Do all digital cameras offer a movie mode?
No. Not all digital cameras come with a movie mode or though it is fast becoming a common feature. You may also find that some digital cameras at the very top of the range don’t offer a movie mode either. Also don’t be fooled into thinking that the movies that digital cameras take will be up to the standard of your digicam. At the lower end of the digital cameras market you can find that the movies are shot in black and white. There are certainly a good number of digital cameras where you can’t record sound when you shoot the movie. Movie time also varies between digital cameras. At the lower end of the market you normally get around 15 seconds. The higher end hits the three minute mark. The way that I would look at it is that the primary function of digital cameras is to take great still pictures and short movies that you can shoot are very much a bonus. Watch out as well. Shooting even very short movies can drain the batteries very quickly.
The vast majority of digital cameras come with a movie mode. It is normally only those at the very low end or very high end that may not. The reason why those at the high end do not have a movie mode is that they are aimed at professional or very serious amateur photographers and the view is that they will not be spending time shooting movies. Almost all cameras shoot colour movies with sound now. As it stands more and more cameras are offering a movie mode with a resolution of 640×480 and a speed of 30 frames per second. These figures may not mean much to you, but this resolution and speed provide TV quality movies. An increasing number of cameras can also shoot movies that are only limited in duration by the capacity of the memory card and batteries. One more feature worth mentioning is cameras that let you zoom in on the action while you are shooting the movie.
