To find a great pocket camcorder, you might be tempted to go with an obvious choice (with a solid share of the market, Flip (TM) is hard to escape). To be sure, those cameras are fine for the amateur needing a quick camera for a simple shoot. If you want more features for the same, often less, money – you should consider some of the following features.
Memory Capabilities – Hard-wired or Expandable?
The memory capacity of your pocket camcorder will depend on the ability to expand the memory (or not in some cases), usually using a flash card (available in sizes from 4GB to 32GB in most cases). If your camera is using film, you might want to return it to the T-Rex you stole the camera from. You’ve been sold a fossil.
Now, with flash memory, you can use a card that can record hours of film, and that can be recorded over repeatedly without losing the quality of the film recorded.
Are the Necessary Accessories Included?
Without getting into a laundry list of what you should receive in every package, it sure is nice to have the following:
- Case or Clip to Carry
- Lens Cap
- Extra Batteries or Recharge Accessories (wall chargers or the like)
- Extra Flash Memory Cards
- Tripod
It might seem like a bit much to ask, but only if you’re used to being nickeled and dimed with other big brands.
Can it Export to Mac?
Obviously this only matters if you own Mac products, otherwise be aware you will need to find a workaround for this issue (there are a number of PC emulators and video software available for extra cost).
What About Video Quality?
This seems like an obvious point, and it really is. The truth is that you want to be sure you have full HD, look for 1080p. Some will say that you need to have optical zoom versus digital zoom – in most cases this is true, but in the pocket camcorder arena this is difficult to find.
Look for image stabilizers, as well as other features like slow motion and motion detection (a nice feature for using the camera as a surveillance device).
