Camcorder and other equipment recommendation
Nevin Pratt
http://www.bountifulbaby.com. These videos would be "tutorial" in
nature, showing people how to create their own life-like baby dolls.
They would be of my wife illustrating various techniques for doing
that.
These videos would be shot indoors, probably in our living room. I
have a Mac PowerBook G4 with 1.25 GB memory and a DVD "superdrive",
with Final Cut Express, that I anticipate would be used for final
production of each video. I don't currently have a camcorder, or
professional lighting, lenses, or anything like that.
It would be nice to not spend a fortune on camcorder equipment,
lenses, or "professional" lighting. Likewise, though, a professional
look to the videos is important.
What recommendations would anybody have?
Thanks so much for your input-- I *really* appreciate it!
Nevin
Ryan Boni
"professional lighting", yet want to get a professional look!!! LOL!!!
Anyway, a couple of things:
1. 1.25 GB will not be enough to get by for editing. Upgrade to at least a
40GB hard drive before you even try to begin. Or did you mean you have 1.25
GB RAM?? That makes more sense.
2. Probably the single most important equipment difference between amateur
and professional looking videos is lighting. Unfortunately, they can get
really costly. A dirt cheap light kit will run you about $500. A good one
will run you in the $1000's. And if you're inexperienced, pick up a book on
lighting. If this kind of stuff is way beyond your budget, you can get by
(but it will look a lot more amateurish) with buying some work lamps on
tripods from a local hardware or department store or pick up some
flourescent overhead lights to light the room. If you're using an
inexpensive camcorder (actually, any camcorder), you will want lots of
light, if you're not quite sure what you're doing, just spread it out as
evenly as possible. Especially if you are doing close-up shots on the baby
dolls.
3. The second most important difference is audio. You will need an
external microphone, preferably a clip-on lavalier mic for your wife to wear
while talking. There is a really good inexpensive wired one from Shure, the
SM-11. It's a little under $100. There's really no need to buy wireless in
this case. You probably can get away with an even cheaper model like the
ones they sell at Radio Shack and other stores. The sound won't be nearly
as good, but in a completely controlled environment, like your livng room,
you'll probably be okay.
4. Camcorder - suprisingly, the camcorder itself will probably make the
least difference for this project. Basically, the digital camcorders you see
in all of the electronic stores are pretty similar. There is a huge jump
from those, to the next step in camcorder quality, but the price jumps up to
around $2000. I'm assuming that's more than you want to spend and so I'd
say, go out to your local electronics stores and test out as many camcorders
as you can (most have them hooked up to TVs so you can try them out.) Stick
with the typical brand names: Sony, JVC, Panasonic, etc. and you should be
okay. Pick up a tripod rated for a few pounds more than your camcorder
actually is. Get a fluid head.
Hope that helps,
Ryan
--
---------------------------------------------
Ryan Boni
Public Access Director
Peters Township Community Television
McMurray, PA
www.geocities.com/ptct7/
"Nevin Pratt" <ne...@smalltalkpro.com> wrote in message
news:7d8bdee9.04053...@posting.google.com...
Seattle Eric
> I like how no one ever wants to spend a lot of money and don't want to buy
> "professional lighting", yet want to get a professional look!!! LOL!!!
Yeah. "I want to race cars, but I don't want to buy a race car."
Nevin Pratt
> I like how no one ever wants to spend a lot of money and don't want to buy
> "professional lighting", yet want to get a professional look!!! LOL!!!
>
> Anyway, a couple of things:
>
> 1. 1.25 GB will not be enough to get by for editing. Upgrade to at least a
> 40GB hard drive before you even try to begin. Or did you mean you have 1.25
> GB RAM?? That makes more sense.
RAM, of course. I think you would have difficulty even *finding* a
new 1.25 GB hard drive for the last five years or so.
>
> 2. Probably the single most important equipment difference between amateur
> and professional looking videos is lighting. <...snip...>
>
> 3. The second most important difference is audio. <...snip...>
>
> 4. Camcorder - suprisingly, the camcorder itself will probably make the
> least difference for this project. <...snip...>
So, if the budget were only, say, $1000? This would buy a Pana
GV-120, some home-brew lighting, and a mic (I already have a good
tripod). But what would your recommendation be for the $1000?
Or, if the budget were, say, $1500, then it sounds like (1) a cheap
Pana 3-chipper camcorder (possibly a 953, but at least a GV-200), (2)
low-end professional lighting, and (3) a lapel mic would be the
recommendation? Or..?
What if the budget were, say, about $2500? That's about what B&H
sells a Sony VX2100 for (including shipping), but that would leave no
money for lighting or a mic. Sounds like in this case the
recommendation would be to *not* get the VX2100, but get something
$500 or $600 cheaper, and then invest the difference in lighting and a
good lapel mic?
Or, what if the budget were, say, about $3600? That could buy a Sony
VX2100, some good lighting, and a good mic. Or, it could buy a
Panasonic DVX100A, but would leave no money for lighting or a mic.
Then what would the recommendation be?
With your emphasis on lighting and audio, it sounds like whatever the
budget is, the recommendation would be to buy a camcorder at *under*
the budget, and then invest the difference in lighting and audio.. is
that right?
Thanks so much for the feedback!
Nevin
Ryan Boni
> "Ryan Boni" <impl...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:<xPvvc.15653$hB2....@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>...
> > I like how no one ever wants to spend a lot of money and don't want to
buy
> > "professional lighting", yet want to get a professional look!!! LOL!!!
> >
> > Anyway, a couple of things:
> >
> > 1. 1.25 GB will not be enough to get by for editing. Upgrade to at
least a
> > 40GB hard drive before you even try to begin. Or did you mean you have
1.25
> > GB RAM?? That makes more sense.
>
> RAM, of course. I think you would have difficulty even *finding* a
> new 1.25 GB hard drive for the last five years or so.
Yeah, I missed the part where you said a G4 in your original post. I'd have
to imagine that a G4 would just cough and stop if it had a 1.25 GB hard
drive!!!
Okay, getting back to the issue at hand...
I've got to ask a couple of questions before I answer your questions about
particular budgets:
1. Are you planning to do any more videos for sale with your camcorder, or
is this purchase just to produce the baby doll videos?
2. Are you looking to make a full-fledged business out of making videos?
Why these two questions are important is this:
Someone in an earlier post answering to a film student who was looking at
cameras had one of the best pieces of advice. Basically it was why buy when
you can rent!! If this is going to be the only video venture you do, it
doesn't make a whole lot of sense to spend a couple thousand dollars on a
camera. Also, if you plan on making this into a career, it still doesn't
make a lot of sense to invest in a camera now, because down the road, as you
get into more and more professional work, you'll want a much higher end
camera than a couple thousand dollars will get you (if you buy at all). A
mid-priced lower end camera does not usually make a very good investment.
It becomes outdated quickly and is not good enough for higher level work
Your money will go a lot further by renting a camera (assuming you have a
realtively high end rental place nearby.) This will give you the
opportunity to get a very high end look for a fraction of the cost. $500 or
$600 will probably get you one or two days rental on a truly professional
camera. Since your wife is the talent, I'd set up all of your production
into a couple of really long days to maximize the usage of your rental.
You know, work for like 15 or 20 hours a day while you have the camera and
record everything you need. Spend your money on the audio and lighting (as
I mentioned), because that can travel with you wherever you go, no matter
what camera equipment you would ever work with in the future. Also, bad
lighting looks like bad lighting even on high end equipment. Bad audio
sounds like bad audio even on high end equipment. However, great lighting
and great audio still look and sound like it even on lower end equipment.
Even if you plan to make a career out making these types of videos, sell a
few first and THEN down the road invest in a really good camera. So I
guess I'm saying either buy something relatively inexpensive to start or
rent high end.
Ryan
--
---------------------------------------------
Ryan Boni
Public Access Director
Peters Township Community Television
McMurray, PA
www.geocities.com/ptct7/
Nevin Pratt
> particular budgets:
>
> 1. Are you planning to do any more videos for sale with your camcorder, or
> is this purchase just to produce the baby doll videos?
Other videos, too. But even if it was going to be just baby doll
videos, they occasionally need to be updated.
> 2. Are you looking to make a full-fledged business out of making videos?
No. We already have a business :-)
> <...snip...> Also, bad
> lighting looks like bad lighting even on high end equipment. Bad audio
> sounds like bad audio even on high end equipment. However, great lighting
> and great audio still look and sound like it even on lower end equipment.
> Even if you plan to make a career out making these types of videos, sell a
> few first and THEN down the road invest in a really good camera. So I
> guess I'm saying either buy something relatively inexpensive to start or
> rent high end.
OK. Based on that, I am leaning towards a cheap Pana 3-chipper, plus
lighting, plus a mic, for maybe $1200 total investment.
Nevin
Steve King
I'm leaning toward hiring a camera person/producer to help you shoot the
first version. It won't cost much more than it would cost to buy camera,
lights, and audio gear. If you forge your partnership with the outside
producer properly, you'll learn a bit about lighting for your subject
matter, learn about camera angles and shot size to maintain interest and
enhance communication, and learn how to organize the effort so that you can
be as successful as possible in the finishing/video editing process. In
other words, you'd come out with a 'fish' as well as knowing 'how to fish'.
Then, the equipment choices will be easy, because your first video, having
been much better than you were likely to do alone, will tell you by its
success how much to spend on equipment for the update, choices you can make
more wisely because of your experience.
Steve King