V7. K and the $2. 90 Sony Handycam HDR- CX3. We borrowed or bought these models to put through a series of tests. Since then, both Canon and Panasonic have replaced these units with newer ones, but that are all but identical from what we can tell, except for maybe some minor new shooting settings and a new model number. The Canon Vixia HF R5. Canon VIXIA HF R6. Panasonic HC- V7. K followed the V7.
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