- Q. What is Mini DV?
- Mini DV is the current format by which most camcorders store captured video footage. It is a ¼ inch metal evaporated tape in a housing 1/12 of the size of a standard VHS. The construction of the tape allows for a high quality recording that is long lasting.
- Q. What is Firewire and how do I know if my Camcorder and Computer are compatible?
- Firewire (akaIEEE1394) is the industry standard for Digital Video transfer as it is a fast enough connection to cope with the levels of data transfer necessary to capture DV footage in real-time. There are two main types of Firewire cable, 4 pin to 4 pin and 4 pin to 6 pin. Which one you require depends very much on the connection on your computer. If Firewire is present then 4 pin to 6 pin usually fits Desktop computers whereas 4 pin to 4 pin tends to fit laptops, see below.
If your computer doesn’t have a Firewire board built in then a PCI board can be bought separately.
- Q. Will Firewire help me record footage to and from my Computer?
- The Firewire port on your computer is a bi-directional connection. If you have DV in/out on your camcorder then you would be able to both, transfer to your computer and back to the camcorder. If your camcorder has only DV out then you will only be able to capture footage to your computer.
- Q. I’ve noticed that some of the camcorders take memory cards…what are these for?
- Some camcorders have the facility to take and store stills to, either the tape or an additional memory card. If stored on a card then the stills can be transferred to a computer via USB. Some camcorders with this feature will also take movie clips at a high compression, which are ideal for e-mailing.
- Q. How long is the battery going to last?
- Using the battery supplied you should get about 1hr 45mins of continuous use if using the viewfinder. If using the LCD screen then battery life will be reduced to about 1hr. For most camcorder models there are higher powered alternatives available.
Fault Finding
- Q. My camera won’t record what’s wrong.
- A. Check the protection tab is not in the write protect position on the tape. Check the tape is securely wound on the spools and not kinked or worse all round the inside of your camera. Replace tape if this is the case.
- Q. Wind Noise
- A. A fluffy microphone will cut down the wind noise. You can buy ad-on microphones if your camcorder has either an external microphone socket or a hot-shoe mount. If it has a hot shoe mount you may also want to use a method of isolating the microphone from the camera to further reduce noise. The best type are microphones that are isolated from the camera on a shock mount, if you don’t own one you can make a shock mount to reduce noise here.
- Q. Batteries not lasting
- There are several things to check if you have poor battery performance.
The battery may be old and nearing the end of its life, even rechargeable batteries need replacing eventually.
The charger may not be delivering a charge to your battery properly, check the contacts are clean and if possible try charging another battery, if this does not charge then it is most likely to be the charger,
The battery may not be holding a charge and may be faulty. Try charging another battery to check it charges ok. IF it does you know it’s the battery at fault.
- Q. Out of focus or soft images
- Check your lens for smears and clean it, or it may be you have manual focus selected.
- Q. Blurry shaky images?
- A. Use a tripod, it probably hand shake, you could try turning on any lens stabilization your camera has to help with shake. You should always use a tripod where possible.
- Q. My memory card wont record images why?
- A. See make a shock mount to reduce noise here.
- Q. Batteries not lasting
- There are several things to check if you have poor battery performance.
The battery may be old and nearing the end of its life, even rechargeable batteries need replacing eventually.
The charger may not be delivering a charge to your battery properly, check the contacts are clean and if possible try charging another battery, if this does not charge then it is most likely to be the charger,
The battery may not be holding a charge and may be faulty. Try charging another battery to check it charges ok. IF it does you know it’s the battery at fault.
- Q. Out of focus or soft images
- Check your lens for smears and clean it, or it may be you have manual focus selected.
- Q. Blurry shaky images?
- A. Use a tripod, it probably hand shake, you could try turning on any lens stabilization your camera has to help with shake. You should always use a tripod where possible.
- Q. My memory card wont record images why?
- A. See card maintenance in memory card section.
- Q. The scene is too high key or too bright and my camcorder cant cope what can I do?
- A. You may be able to find a neutral density filter, which lowers the contrast in the scene without affecting colours so the camera can use its normal shooting settings.
Good Maintenance
Clean your cameras lens with a specialist lens cleaner cloth or a lens pen. The ideal would be not to let it get dirty in the first place, be aware or your fingers and where the lens is, a dirty or smeary lens will only produce soft or out of focus images.
Periodically run a head cleaning tape through your camera to ensure that it records exactly what the lens sees and not add noise through a dirty head.
