DV or HDV? Digital Camcorder Comparison.

Laura Martone
June 2005

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I have a confession to make. My husband and I are film festival junkies. We thrive on viewing films and videos -- whether short experimental pieces or feature-length documentaries -- long before their potential distribution among the masses. We especially love to see how modern filmmakers and videographers have embraced the latest camera technologies. So, every winter, we make the long drive from our home in Los Angeles to Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival.

Though the increasingly commercialized gathering isn't the ultimate litmus test for the most popular formats and innovations, it's been rather exciting, in recent years, to note the escalating prevalence of stories shot via DV and HDV camcorders. Given their compact nature, affordable tape stock, good sound capability and such improvements as low-light CCDs, 24x optical zooms and 24p cinematic modes, it's no surprise that many amateurs and professionals have been trading in their film cameras for the latest in DV and HDV technology.

This year, consumer and prosumer digital video cameras have evolved by leaps and bounds. With each technological advance comes a wider range of choices, and, if you're anything like us, you might find yourself a bit overwhelmed by the sheer variety of DV and HDV camcorders currently available. Ranging from the affordable, streamlined Canon ZR100 ($350) to the professional-level, high-definition Sony HDR-FX1 ($3,700) and beyond, the latest crop of cameras offers an assortment of practical features and welcome enhancements.

So, whether you're a soccer parent hoping to capture your daughter's winning goal or a professional videographer shooting a nighttime concert with multiple cameras, you're bound to find the features you need -- at the price you want. To make sense of this month's buyer's guides and select the camera that best suits your purpose, consider whether you're looking to satisfy a household need, a leisurely whim or a professional goal. No matter your answer, remember to aim a little bit higher -- after all, the best cameras allow a shooter room for growth.

If you're a typical family shooter, you'll probably want an affordable, easy-to-handle camera that serves multiple purposes. Specifically, you'll need a compact, lightweight camcorder that can preserve memories as varied as a summer vacation to Yellowstone, Christmas at Grandma's house and your teenager's first starring role in the school musical. To ensure such versatility, most major manufacturers offer the same basic features in all entry-level DV cameras.

For a street price of under $500, you can find a Mini DV camcorder that provides reliable automatic focus and exposure controls for vacations, decent still photographic capability for holiday gatherings and an effective optical zoom and low-light mode for plays, concerts and graduations. The JVC GR-D295 ($500) and Canon ZR300 ($500), for instance, each offer consumers all of the above features plus a color viewfinder, a high-resolution LCD monitor, a 1/6-inch 680,000-pixel image sensor and a digital image stabilizer.

Perhaps your shooting needs transcend those of the average family. If you're seeking a DV camcorder that allows you to videotape wildlife on the weekends, create experimental videos with some in-camera effects or teach yourself a few new editing tricks, you'll need more than the JVC GR-D295 or Canon ZR300 have to offer. Besides large optical zooms, low-light modes, high-resolution LCD screens, digital stabilization and playback options, you'll probably want more professional features such as a microphone input and a headphone jack.

As you search for a DV camcorder that does all that and more, you might not consider affordability a primary concern. But, for less than $1,000, you can find a number of versatile choices. The Canon Optura 50 ($1,000), for instance, offers a true 16:9 widescreen mode, a manual focusing ring, adjustable audio levels and a 2.2-megapixel CCD image sensor that transfers 1.2 million effective pixels to tape. Alternatively, the ergonomic JVC GR-DZ7 ($1,000) features an auto flash, digital wipes and fades, analog inputs and USB outputs.

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