All Camcorders Not Created Equal

Another issue for would-be camcorder buyers is audio. Most camcorders have stereo microphones in the front, which makes sense for capturing audio from whatever you're shooting. But a lot of them have their mikes on top, which is great for capturing your own wheezing as you hike up a hill. (Supposedly, notes Angela, it's a cultural thing: the Japanese like microphones on top of the camera because they like to narrate what they're shooting.)

Ideally, says Steve, camcorder audio would use a narrow-angle shotgun mike on the top of the camera or, better still, a mike that you can place close to your subject. (In an alternate universe, the cameras caught the look on Angela's face at the thought of carrying around a shotgun mike with her camcorder.) Audio is, the Duo conclude, the real weak link with most of these cameras; if you're serious about sound, make sure any camera you get has a microphone input--and a headphone jack so you can hear what you're getting.

Whatever your priorities for your video, you're likely to care quite a bit about battery life. If your batteries run out just when your kid has that life-changing meeting with Goofy at Disney World, it could be a major disappointment. Angela cites a simple rule that can apply to batteries in just about all consumer electronics: all things being equal, bigger batteries last longer. So, counsels Steve, pick up a spare when you purchase your camcorder and, if possible, buy a bigger battery than the one that comes with the camera.

Steve then turns his attention to one of life's little imponderables: what, exactly, the battery-life indicator on your camcorder is supposed to indicate. The cameras' own estimates as to remaining juice are, as most owners will attest, wildly erratic: you'll be going along with an hour left on the meter, and all of a sudden the thing starts blinking frantically to tell you you've only got a minute left--and that's generally wrong, too.

But the wackiness doesn't end there. There are also differences in image quality among cameras, though you're more apt to notice them in side-by-side comparisons. Lenses differ, and so do the image sensors inside the various camcorder lines.

One big difference among the sensors is whether you get one chip or three doing the imaging. In theory, three do a much better job, especially in reproducing colors. Until recently, three-chip sensors were not to be found in cameras costing less than a thousand dollars. Now Panasonic has brought them down to cameras as cheap as $600. But Steve says he's tested single-chip models that give the three-chippers a run for their money, and again, you notice the difference mostly in side-by-side comparisons that you're not likely to be making.

Just about all camcorders can also double as still cameras--though the Duo note with disdain that few models make that handy image-stabilization feature available in still mode. Low-end cameras take pictures at 640 by 480 resolution; that's not even good enough for a standard 4-by-6-inch print. For more money, you can find models that can do 1- or 2-megapixel images, which are okay but not great--though certainly better than 1- or 2-megapixel camera phones, since you get a much better lens that can actually focus. Models at 3 megapixels and more are available at the top of the line.