Your Camcorder: More Versatile Than You Realize

Whether you�re a professional videographer or you just shoot video for birthday parties, holidays and vacations, your camcorder, regardless of its make, model or tape format, can be one most of the most useful items you own. Here are 10 ways to get more use from your camcorder.

One Video is Worth a 1000 Words
Everyone has bought something, only to find out later that the item was defective. When you call the store where you bought it, the person you talk to tells you to contact the factory. The factory sends you a form and tells you to explain the problem in 25 words or less. Sure, you do the best you can, but nobody at the factory is really going to understand your explanation. You can take pictures of the problem and send them in, but what if your merchandise has moving parts that aren�t correctly moving? Still pictures won�t show that sort of problem. So what can you do? Make a video of the problem.

It works best if you have someone help you. Let him narrate the problem in detail while you shoot the appropriate angles and closeups. Then label the tape, and send in along with the forms that the factory gave you. For the price of a blank videotape and a couple of bucks postage, you�ll wind up saving a lot of time and aggravat…