How to Choose a New Video Camera

One question that I get asked over and over again is:

“What camera should I get?”

In this day and age, even for anyone who’s completely involved and surrounded by the film industry, it’s practically impossible to keep up with every single new camera from every single company. It’s just as well that many companies release new cameras all the time. And even as much as I like geeking out and doing a bit of research on new products, I really do get asked this question more often than you might think.

So that’s why I’m writing this little guide. I’m not going to suggest actual brands or specific models; instead I’ll talk about the different new technologies that have come out in recent years, and what to look for when choosing a new camera.

Now, I’m writing this from the perspective (or at least for the perspective) of the amateur filmmaker: someone who’ll potentially use it to create “art” in the form of a steady narrative, and nothing too experimental.

Features That You Absolutely NEED

These features are ranked by priority. Flash memory is the most important, manual focus is the least.

Flash memory – Trust me, this might be the most important thing when choosing a new camera. When we switched from our old camera to our new one, the flash memory stick was one of the best new features. We were using Mini-DV for so long that we hadn’t noticed the huge amount of time it ate up in post. Flash is as easy as sliding the card out of the camera, plugging it into your computer or a card reader, and dragging and dropping your video clips. You can quickly and easily review what you shot, and delete clips or portions of clips. It’s super productive. Once you try flash, you’ll never go back.

At least 1280×720 – Standard definition is dead. You want a camera that can record in HD. Even many of the cheapest cameras support at least 720p; even better if you can get one with 1080p. Despite what you’ve heard, most of the new HD codecs are very easy to work with; or at least they’re easy to convert to meet your needs. They’re also very good at compressing your footage while still keeping it sharp and at a high bitrate. So at the very least, you’ll want HD to future-proof your videos.

24p – If you’re serious about filmmaking, you’ll want progressive mode and 24 frames per second. This is the closest representation to actual film as you can get in a digital camera.

Manual Focus – Auto focus is bad. Manual focus is at least really, really useful.

Features That Some Of You Might Care About

Focus ring – While many consumer cameras do have manual focus, it can only be accessed via a menu system, or a slider, or something else that’s not very intuitive. A focus ring is important if you care about being able to move from one focal point to another, in a single shot. If you can’t find/afford a camera with a focus ring, well then, you can always mod your camera:

Photo courtesy of PadawanGeek

Overcranking / Undercranking – Sure, this is only used as a stylistic device, but I’ve found it to be one that I like to use a lot with our new camera (even if I’m only pushing it slightly faster or slower than normal). Even better would be the ability to ramp your fps during a shot (as in, gradually change from one frame rate to another, thus causing your footage to move from normal speed to slow motion, or fast motion, all in-camera!), but cameras with that ability can be expensive.

Sensor size – This is a big one and definitely a deal breaker for those of you who care about low light, less noise, and higher dynamic range and color space. But this is also one that will cost you money. As a bit of cautionary advice, many lower end camcorders squeeze the same amount of pixels onto a smaller sensor, causing your image to not appear as sharp as it could be.