Digital camcorders are becoming so popular that they will soon take the place of the traditional analogue VHS models. The main reason for this is their substantial reduction in price (there are now models that cost less than 1,000 euros), added to the fact that they also offer a quality that until very recently was the preserve of professionals. The first and perhaps most important of these advantages is the high-resolution 500-line image that these camcorders produce, a definition that allows you to see all sorts of details with amazing clarity. The ability to make identical copies of films without loss of quality is another great advantage. This is due to the fact that what is copied is a flow of bits and not an analogue signal that can have interference, distortion or a defective support.

Another significant benefit is a more precise reproduction of colour. Whereas analogical technology simultaneously records the three components that make up the colour of an image, the digital camcorder stores the three signals separately, thereby allowing a far more realistic colour reproduction.�

A wide range of facilities
Digital camcorders are the natural evolution of analogue cameras that, in their current S-VHS models, also offer state of the art performance. This technological development has been matched and surpassed by digital camcorders that offer a whole series of additional facilities such as the ability to include special effects, to convert the image into a negative or to add sepia tones. Other facilities include night vision through the use of infrared, the ability to choose a panoramic or TV-sized image, windows between sequences, digital zoom of great depth, programmed focusing, auto focus or manual exposure adjustment, image stabiliser, etc� In other words, everything you need to immortalise trips, parties and take your first steps into the seventh art (cinema) with professionalism and ease.

One of the most of significant advances in physical terms has been the surprising miniaturisation that the latest models have undergone: cameras that weigh hardly anything and easily fit into the palm of your hand. Other advantages are the increase in the battery capacity, giving you more time to record and reproduce films, and the ability to take digital photographs with the camcorder.

To achieve this, a memory card is included where the images are stored to be downloaded later on to the computer. Once there, they can be printed in colour, sent via email or stored on a CD-ROM. In this way, camcorders solve many problems at a stroke and become the perfect solution to recording the best times of your life, in both still and moving images. Are you ready to jump on board the digital bandwagon?

A film director in the home
One of the main advantages of digital camcorders is the possibility of transferring all the images recorded on to a computer so that they can later be manipulated and edited. It is a process that enables you to edit recorded video sequences independently and re-order them as many times as you wish until a series of images and sounds is created to your taste. Adding subtitles, a soundtrack, a commentary or special effects to improve visibility, add slow down or accelerate the image is also possible.

The possibilities of digital camcorders are infinite. Editing has traditionally been a job carried exclusively by professionals, but the complexity of home computers coupled with the wide range of editing programs has turned the situation around, and at little cost, if compared to the high price of professional equipment. Nowadays any amateur can become a film director.

The latest in technology
Samsung T100 mobile phone
One of the first colour screen mobiles launched on the Spanish market, the T100's performance convert it into an extremely tempting buy. It has a high resolution 128x160 pixel TFT screen is very small size and light (87 grams). Other features include an internal modem, personal organiser, wap navigator, vibrating alarm and a lithium battery that guarantees 90 hours of life.

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