Emily Price Expert Guru
I worked as a Digital Imaging Specialist for an electronics retailer for 3 years before becoming a professional video editor for CBS in 2003. I own my own video production company and my thoughts of video and photography have been published in a variety of print and online publications.

Philosophy

Use this form to post feedback to this guru.

Channel Experience

 Gear/Gadgets
 Travel/Cities
 Internet/Web
 Entertain/Events
 Exercise/Fitness
 Relationship/Love
 Hobbies/Pets

Career Experience

 Copywriter
 Editor
 Script Writer

Project Experience

 Articles
 Tech Articles
 Video Content
 Keyword Research
 Press Releases
 Book

Industry Experience

 High Tech
 Software
 Publishing
 Entertainment
 Music
 Magazines

Most writers at LifeTips—or Gurus we call them—are available for writing assignments, special projects, or interviews with the press. Please describe exactly what you’re looking for, and an Agent will get back to you within hours.

Name: Phone: Email: Project Description:
	If you have difficulty identifying the words, click the button.

What Camcorder Format Should I Buy?

There are several different camcorder formats available. The camcorder format that is right for you depends on what you want to do with your camcorder:

MiniDV – Records on a small digital tape 60 minutes at a time. Camcorders can be connected to your computer afterwards for editing, or connected to your VCR or DVR and recorded onto a tape or DVD.

MiniDVD – DVD camcorders typically have shorter record times, around 30 minutes for single layer discs. DVDs can be immediately played back in a DVD player after recording. MiniDVDs do not work in slot loading DVD players and are typically very difficult to edit.

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) – Hard disk drive camcorders usually allow you to record a substantial about of time (5+ hours) before transferring video off of your camcorder and onto a computer. Video is usually easily transferred to a computer by dragging and dropping items from your camcorder to your desktop or editing program.

Know The Difference Between Optical and Digital Zoom

Many camcorder manufacturers will try to trick you into thinking you are getting a good zoom on your camcorder by having a high digital zoom when it is the optical zoom you need to pay attention to.

Optical zoom is the zoom your camcorder uses when the lens is actually focusing closer on the object.

Digital zoom is merely making the individual pixels in your picture larger rather than getting closer to an object. Digital zoom can make your video look out of focus and digitized, as well as enhance any movements you make. Most digital video professional disable the digital zoom on their camcorders.

Use a Microphone

An external microphone can make a dramatic impact on the quality of the sound in your video. The built-in camcorder microphone will typically pick up the sound up you pushing buttons on your camcorder, any movements you make, and sometimes even the sound of the tape moving inside the camcorder as you record. If you are recording an interview or someone speaking try attaching a small lavaliere microphone to their shirt, or sitting another microphone near the action to make sure you get the clearest sound possible.