Top HD Camcorders On The Market Today

HD camcorders come in a variety of price ranges and recording formats. They come in HD, HDV and mini-dv. In common everyday terms these stand for the kind of encoding these camcorders use to capture video. Mini-DV stands for mini digital video which is a small digital version of a video tape. HD stands for high definition and hdv stands for high definition video but it is important to note these are not the same. The space used on an HD camera is considerably more than that of an HDV camera.

Digital high definition camcorders use different formats for output. Some will output to DVD and others transfer straight to a hard drive or a computer drive. Depending on what you want to do with the videos will decide which kind you need to buy. The Canon HD camcorder models have both outputs.

The three most common levels of high definition camcorder are the professional, consumer and prosumer. Now you may be saying what are those? Well let me explain it to you as best I can in general terms. The consumer video cameras are geared toward just that, the average consumer like you and I. They are great for recording childrens sporting events, school plays and vacations with the family. The name of the game with this kind of camcorder is home movies and with a price tag of a couple hundred dollars you are well equipped to handle the rigors of family filming.

Now the level up from consumer is the prosumer camcorder models. These tend to be a videographers prime video camera which is someone who does professional recordings for a living. He would be the guy who took care of your wedding video or retirement party. Prosumer digital camcorders can also be used for low budget movies. They tend to be a better than average performing digital video HD camcorder that can do more than you or I would need.

The professional high definition digital video camera is the highest quality camera on the market and can be seen on movie sets and stages. This is a digital feature length filmmaker and can cost a hundred thousand dollars or more. If you are not a professional videographer or a filmmaker you will want to stick to the consumer level camera as this will do more than enough to satisfy your filming needs.