[Hidden-tech] questions about digital video cameras

[Craig Sinclair]

Hi Stephanie, Adam, et al

At ACTV we currently use Mini DV tapes but are looking to transition  
to a tapeless system for a variety of reasons, but principally the  
time saving when capturing footage; which happens in real time in  
Final Cut Pro.

SD cards are becoming an industry standard, though you definitely want  
to buy higher quality ones to ensure you get the best performance and  
most longevity. As with tapes the cheap ones have the built in cost of  
letting one down all too often.

We currently use external backup drives by nNovia (http://www.nnovia.com/products.php?categories_id=25 
) and Focus (http://www.videonics.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=150) in  
case of tape failure. This would still be possible, even with SD  
cards, but this adds to up front costs and even if they do mount on  
the camera they add extra bulk, and perhaps batteries, and heck  
sometimes they fail too.

Adam - if you're in Amherst, Leverett, Pelham or Shutesbury our next  
Final Cut Pro training is coming up: Tues Feb 2nd & Thurs Feb 4th 6:15  
to 8:45 each night. It only costs $25, with a year's Membership only  
an extra $10.

Then you’ll be able to edit at ACTV with free onsite support and a  
dedicated external hard drive for your work.

Alternatively look into the community media/ public access center  
wherever you are. Northampton, Montague and Greenfield probably all  
offer similar courses to help you learn to edit and film, and many  
stations have higher end cameras for filming too; a membership might  
save you a lot of money and let you see what kind of camera you might  
want to ultimately buy.

Cheers

Craig

===========
Craig Sinclair
Community Media Coordinator
(413) 259-3308
media at actvamherst.com

Amherst Community Television
246 College St
Amherst, MA 01002
www.actvamherst.com

On Jan 19, 2010, at 9:11 AM, Adam Bauer wrote:

>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's  
> area.
>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
>
>
> Yeah Jeff, they're space hogs alright!
>
> We used a Mac laptop w/Final Cut Express to dump data onto a bank of
> external hard drives. No way around that for a project of any heft.  
> We ended
> up with about 45 hours of HD footage--a few terabytes of 1s and 0s.
>
> Unfortunately, now my ex-gf and I are not seeing eye-to-eye on the  
> project,
> so I may soon be casting about for an alternate (read: high quality/ 
> low
> cost) process for editing the footage. I am many things, but a video  
> editor
> ain't one of 'em.
>
> Some great footage, too! We found the poet Rumi's ancestral home in  
> Balkh
> (outside of Mazar-e-Sharif near the Uzbek border), shot footage of  
> ISAF
> forces talking about their work, explored a 1700 year old stone  
> Buddhist
> stupa, interviewed Afghans and Westerners about their experiences of  
> the
> Taliban era and now the reconstruction effort--all kinds of goodies  
> that
> really should be being shared with the world instead caught up in a  
> custody
> battle.
>
> Sigh. Human nature. But that's another topic...
>
>
> on 1/19/10 9:00 AM, Jeff Rutherford at jeffrutherford at gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Adam,
>>
>> I'm curious. What kind of computer did you use to transfer that  
>> video to?
>>
>> I've edited very short digital videos (3-6 minutes), but those  
>> videos quickly
>> take up a lot of space!
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> Jeff Rutherford
>> jeff at jeffrutherford.com
>> 413 475-0087 - phone
>>
>>
>> On Jan 19, 2010, at 8:38 AM, Adam Bauer wrote:
>>
>>>  ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the  
>>> member's area.
>>>  ** If you did, we all thank you.
>>>
>>>
>>>> My son has been working with a small $250 video camera that uses  
>>>> memory
>>>> chips,
>>>> rather than tapes. He is frustrated with its limitations and  
>>>> wants to get an
>>>> HD video camera that uses tapes instead of memory chips. He has  
>>>> budgeted
>>>> about
>>>> $1,000, but can go up to $1,500.
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone know,
>>>> a) is this the best way for him to go? (he does a LOT of video  
>>>> editing,)
>>>> b) is this a reasonable amount to budget, and
>>>> c) what would be a good camera for him to get?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> stephanie









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