Why You Should Consider Camcorder Over DSLR

Price: I bought my camcorder for approximately $350, and the wide-angle lens I bought to augment it came in a pack with a macro lens for $55. A DSLR can easily go for upwards of $850, and that’s without lenses or a microphone! You can expect to spend upwards of $1,500 setting yourself up with a DSLR. Depending on what your income is–and how much of it comes from video sales–that may make sense. As a model whose primary income comes from camming and phone sex, with videos as my secondary income stream, spending that much money didn’t make sense for me.

Ease of Use: After reading through the (fairly brief) user’s manual, I mounted my new camcorder on a tripod and started shooting on the same day it arrived. A few months later, when my wide-angle lens arrived, I screwed it onto my camera and started filming immediately. There was no learning curve, everything was pretty simple. I did spend some time exploring some of the different settings, including some that keep a face in focus over anything else in the frame and the “vignette” options, but capturing HD video straight out of the box was a push-button affair.

Portability: My camera is a consumer model (as opposed to a commercial model, designed for the film and television industry), and it is fairly small and lightweight. It is designed to be handheld or tripod-mounted, with a convenient strap that makes vlog-style shooting easy. The lens cover is incorporated into the lens housing (I have a secondary lens cap for when I use the additional lens), the built-in view monitor flips 180 degrees to view from the front, but folds flat against the camera when not in use. Without requiring extra lenses or bulky peripherals, the camera and charge cord can be packed in a travel bag roughly the size of a stack of 3 paperback books.

Designed for Video: As popular as DSLR cameras have become for video, they are fundamentally designed for still photography. They often have short battery life and many will automatically stop recording after a certain period of time. Created for the operator to be behind the camera, some have no way to tell from in front of the camera that it is recording, or that it is even turned on. The lenses and settings are designed to capture single frames of a subject at a fixed distance from the camera: the opposite of video, which is a continuous sequence of frames with a moving subject.

All-in-One: Getting started with a camcorder is easy: just buy one. Buying a DSLR is only the beginning. As I mentioned above, DSLR cameras are sold with the body of the camera separate from the lens (or multiple lenses!) you’ll need to get before you can record any video. If you film in multiple settings from multiple distances and angles, you’ll probably need to buy more than one lens.

Most camcorders (mine included) also have a viewing monitor that folds out from the camera body and can be flipped so it can be seen by a performer in front of the camera. I use this screen every time I film to check that I am in focus, all of my props are in frame, and that I am visible in the frame and at the correct angle before I start shooting. At any time during filming, I can glance at the screen to make sure I am in the right place in frame.

If you’ve got a DSLR camera, you’ll need to purchase a separate video monitor if you want to see what the camera sees while you’re in front of the camera. You’ll also need a tripod extension or a separate mount for the monitor. Many DSLRs also have poor internal microphones, and will require an external audio recording device or post-production processing to get clean audio. Can you see where this is going? You can add extra lenses, better microphones, and a video monitor to a camcorder if you want to, but you don’t have to, the way you have to with a DSLR.

I Use A Canon Vixia HF R700

I use the Canon Vixia HF R700, with a wide angle lens attachment for some videos. I’ve been using this combination for well over a year, and while it was a huge step up from using my webcam to record videos (which I did with the Logitech c920 for 3.5 years), I don’t think I’m missing out on much by not using a DSLR. There are already enough moving parts when setting up a video shoot–script, costume, set, lighting, camera angle–that I don’t want to add stress about my camera’s settings into the equation. If you’re ready for more than a webcam, but are intimidated by a DSLR, a camcorder just might be the right camera for you!