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Still picture capability.

 All of the cameras can shoot still images as well as video, which can be transferred to your home PC for editing and printing.

 The Sony was the only model that did not require an optional connection kit and was therefore the only one tested.

 The Sony was reasonably good, but was no match for a good point-and-shoot digital still. If shooting the occasional still would be a novelty rather than a necessity, then this can be great for e-mailing snapshots and the like.

 If you actually need the still images for work or your business, this probably is not the best solution.

 Digital zooms.

 These range from 25 to 100 times. Should you happen upon Big Foot doing the twist with Elvis on a distant mountain side, a 100X digital zoom would get you right up on them.

 There are some definite catches though.

 At anything more than about 15X, it is difficult to hold the camera steady.

 Even with image stabilisation on, you would not be able to tell if Elvis was doing the twist or if the cameraman was doing the rumba. And digital zooms lack the quality of a real optical zoom.

 An optical zoom uses a lens to magnify the subject just like a pair of binoculars.

 A digital zoom basically crops into the picture and blows the image up - sort of like sitting with your nose pressed up against the TV - meaning the resolution is terrible.

 At 100X, you would just see two huge fuzzy dots that could just as easily be a shrub and a sign post as Elvis and Big Foot.

 Connections.

 This is one of the best things about digital video cameras.

 Since the data already is digital, importing it into a PC for editing is much easier and cheaper than with analogue video.

 You do not need an expensive video capture board to digitise the picture for you.

 Most cameras have a firewire connection and with a firewire card in your computer and the right software, you can copy the data on to you hard drive almost like copying a file from one disk to another.

 You will still need a digital video-compatible editing program such as the $6,000 Radius EditDV, which includes a firewire card and is cheaper than an analogue equivalent.

CHRIS WALTON 



Big Foot and Elvis may blur over any distance