Bottom Line: Flash memory, easiest to transfer and transport, is taking over. Hard drive storage offers more space but is fragile. Mini-DVDs play instantly, but compromise quality. Mini-DV is easy to edit, but re-buying tapes is not fun.

Bottom Line: Forget digital zoom. Optical zoom is king. Opt for at least 10x for best results.

Optical zoom uses the camera lens to deliver a crisp image. Digital zoom crops and enlarges the image and usually results in a pixelated, hard-to-identify scene.

Bottom Line: AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) is perhaps the most efficient HD codec in terms of compression and quality. And most modern HD camcorders use it.

AVCHD does require a strong computer (at least a 2.0 GHz multicore CPU w/4GB of RAM) with an editing suite to handle the footage, but the footage is noticeably sharper and overall better looking than MPEG-4, and comes close to Mini-DV.

Bottom Line: Battery packs drain quickly when you use the LCD screen, so consider a camcorder with both an LCD screen and a viewfinder.

Touchscreen controls are becoming standard, so do yourself a favor and match up screen size with the size of your hands and fingers for ease of use.

Bottom Line: Optical image stabilization performs better than electronic image stabilization.

Most camcorders have either electronic or optical stabilization as a feature. The optical kind physically re-aligns the lens, as you shoot, to cancel out jittering hand movements. Conversely, electronic stabilization digitally alters the image to improve clarity after it has been captured.

Bottom Line: Go with a camcorder that can shoot at least 1 hour before having to recharge.

If that’s too short of a time frame for you, keep in mind you can also purchase higher capacity battery packs to shoot for extended periods of time.

Bottom Line: Front-mounted microphones typically produce better sound than top-mounted ones.

Front-mounted mics tend to pick up directional sound from whatever you are shooting. Top-mounted mics tend to pick up whatever the camera operator is mumbling. For even better sound, go with a camcorder that has an audio zoom feature or has a line-in for an external microphone.

Bottom Line: Don’t expect this feature to produce images on par with most modern 12MP digital cameras.

It’s nice to have and most camcorders do feature up to 12MP still photography with scene modes. Look for flash, burst mode, and exposure controls to get the most from this feature.

Bottom Line: Infrared Mode or Long-Shutter Mode are decent for shooting in dim light, but nothing beats shooting with plenty of light for optimum image quality.

Be aware that Infrared Mode is disappearing from the market and that Long-Shutter mode can result in foggy or smeared-looking images.

Bottom Line: It uses a 3D conversion lens or two built in lenses with two image sensors to capture stereoscopic footage. Although most of these cameras are capable of recording 2D HD footage, the 3D footage is SD.

Some use Parallax Barrier technology to playback the footage on a polarized LCD screen without having to wear glasses. Others allow you to play footage on a 3D HDTV, but you will need to wear glasses.

Bottom Line: LEDs are replacing CCFL backlights at a fast rate. Most LED backlights work with a strip of LEDs that mount on the edge of the screen and light guide to backlight the screen. Another LED backlight technique involves an array of LEDs placed behind the screen. These can be turned on and off to increase contrast and create a faster refresh rate.

Bottom Line: LEDs are replacing CCFL backlights at a fast rate. Most LED backlights work with a strip of LEDs that mount on the edge of the screen and light guide to backlight the screen. Another LED backlight technique involves an array of LEDs placed behind the screen. These can be turned on and off to increase contrast and create a faster refresh rate.