Who here does video shooting / editing / etc?

[lawdogg]

Looking to jump from still photography to video.

I'm just shopping for equipment at this point ... would love to hear anything anyone has to say. I remember some of you guys have played with it in the past ...

:Seriously:

[Amphiron]

sony vegas is the best way to go for editing video

[CoopKill]

I have Vegas and Premiere Pro, they both have their goods and bads. I am no pro or even close. I do know that as far as vid cam goes, without getting into the 2-3k mark the Canon HV30 or HV40 is the best looking results I have seen.

Check these two shorts out using each of the cameras: Watch them on Vimeo in HD full screen


http://vimeo.com/8401900 <- HV40


http://www.vimeo.com/431500 <- HV20

[lawdogg]

Wow the HV40 is REALLY impressive.

One favorite videographer of mine is Will Roegge ... anyone have any idea what he shoots with?


http://vimeo.com/3812217

[CoopKill]

Remember my comment about price in my first post?

He uses:
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-AG-HPX170-High-Definition-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B001E96LGI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289914913&sr=8-1

[CoopKill]

He is using color correct in that clip, I'm guessing done with Magic Bullet.

You get a different feel with different techniques such as shooting in 24p vs. 30p, color/light correcting, and obviously motion speed.

I have not dove into video as much as I want yet. I bought my HV30 2 yrs ago for a trip to Europe and have not had the time to accomplish/learn/dedicate to it as of yet. I had a totally different camera in mind when I found Vimeo, and after three people on ther shared clips from it with me I quickly changed my mind.

Best advise for you that I have is to go on Vimeo, find clips of what impresses you, look at the profile of the shooter. Especially the groups they belong to. That will give you info on what they use and sometime the technique employed.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. For the most part they will be very forthcoming with answers, or at least creating 10 more questions for you... :smile:

[CoopKill]

To really confuse things for you, this as well as a lot of other great clips on there were done with new generation Digital SLR's.

This one happens to be a Canon 5D MKII


http://vimeo.com/5606758

[mh3kgt]

Was that Justin Bieber in that second clip :suspect:

[PTrain]

A DSLR that shoots HD might be a good choice if you still want to do some photography in addition to making some movies.

I'd suggest just going into best buy and selecting a camera that can shoot in 720p (which I believe is pretty much everything) and go with that. Unless you are making professional videos I don't see needing any more. If you want to shoot action stuff as well then get some basic HD camcorder and a gopro. Their size and ability to shoot 60fps at 720p is pretty impressive and is a great feature when making car or action sports videos.

[CoopKill]

I agree with you if one does not put quality high on the list. A random 2-3 hundred dollar hd cam may not even come close to the word quality when viewing on a 60" tv.

I sold a $1800 Sony HD cam to get the HV30 which I believe I paid around $600ish. Which is about what the HV40 is going for. There are other cams that are very good out there.

A very important feature to seek is image stabilization. They are not all created equal. Be sure to get a cam that has "optical" image stabilization. The digital ones are not up to par, or even close. I have owned both.

Go to a pro camera store and find their in house video guy. Ask a butt load of questions. Staples, Sears, Kmart, CompUSA, and the such are for the most part occupied by just out of or in high school employees that really do not know more than the stats on the box if that...

It is all in what your expectations dictate.

[CoopKill]

As for editing, you can D/L trials from most of the top progs out there. Vegas is much different than P Pro in the user interface area, so I would get a couple different ones and play around to find one you like.

Also, if going with a hard drive or memory cam, do research on what hardware you will need to edit AVHC files. Some progs will not edit native files and you must convert first. The last time I looked into it the overhead in processor, memory, and video card resources were pretty high. This was before the "I" series processors were under a grand though.

Tape cams are rather time intensive to get the vid to the computer...

Really not trying to push anything here. Just throwing all of the stuff I went through buying three cams to get one that I found acceptable for what I wanted.

Bill

[DrGonzo]

I haven't dove into actually shooting anything yet. Most of the video editing I do comes from 3D models and other peoples clips. For editing I have always used Final Cut Pro, Premier Pro and After Effects. Each one has it good and bad but combined they make up fro each others shortcomings.

Here is a short clip I made for BRG2010. Unfortunately the video quality is not the best as the GoPro I have is not the HD version. In the beginning you can see some of the video effects possible using the above programs and simple 3D models.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iTg0PEV3QA

[cjbyron]

I use a Sony CX550. I'm not a pro with video by any means but it met with what I was looking for. For editing I tried the adobe family of software, and even tried a copy of AVID Pro (too complicated for my needs). I settled on Corel Videostudio Pro. I have used corel software in the past and like it (ie coreldraw) and find that the video program has just the sort of things I need and want without too much overhead or things I'll never need. I have a couple of the racecar videos off of that software but not a whole lot otherwise to this point. The 3 yr build video was done with the corel software and it made some things pretty easy to do. Came out pretty good from what people say. I think they do have a free trial like most places.

Just my 2 cents. Probably many others that have more detailed info or suggestions.

[CoopKill]

I started with Videostudio back in ver. 4 days when a DvD burner was $700! It is a very usable and easy to learn program. I would suggest it highly for learning. The newer versions have some good features, and if you like it and need more you can upgrade to Mediastudio pro.

I forgot about that one. I think I still have ver. 10 or 11 around here.

Edit: I confused Corel VideoStudio Pro with Ulead VideoSudio, and MediaSudio. I have not used the Corel product, so insert above with the Ulead product.

Another good one is Pinnacle Studio...