• Lens
• Video recorder and playback
• Microphone
• Battery

 

The lens gathers light and focuses it inside the camcorder. The lens must gather enough light to make a good image and focus the light properly. Photographic lenses are measured using a term called focal length. This term refers to the "size" of the lens, or to the size of the image it will produce. A wide-angle lens setting captures a broad image, while a telephoto lens helps make faraway objects appear closer.

 

Most camcorders come with a zoom lens - digital and/or optical, with optical being the more precise of the two - which allows you to make objects appear closer without walking any closer, or capture a larger view like a sweeping landscape. Zoom lenses are rated in terms of their zoom ratio. This is the difference between the minimum wide angle and the maximum telephoto. For example, if your camcorder has a zoom lens with a 10:1 ratio, a telephoto shot would make an object appear to be about 10 times closer than it would appear in a wide-angle shot.

 

Light is focused from the lens onto the pickup device. Called a charge-coupled device, or CCD, this device converts the light into electrical signals. It then sends these signals to the video recorder.

 

The CCD captures image details as pixels, which are tiny bits of visual information. The more pixels, the more potential resolution the picture can have. Almost all home camcorders use one chip to handle the entire picture and all the colors. Professional video cameras used in TV studios, however, typically contain three pickup devices: red, green and blue. 3CCD models are becoming more affordable and produce amazing picture quality.

After the signal sent from the pickup device is converted into electrical signals, the video recorder treats it like any other video signal. The recorder places the signals on videotape, MiniDVD, memory card or whatever media you're using.

 

Besides recording video, every camcorder allows you to view recorded material on the LCD, on a TV, or copy it to a DVD, CD or VCR. Most camcorders come with cables or adapters that allow you to connect it directly to a TV set for playback.

All camcorders have a microphone that picks up sound from the scene you're shooting and sends it to the video recorder.

 

Zoom microphones work on the same principle as zoom lenses-they get closer to capture the audio. So, as the picture moves in and out, the sound moves with it. 

Batteries are the primary power source for camcorders. Most camcorders now come with lithium ion batteries, which are lightweight, high-energy batteries that charge quickly.

 

Camcorder batteries are fully rechargeable, usually lasting for several years of normal use before needing replacement. Generally, recharging in the camcorder takes up to two times the time rating of the battery. For example, a one-hour battery takes at least two hours to recharge.