would like to have a go at making a video so i have a couple of questions..
i will prob do one video and think "cant be arsed with this" so i dont want to spend a fortune...
that said, anyone recomend a camera?
and what software do people use to edit their footage?
ta'la
Dan
Software wise, Sony Vegas. Easy to use but can be very powerful.
Camera... If your dslr has video, use it. Otherwise, anything decent at low light, and has image stabilisation if doing anything other than tripod shots.
ian uses a cheap panasonic and his vid's are great
Cheers mike..
ali, my new camera (A SLT) does video, but it wont be going underground untill i buy a new one.
IAN..
What model is it..
[quote="Mad-Dan" post=9745]Cheers mike..
ali, my new camera (A SLT) does video, but it wont be going underground untill i buy a new one.
[/quote]
Totally understand. My D60 died, so I baby the 400D until I spot a cheap replacement/backup.
You asked so I shall tell ....
Software â€" Newstuff is right, Sony Vegas is good. TBH all the “on the shelf†stuff is ok. If you want to try one out buy an older one off Ebay for a fiver. (I use Magix). HOWEVER, you can use Windows movie maker†for FREE because it is probably already installed on your computer. Avoid Adobe â€" it is probably the best but it is also the most complicated.
Cameras â€" these are a real pain because they are generally utter crap in poor lighting. I have been through LOADS of cameras for filming and the best one (in low light) is the Kodak z885 or Kodak z1285 (the z1285 has an annoying habit of trying to lock on to what it believes is the subject being filmed). These cameras are on Ebay for very little money â€" I have bought 20+ and never pay more than £20. You will see them for more money â€" ignore them, they won’t sell. The reason I have bought 20+ is they BREAK very easily especially if they get wet or get caked in mud. They are also not HD and not 1080.
I have just switched to a Panasonic HX-WA10 which cost me almost a ton. This does work “well†in low light (but not as good as the older Kodaks) but it supposedly bullet proof in water and mud. It is also HD. Again, you can pay more on Ebay but the dearer ones don’t sell. I am not as happy with it as I was with the Kodaks though.
Light â€" this is obviously a huge issue â€" use something too bright and you will burn the image you are filming. I use the Sten light because it “floods†â€" this is does brilliantly except in open chambers like a slate mine where it does not perform well. Use a strong torch in a passage and you will only see a bright white light and nothing else.
Most importantly â€" have fun !
B)
Ian
i didn't know the z885 even did video lol, i have one of those, well the kids do.. i'll go rob it and have a go.
Cool ... prepare for it to be destroyed and have a plausible lie ready for the kids ....
:cheer:
Apart from the last couple of videos, all the previous ones I did were on a z885 with only a few being on the z1285 (which is annoying)
I use Adobe Premier CS4 (Creative Suite). But also have Sony Vegas which is as ian says easier to use.
If you are editing at 1080p your pc may start to struggle depending what type of CODEC is being used. For Example 1080p footage at 30fps from my Nikon D7000 is encoded using H264 which while it does a great job of cramming high quality video into a small filesize, it is very processor hungry when trying to edit it. Not the end of the world though, its can be transcoded to an alternative format which has a larger file size but is easier for the pc to work with.
If you're working with SD or 720p footage you should be fine anyway.
1080p only becomes a problem where there are lots of video effects applied or if your pc's a bit on the tired side.
Camera wise, i've only used my D7000 once for video underground really. Its 'hard' to shoot dSLR video footage and make it any good. The results can be awesome (Hollywood Feature films, documentries and tv dramas etc have all been shot on them now) but you need to invest in (or make) focus pullers etc. Also use a magnifying eyepiece on the LCD screen or alternatively have a HD monitor plugged in externally.
Examples of Video from the D7000:
http://youtu.be/UNKtFkX29IE
http://youtu.be/49gFx4y0s8Y
Add to this a shotgun microphone (I have a rode) etc and its starts to get expensive - and bulky - for underground.
However, being a large sensor, with decent glass and with full control over the footage you shoot (Aperture, Shutter speed (still relevant when shoot video!), ISO and Glass - makes for very creative potential - i.e. you'd be spending many thousands of pounds to get the same features on a 'video' camera.
The large sensor and means you get to play with nice shallow depths of field, great for getting the 'film' effect.
Also people tend to shoot using a very 'flat' colour curve and then use 'grading' to achieve the effect they want. i.e. to warm up or cool down the footage to create the film look - to suit the type of film they are making.
I.e. have you ever seen The Apprentice - you'll notice that whereever they are, in the board room, in a taxi or in a street market, its all graded to emphasise grey, white and blue - to make it feel very businesslike, or a kids film, which would be warm and colourful. Next time you watch a feature film you'll be able to see how they use grading to help create emotions in different ways.
Its all really interesting but obviously it all takes time!
dSLR pros:
Great in low light
Choice of lens
Full manual control
Large image sensor compared to almost all compact cameras & 'camcorders' and under several thousand pounds.
Depth of Field effects.
Can shoot (flat) colour profiles for grading later.
Cons of dSLR
Heavy/bulky (compared to a small compact or a small camcorder)
No image stabilisation to speak of - camera rigs and or tripods etc become more important (NB: if you record at 1080p you can use pc software to do the image stabilisation for you - and still result in a good 720p video).
Autofocus does work but you need to go manual to really start getting good effects. to be honest though it depends what you want - if you want to get creative with shallow depth of field then this in a plus point, if you want to wave something about and just shoot video its a negative.
You probably want to fit a shotgun mic to get better sound quality.
Ultimately dSLR will be streets ahead in terms of end result compared to a compact cameras or consumer camcorders but you REALLY have to work at it to get the results. A simple, compact point and shoot might be better depending what you want.
I also have a Canon Ixus that i have a Scuba Housing for which i use for a compact, turn on and shoot solution. Totally, water and mud proof - scratch resistant glass lens cover, its been through hell and back underground and is still going strong - unfortunately it was 'just' pre HD and to change the camera would also mean changing the scuba housing (which was a couple of hundred on its own).
I am well happy with its low light performance.
Light wise, whatever you shoot with get it as far away from the camera as possible to prevent as much bounce back from fog or dust as possible and the more the better, prevent centre burn by fitting a diffuser over the light lens - a circle of old diffuser of a strip light or something like that would be good.
Roy fellows Trigon cap lamp has a nice 1750 lumens and a nice flood mode for about £170 including lithium ion battery pack and charger.
Also look for any cree XM-L torches on ebay being driven at 8v- i found a nice one with a sensible spread/spot ratio, which has 3x XM-L's and is quoted at 3800lumens. (NB: quoted lumen figures tend to be bollox anyway, just look for XM-L's and make sure its using 2 series Lithium Ion Cells (i.e. 8v).
Ians videos are uber awesome, mine are here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/jaswauk?feature=mhee
The CRTT one at the top was shot on D7000 but i'd made a right cock up of the settings and messed focus and exposure up bigtime. I didn't use a diffuser on my 'big' torch which was ideal for lighting across huge chambers but i failed to reduce the brightness setting on the closer shots where i've burn things to hell. My flood setting on my caplight would have been the best for these - possibly with the torch focused to show detail further away (avoiding shining on close up subjects).
Anything at less than 720p will have been shot on my IXUS with just my caplight.
Bought a z885 for £8 posted at Ians recommendation. Hoping to use it for some easy, low light recording and for trips where i need to stay light.
Seems good so far, if you are used to SLR's then it can be figured out within a minute or two.
I've just snagged a nice Samsung Mini-DV Camera. DV may be old, but the sensors in the camera's generally deal with low-light better than most of today's Flash-storage based ones. DV is also (IIRC), 13GB/hr Uncompressed, so should offer decent enough quality.
Hopefully it lives longer than the Sharp Viewcam I had... One trip, and I couldn't get it to playback most of the files at all.
Cool! i look forward to seeing the results. I havent had any luck so far filming in low light.
I have friend that films on his SLR's with a Samyang 8mm video fish eye lens. Think its about F3.5 so he gets some good results.
[quote="Suboffender" post=10090]Cool! i look forward to seeing the results. I havent had any luck so far filming in low light.
I have friend that films on his SLR's with a Samyang 8mm video fish eye lens. Think its about F3.5 so he gets some good results.[/quote]
If you could mount PK or M42 glass, I have some 1.7 and 1.8 50's you could borrow to try. I have loads of 50's, so I'm not rushing to get them back either. Give me a prod, and I'll bring them on the 14th.
The lens on the Samsung is F1.6, but I'm not sure that translates exactly into terms I'm used to with 35mm/crop lenses.
wide is defiantly good when filming with SLR - obviously, lack of any sort of video image stabilisation is mitigated in part by the wide angle. - my 10-20mm lens yeilds good video results underground. And in most cases allows subjects to be brought into context with the surrounding environment quite nicely. Obviously distortion towards edges is evident but normally its just 'rock' so its not really obvious.