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In Europe the standard that specifies how the T.V. works is called PAL which is not compatible with the American standard called NTSC. So, if you buy a recorded tape in Europe, make sure that it is NTSC other wise you will never be able to see it.

Note that I said "recorded tape", a virgin tape is something different. If you buy a clean tape in Europe it will work with your NTSC camcorder, just the length of the tape will be different that the specified on the envelope (see at the back the small letter that specifies the length for NTSC).

Video and photography are different and you should explote their capabilities in different ways; I recommend to carry them both and have one person taking photos and the other one taking the video. You can share your stuff at the end of the trip.

Camcorders

Choosing a and using camcorder is not that hard, there are some points that you need to consider:

• Battery is important, I personally like Sony's InfoLithium system, I have traveled without problems with an 8hr battery and a 2hr battery as a backup. I never ran out of battery.
• The new Digital8 technology from Sony is also a good deal. Tapes last half of what they would do in a Hi8 normal camcorder but the end result is much better. By the way, a Digital8 can reproduce Hi8 and 8mm tapes; however, it will always record in Digital8 format. Take 1 hr of tape per week.
• A view finder (that LCD screen that unfolds from the camera) makes life easier and allows you to lift your camera over the crowd to take the guard change in the Buckingham palace.
• An external microphone is a plus. The integrated microphones on the camcorder capture everything that is around the camera but they do a terrible job when recording the voice of who is speaking to the camera right in front of it; the surrounding noises become overwhelming and you can't hear the subject. If you use an external microphone (unidirectional) you can focus on the person or sounds in front of you and discriminate the rest.
• Light. Some cameras have one tiny 3w light. Don't even bother, it is useful only at 2 meters at most in a zero light environment. An external 20w light makes a difference at 10 or 15 meters, but they are very delicate for traveling with a backpack. So better get a camera that works with 0 luxes or whatever is closer to zero.
• Night Shot. This is cool, instead of those lights mentioned above just turn on the Night Shot feature and the camera will use infrared light to capture video in total darkness. The video looks fuzzy and green, so you should turn on the B&W effect to make it look nicer. OK, lights produce a better quality video, but we already made a point about them.
• Digital Zoom. The Digital Zoom will make your movie look terrible with big square dots. Even when technology is advancing and the computer makes the digital zoomed video look better it is no match for a good optical zoom. So when you see 360x Digital Zoom, just don't mind it and better compare the 22x Optical Zoom.
• Wide angle lenses. These lenses do to the inverse than Zoom lenses would do, you might be thinking... What for? Well, when you are in a small room you cannot shoot anything because you are too close to the subject, so with you 0.5x or 0.42x external lenses you can easily take wider views at a short distance. The quality of the lenses determines the amount of distortion added to the image, cheaper lenses make everything look round, like seen in the reflection of a sphere. More expensive lenses make things look more real.
• An additional battery charger is useful. New camcorders use the camcorder itself as a charger, but in some cheap hostels there are no power outlets on the rooms, so you have to charge your batteries at front desk. Will you dare to leave your camcorder there all night?

Video Tips

Video is different than photography, I bet that you have seen endless boring home made videos that take you nowhere. To avoid that, you should follow some simple tips:

• Do not move your camera like crazy. Some people do this to make sure everything appears on video, but at the end when you look at the video you just can't see anything. It is always better to make a wider still shoot.
• Still shots should not last more than 5 seconds. New camcorders include a 5 seconds shoot option specially designed for this. If it takes more than 5 seconds people gets bored. Unless specific action is taking place, then 5 seconds is enough. Also 5-10 minutes per event is enough.
• Don't zoom in or out too fast, small and still zooming is better.
• Put your camera in to a right angle. Some people don't realize that they are taking bad angled shots that look terrible.
• Identify the scenes, put some one into the scene to explain who, what, where and why. This will avoid all those questions when you playback your video: Where is that? What are you doing there? What is that? And you have to explain it every time you show the video.