Understanding your video equipment

Pt. 1 of 4 | 6:10 |

How do I - Shoot better videos

Monday February 21, 2011

The

type of video camera

that you use greatly affects the

quality of your video

. While there are many

video cameras and devices

that you can use to

record video

, like an

iPhone, cell phone or digital camera

, unless you've got a device that's dedicated to shooting video then quality is going to take a hit.

Digital camcorders

are your best bet, but we'll talk about your different options in this episode.

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Show Notes

Throughout this series, we'll be giving you some pointers on

how to shoot better video

but in this episode, we'll be focusing on the equipment you'll need. While there are a number of things you can do to

improve your video quality

, your equipment will ultimately play a big part.

Most people have a cell phone that is capable of shooting video. While it is possible to shoot video with a cell phone, the sensor is not all that great, the quality is generally low and you don't get a whole lot of options. The next step up and a much better option would be a dedicated video camera like the Flip Video Ultra HD or Mino HD. These all-in-one devices are compact and capable of shooting HD video in 720p. On the downside, the quality isn't the best, especially in low-light conditions, and their small size can make for a shaky video.

Another option available is to shoot video with your still image camera. Many digital cameras that are out now offer some form of video capture and some are even capable of capturing video in HD. However, it's important to note that these cameras are more focused on shooting still images and the video quality is still not the greatest.

The next step would be to shoot video using a video camcorder. Products like the Samsung HMX-T10 allow you to save your videos onto SD cards which means you can always have additional memory available to you. Some camcorders have built-in hard drives which is good because it will generally have a fairly high capacity but bad because you can't upgrade or replace it. One benefit to shooting with camcorders is that they allow for more stability which means less camera shake.

When looking to buy a new video camera, try and make audio quality a consideration. Poor audio quality can distract from the high quality of your video. Built-in microphones are often lower quality and are limited by being attached to the camera. Many video cameras have microphones or other similar accessories that can help you boost the quality of your audio.

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