Making Movies: Tips for New Camcorder Owners

Have you just received your first camcorder? Here are the five things you need to know, plus predictions for the next year in video.

This is the time of year when new camcorder owners abound. They're wandering around excited about their new toy, but unsure what to do with it. Here are the five guidelines that I think every new camcorder owner should follow.

1. Learn about your camcorder. Every good artisan knows and understands their tools, and the camcorder is no different. You should spend some time using the camcorder, getting familiar with the controls, learning how to turn it on and off quickly, how to switch modes, etc. That way, when something worth videoing happens, you'll be ready to capture it for posterity.

2. Keep her steady. Nothing ruins a video more than a shaky camcorder; it's disorienting and it affects the video quality. So keep the camera as steady as you can by bracing it with both hands and leaning against a wall or fence.

3. Go into the light. Your eyes are better than your camcorder at adapting to low light. While your eyes can quickly adjust and see things in even the most dimly lit locations, your camcorder can't. So if you get the chance, shoot outdoors in the sunlight. If you can't, turn on as many indoor lights as you can without ruining that party ambience. Your videos will look much better with the extra light.

4. It's rude to point. One of the most common mistakes new home videographers make is rushing up to someone, pointing the camcorder in their face, and then wondering why the subject gets all uncomfortable. Many people are nervous being filmed, but here's how to help them feel more relaxed: Give them the camcorder. Before you start filming Auntie Doris, give her the camcorder for a minute so she can film you and get more comfortable with the idea of what the camcorder does. Then when you train the camera on her, she'll feel better about it. This works for kids, too: Pretty much every child I have shown a camcorder to has gotten a huge kick out of being the camera operator. And don't forget that you can always edit the results if they aren't that good...

5. Video editing software is your friend. You may think that a 3-hour video of guests coming and going from your holiday party is the most exciting thing in the world, but chances are that your family won't. Yes, you should shoot plenty of video, but take the time to edit it down to the most exciting bits afterward. Focus on the things that made the party memorable, and leave the minutiae of who arrived when for the historians.

Just follow those five rules, and the viewers of your videos will thank you. Happy videoing!

Now, on to a glance back at last year's predictions, and a look forward at what's likely to come in 2007...

Last Year's Predictions

About this time last year, I made a series of predictions for 2006. Let's look back and see how good my crystal ball was.

Prediction 1: More high-definition camcorders. Correct

It probably didn't take a rocket scientist to predict this, but I'm glad I was right: 2006 saw a slew of high-def camcorder releases from Sony and Canon, such as the HDR-HC3, the HDR-UX1, and the HV10. I also predicted that the prices of these camcorders would fall significantly, and again, I am pleased I was right: You can now pick up an HDV camcorder for less than a thousand bucks.

Prediction 2: More hard-drive-based camcorders. Correct

Sony jumped into this space with both feet, launching several camcorders that use hard drives instead of tapes to store video, like the high-def HDR-SR1 and the standard-def DCR-SR100.

Prediction 3: More integration with online video. Wrong

I predicted we'd see a camcorder that could cut the PC out of the equation, uploading video to the Internet without requiring a PC at all. We didn't see such a product, but we did see the new Pure Digital camcorder, which is close: It has built-in software that uploads the videos to Google Video when you plug it into a USB port. So we're partway there. Perhaps in 2007 someone will produce an add-on for a camcorder that uses Wi-Fi networks to upload videos.

Prediction 4: Video blogging goes mainstream. Correct

2006 was the year of the video blog, and I think such blogs officially became mainstream when Amanda Congdon (formerly of the video blog Rocketboom) got a job with ABC News, producing a video podcast for the news organization's Web site. Good for her: You can't get much more mainstream than that.

So that's three out of four--not bad. Here are my predictions for 2007.

Prediction 1: Other formats will outsell tape camcorders.

DVD and hard-drive camcorders sold like hotcakes in 2006, and I think that the trend will continue next year, with more people buying them than the more conventional MiniDV and HDV camcorders that use digital tape. I'll shed a tear about it myself, but it looks like videotape is a dying format, and I think that 2007 is the year when this demise will get serious.

Prediction 2: High-def camcorders won't outsell standard-def ones.

Though high-definition camcorders like the Canon HV10 are getting cheaper, they are still more expensive than standard-definition ones: Compare the $1000 HV10 to the $350 Elura 100. That low price means that standard-definition camcorders aren't going away.

Richard Baguley

Richard Baguley would like to see into the future just enough to figure out next week's lottery numbers. He blogs about camcorders and video at CamcorderInfo.com.

Subscribe to PC World Magazine