digital camera

[Chaz Misenheimer]

I am interested in buying a digital camera to get video for promotional use. Any ideas on a good camera choice. Most shots would be outside, street performance situations. Thanks for any input.

[Brian Morton]

Probably more important than the video camera is a) the editing package that can work with it, and b) the guy doing the videography.

I like Sony products myself, 'cause I'm an Apple guy and Apple and Sony work well together. iMovie for the Mac is probably the most intuitive editing software package you'll ever see; I've got years of TV behind me, and I've got Final Cut still in the box -- that I'll probably never use because of all the effort it requires to get up to speed.

But the most important thing is that your shooter knows when to do a 3/4 shot and when to do a close-up. When and how to do reaction shots that you can edit into a promo tape and the rule of thirds to make you look good in the frame. Garbage in, garbage out. If your tape going in to the edit package looks like crap, there's not a whole lot you can do to make it better (There's some, but not a lot).

Oh, and of course, when not to cut away, so you don't look like David Blaine.

brian :cool:

[Guest]

The most knowledgable magician I know with an extensive camera knowledge is Pete Biro. Best to ask him.
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.mindguy.com

[Guest]

Calling Pete Biro: I'm sure many of us are very interested in whatever information you can share on Digital Video Cameras, and Computer hardware and software for editing, etc. I'm very interested in shooting and editing some of my stuff, but know virtually nothing about it right now. Where do I go to learn? Can you name any good current books to study?
How powerful a computer do we need, how much hard drive space, etc? (I'm not an "Apple" kind of guy.) Thanks in advance for any help from Pete and anyone else that has this kind of knowledge.

[mrgoat]

Originally posted by Brian Wendell Morton:
iMovie for the Mac is probably the most intuitive editing software package you'll ever see; I've got years of TV behind me, and I've got Final Cut still in the box -- that I'll probably never use because of all the effort it requires to get up to speed.
brian :cool:

Couldn't agree more. iMovie is a joy to use and if someone is considering buying or upgrading a machine in order to take advantage of non-linear video editing, I would seriously consider buying a Mac *just* for iMovie. It's free and it is brilliant.

Final Cut scares the bejesus out of me!

[Guest]

What price range are you talking about?

There are digital cameras that range in price from $300 to thousands of dollars.

I personally bought a floor model of a $900 Sony Camera for $700.00

For computer editing of the video, I purchased a bundle that gave me the IEE1394 (Firewire) computer board, and Adobe Premire 6.0 for about $250.00

Premiere is a professional level non-linear video editing program that works on both Mac and PC.

It took me about 3 weeks to read and learn the software.

[Chaz Misenheimer]

Thanks for the suggestions. Lots of help so far & I appreciate it.I am traveling and will answer about my specific price range and needs soon. I did email Pete Biro and he says his field is stills only. If anyone can suggest an expert, I will be happy to try to contact them. Thanks again.
Chaz

[Guest]

If you want to buy a non-video camera, then this is great:

I have a CANON IXUS, 2.1 MegaPixels camera.
This camera is very good. The quality of the pictures are very good :) I paid abut 660 dollar for the camera in sweden with 64 Mb Memory one year ago.

If you have the money buy; CANON D30 or D60.
This is probably the Rolls-Royce of the cameras...very expensive.

[Steve Hook]

Not my personal experience but my friend who has been a photog with the News & Observer in Raleigh, NC, for 25 years is using a Nikon D1-X. In fact they gave him TWO. They're not using any film cameras at all.

Steve H