|
|
FADE TO BLACK
Professional video producer Leon Circuit helps in your quest to purchase a new video camera.
Buying your camera.
When it comes to camcorders, as with the professional video industry, you really do get what you pay for most of the time. You may not be able to upgrade your new camera for two or even ten years so you should really get the best that you can afford.
There are loads of cameras on offer as a quick look in any Camcorder User magazine will testify, if you can, go digital. The picture and sound quality of a digital camera is so far ahead of any consumer analogue camera that if you can afford one there really is no other choice.
When I buy an electric razor I want it to shave well and shave well only. If the razor also cuts hair, has lots of flashing lights and vibrates when someone is knocking on your front door then it probably doesn't shave as well as it should. Cameras are the same, don't be fooled by all the extra things that they can do, get the basics first. Manual controls or overrides, a good lens, white balance options, a microphone shoe perched on top can come in very handy and variable speed zoom is also a luxury that all professional cameras have.
Battery life is something to be aware of, I always carry spare batteries as the shoot will always last longer than predicted. There is nothing more stressful than failing light, one more shot to record, often the most important one of the day and the low battery sign starts to flash in the view finder, you turn around to find the spare battery is still being recharged 30 miles away in the office. Always make sure you have enough battery power. Beware when buying a camcorder, some cameras have a battery life of four hours others twenty minutes, don't forget to ask. You will be pleased you did on that shoot where the light is fading.
The latest is not always the greatest as I discovered when working on a recent documentary . Needing a high quality picture in a very confined space I went looking for the appropriate video camera.
The latest camera in the range that I was looking at was highly rated with many extras included such as fades and wipes of various descriptions but a depressingly low running time on the battery. I opted on this occasion for a model 2 generations down with only one fade, to black, variable zoom speed, microphone shoe and long battery life. I received the camera, did the shoot, found a problem and sent it back. After what seemed an age, but that's another story, the camera came back and has been a treat to work with ever since.
Check this web site, mainly based on the very good magazine of the same name but with a vast amount of links to get stuck into when looking for a camera - http://www.computervideo.net
Contact Leon with any camcorder queries at Circuit Productions, 1 Grimsby Road, Louth, LN11 0ED or email leon@circuitproductions.com
TOP
|
|
|
