Window Shopper

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

In the process of looking for a camcorder, we noticed that it is very important to find out if the item is good for just television or it will also hook up to a computer. That’s really important to us. Some folks will want theirs to simply be available to see the latest family vacation but in our case, the camcorder is needed for uploading videos online. We like to put ours on a couple of places that have video capabilities. My husband found out about this distinction at a camera counter when he asked a few questions.

You will want to know, then, if it works on both or just the television. How much charge does the battery hold? How long will it record before it runs down? How much memory does the camera have? How long will it record before it is full? Unlike regular cameras that have a certain video function, camcorders record for a lot longer. Ours works for 90 minutes before it needs to have the content downloaded. In addition, we purchased a 4 gig. memory card. This was recommended.

If you have experience in videos, it’s likely that you know these things already. We have no experience. This is all new to us. We did notice one glaring thing about recording videos. You will need to have something that steadies your hand since the slightest movement of your hand will show up on the video looking like the earth is shaking. For that, we spent a bit more money and bought a tripod that is going to save our recordings for certain. Buying a tripod is well worth the few dollars if you are serious about doing good videos.

These are just a few things to look for. Do your research!!! Don’t just run out and buy the first thing you see. For us, that would have cost us almost $50 more than we paid. Also, sometimes it’s a blessing when one company or store does not have the item you’re looking for. A well known, worldwide discount store did not have what we wanted. I searched online. My husband searched as well. We found what we wanted only to see that it was not available just yet. Out of stock. Seemed discouraging at first. Then, we found the identical item for about $20 cheaper at another well known online store and a bonus too, free shipping!!! All in all, we saved almost $70 just by doing the research, knowing what we wanted and then watching the prices to get the best all around price and free shipping.ey

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Now, to most people this is not a big deal. They can afford to buy such things and have been able to for years. Some people even told me that they didn’t see the problem with buying such things. Well, when you are on a seriously strained budget, it is a really hard thing to accomplish. However, we dug into some money we were saving for something else and bit the bullet.

One of the things we have realized over the last year is that more and more, people and companies are heading toward videos for advertising instead of using the same old pictures or simple text on a page. Since we do accept paid blogging as part of our income, it was not a stretch to see that we would have to head into the twenty first century with everyone else. It was a reluctant step in many ways since we certainly could have used that money for other things. After all, we have had some serious outlay in the last three months due to hospital and doctor visits.

I have been wanting a camcorder since the old, heavy camcorders were out on the market. You know what I’m talking about, right? They were heavy, used video tape and took two hands to hold it in order to video something. The tape was standard size and when you were finished, you simply took it out of the camcorder and put it into the vhs player to watch. Very nice…for that time. I missed that whole era since the only one of those available to me was something my father had years ago and was actually unavailable since it was broken or had been sold in a yard sale years ago. I have no idea which was the case. The end result was that I did not have a camcorder to use.

It was always a wish to have such a piece of equipment and got even more so as two of our beloved pets died before we could record them in any way except a few pictures off and on over the years. Even our digital camera failed us since it was so cheap that it would not take good pictures in a slightly dark room. No light means no picture, period.

Now we have a very small, hand held camcorder since that is the way they come these days. You can hold it in one hand, if you don’t shake. I do so we also obtained a tripod which I am certain we will use abundantly. Our plan is to get as many pictures and videos of people and things we treasure as possible. That means that we will have large numbers of videos of our cat, I imagine. Funny but true. But it also means that we will be able to look back and see some of the times that we love too. It is a shame that we could not have done this a couple of years ago. It would have been so much better for the two we lost.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

In case you have not noticed, this is the age of the video. People are doing videos for all sorts of reasons. Our nieces love Alvin and the Chipmunks so they look at videos with that. I love old music and I was surprised to find that I could listen to it on a video because lots of the old television shows were put onto a video to preserve them. And someone puts them up for me to find. And, of course, I love my gospel music as well. What I did not know was that you can find nearly anything that you want on a video.

The problem we found was that since it is the age of the videos, sometimes you just need to do one of your own. Now, my laptop has a really great program that makes videos. Well, I would make the video. It just stores all the info, gives me the graphics to use for transitions and making titles and credits. I love it. I have ventured into making one or two of them. One was good but the sound was really crappy because we used the only thing available…a webcam. I am not thrilled with those. They are tethered to the computer so you have very little wiggle room. And the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. So, what do we do? We step into where some of the rest of the country has already been, a camcorder. Now, when I started looking at these little gems a bunch of years ago, they recorded a video tape. That gives you a small clue about how long ago that might be.

Anyway, these days, those things are tiny and much less expensive than they used to be. Recently, we found out that we were going to need one for a video we need to make and soon. I got into a search for a camcorder right away. There are so many out there. Of course, there are many recognizable brand names out there but there are some that I have never heard of that seem to be pretty good too. We ordered one. Should be here next week. I do not know how well it will work but for the price, if it just gets the job done, it will be worth it. Time will tell.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!