Most brand name point-and-shoot digital cameras on the market today feature a video mode, maybe even an HD video mode.
Though just because your photos might rival shots from Ansel Adams.
It does not mean you are ready to click over and become the next Orson Welles.While shooting both video and stills requires similar knowledge.
And skills when it comes to framing, exposure and light, among other elements, shutterbugs still have plenty to learn about moving pictures.
Start with the following tips and soon "action" will replace "say cheese" in your vernacular: Understand Video Resolution Here's a rundown on common video specs:
720, 1080: Both numbers refer to the number of horizontal scan lines or pixels in a particular piece of video and are commonly used to represent HD. Sometimes HD resolutions are listed as 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x 720, with 1920 and 1280 representing the number of vertical pixels.
* "P," as in 720p or 1080p: "P" signifies progressive scan. When a picture is displayed, each horizontal line is scanned consecutively (or progressively), as opposed to the interlaced method - or the "i" in 1080i - where the total number of horizontal lines is divided in two and displayed half at a time.
* Frames per Second (fps): Think of fps as the number of stills per second of footage. Currently most cameras offer 30 fps or 24 fps, but some, like the upcoming Samsung TL350, can shoot 720p at 60 fps.
Get the Right Outputs and Connections
HD video looks better over an HDMI connection, so make sure your compact has a mini-HDMI output (I have yet to see a compact camera with a standard HDMI output). HDMI support is increasingly common in point-and-shoots, but double check since it is not guaranteed.Because manufacturers almost never bundle a cable with the camera, you'll probably need a mini-HDMI cable, which is just like a standard HDMI cable with one end sporting a smaller connector. Never, I repeat, NEVER pay more than $10 for a mini-HDMI cable. In fact, you can often buy one for less than $5. With cables less than 12 feet long, there is no discernable difference between picture quality from a $5 cable and the picture from a $75 cable. Expensive cables are a waste of money.
Can't Email HD
Video, especially HD video, requires a lot of disk space. Due to many factors - including resolution, compression type and the amount of action in the footage - there isn't an easy formula for determining how many gigabytes (GB) of storage a video requires. As an example, however, the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS shoots 720p/30fps; the same 16GB SDHC card that holds 4,334 of the camera's largest images can only hold about 85 minutes of HD footage.
According to Canon, that is roughly 3MB per second of footage. Keep that in mind when looking to email footage to family and friends. Gmail caps file attachments at 25MB while Yahoo and MSN cap basic accounts at 10MB, making emailing HD footage almost impossible.
Luckily, most compacts offer lesser resolutions that make for smaller files, like VGA (640 x 480 pixels, near DVD quality), QVGA (320 × 240, best for mobile devices) or WVGA (like VGA but wider, usually 800 × 480, found in newer smartphones).
HD footage should be saved for showing off on a big-screen HDTV where sharp details can be appreciated.
Tripods for Tired Arms
If you don't have a small tripod for your compact yet, consider investing in one. Holding even a light compact camera to record an extended video strains the muscles, making it difficult to keep the camera stable. You don't want an audience watching a shaky video of your son or daughter playing soccer wondering why the child played during an earthquake.A good mini tripod won't cost more than $20 and isn't larger than a few inches. Most manufacturers sell branded tripods specifically for their compacts, but the screw mount is mostly standardized across devices, meaning a Canon tripod should work with a Nikon Coolpix camera. A few others to consider include:
* Joby Gorillapod
* Pedco UltraPod II
* AMBICO V-0615
* Sunpak 620-786 Mini-Spider
* Digipower TP-S010
* Maximal Power Tripod MT2103
* Vanguard VS-10
Spare the Zoom and Swoosh
Optical zoom isn't functional in many compacts while shooting video, including the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj and the Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS, and digital zoom is a poor substitute since it degrades video quality. So you may have to curb your inner cinematographer when framing your movies - and that's usually for the best.
For starters, some compacts that can zoom in video mode, like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3, lose focus during the transition. Also, while it's fun to experiment with zooming, swooshing and other camera movements, it creates headache-inducing video. It may also result in dropped frames during playback, and the "Jell-O effect."
The Jell-O effect, also known as rolling shutter, refers to warped or skewed images in the video that occur because the CMOS sensors found on new compacts do not record each frame as a single snapshot, but rather a vertical or horizontal scan. The scans take time, and camera movement during the scan can distort the resulting frame. Watch the videobelow for a textbook example of the Jell-O effect. And pay close attention to the parked cars as the camera zips across. Do you see how they appear skewed or warped?