Popular Products > Electronics > MiniDV Camcorder

When it comes to camcorders the preferred choice amongst professional photographers is the MiniDV. DV or Digital Video is the format, and MiniDV refers to the cassette size. The main advantage of MiniDV is its quality and compatibility with non-linear editing. You can transfer your footage to a non-linear editing machine with negligible quality loss.

The MiniDV allows you to save your footage as uncompressed RGB files, which provide superb picture clarity. In comparison, other camcorders compress the video while recording. Of course, the uncompressed file will be huge, so you need to have adequate hard disk space on your computer before transferring.

The MiniDV camcorders can be used for home and personal use, as well as for professional use. For professional use, good editing is required, and MiniDV footage is tailor-made for high-end editing. Several electronic media including news channels now use MiniDV for its easy-to use mechanism and uncompromised post production quality.

Another advantage of MiniDV camcorders is that they allow up to 60 minutes of recording on a single cassette, as opposed to 22 minutes in DVD camcorders. The recording time can also be extended to 90 minutes by changing the setting from default SP (Standard Play) mode to LP (Long Play) mode. However, it is recommended that you don’t change the setting in the same tape once you have started recording in SP mode, as this may lead to glitches and drop frames. Also, recording in LP mode gives slightly poorer quality than in SP mode.

Using a MiniDV camcorder is a breeze and, once you have mastered the art of framing and zooming, you can shoot some very professional-looking videos. For home use, you need not bother about focus and white balance, as these adjustments are automatic in most MiniDV camcorders. There is also a provision for changing the settings to manual and hence, if you are a professional photographer, you can change the settings according to your lighting. Some MiniDV camcorders are also equipped with a focus ring to give you personal control over your focus.

MiniDV tapes can be rewritten, and so you can record on a cassette, transfer the footage to your computer and then record fresh footage on the same cassette. Though this is ideal for home use, if you are using it professionally, a new cassette is recommended every time.

You can add style to your home videos and with a little understanding of video editing software (this is usually provided along with the camcorders or is available as default software with several recent operating systems) you can make a slick movie or a music video with professional-looking clarity.