Best Video Camera?

[1stwahine]

Re: Best Video Camera?

Eh, Good Morning Manoa! You can write good wen you MAD!

Have a Nice Day!!

Auntie Lynn

[kimo55]

Re: Best Video Camera?

Final Cut Pro is the poor man’s Avid.

Just because an avid setup is overpriced doesn't mean FCP is an also ran, cheap or substandard. Many who very obviously could choose and afford avid, but opt for Final Cut are very happy with its performance and capabilities.
Esteemed Academy Award winning film and sound editor/designer, Walter Murch chose FCP for "Cold Mountain" the $100 million film lensed on location in Romania.

Try telling the producers and editors of these theatrical release films, they are poor men:

Corpse Bride
Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story
Fay Grim
Full Frontal (film)
George Washington
Gunner Palace
Happy Endings
Hoot
Intolerable Cruelty
Jarhead
The Ladykillers
What the Bleep Do We Know!?
Little Manhattan
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
Open Water
Napoleon Dynamite
The Rules of Attraction
Shaun of the Dead
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Spellbound
Super-Size Me
Wesley Cash
You Me and Every One We Know
Zodiac

[damontucker]

Re: Best Video Camera?

You can write good wen you MAD!

I not mad... you see what time it is...! I never have my coffee yet!

[pzarquon]

Re: Best Video Camera?

As the one who dragged the DOE into this, I should clarify that my comment was about how flatly closed minded Manoa was, about Macs overall, given how some school programs are doing great stuff with them. He hates them, but feels qualified to advise against them?

I certainly don't expect a school system that can't even provide enough pencils or clean bathrooms for our kids to be investing in Mac Pros and 3CCD cameras. So "poor me, poor kids!" isn't even the issue here. It's "keep it simple, keep it cheap!" I'm pointing out that Macs are simple, and comparatively priced for a Windows-based solution.

There's nothing wrong with the "$40 used digital camera with movie mode" solution. I love playing with video, but I don't have a video camera, either. It's all "movie mode" with me, too. But Aunty Lynn asked for recommendations, and it seemed clear to us that her plans would call for a more robust system.

[damontucker]

Re: Best Video Camera?

but feels qualified to advise against them?

I never advised against them!
I simply stated costs...

I actually agreed with you pz!

Dang you wake up early too!

[idvfilms]

Re: Best Video Camera?

Auntie Lynn,
you could also use that money and find someone with Pro gear and knowledge to shoot it for you, it could be "First Friday w/ Auntie Lynn" and then you could host it! (*wink*)

[damontucker]

Re: Best Video Camera?

I offered to do it for free w/ good cameras a while back! Auntie thought they might be too big and to intrusive for some of the footage that she wanted.

Then she said she wanted me to do it with my rinky dink cybershot... I told her I didn't want to do a good shoot with a crappy camera.

We go back and forth... I told her...you get the camera and do it yourself already!

It's all in her blog a few days back!

Hugs,

Manoa

[kimo55]

Re: Best Video Camera?

go to videolab or video life. above wahoo fish tacos ward/auahi. Pick up sony dcr hc36 or something like that. good lens. good quality.

[tutusue]

Re: Best Video Camera?

go to videolab or video life. above wahoo fish tacos ward/auahi. Pick up sony dcr hc36 or something like that. good lens. good quality.

Video Life (Sony electronics sales...great customer service)...Video Lab (duplicating services...also great customer service!).

[Composite 2992]

Re: Best Video Camera?

Don't forget the services that Olelo makes available.

Take the classes. They'll teach you how to shoot and edit. And they'll also provide a forum, as long as it's not a commercial production.

But if you do go into commercial production, at least you'll get the training and experience for free!

By the way, I have to also recommend Macs. My mom is more than 70 and she surfs the net and emails with one -- and she's not technical at all.

And when it comes to a productive tool: my Macs are paying for my house, my car, my small boat and motor. Feeds my wife, my dogs and me. It's a great tool. Just as reliable as my growing collection of woodworking tools...

[liberty]

Re: Best Video Camera?

I hope Liberty comments on this... would love to hear her aspect.

Hey, thanks for the name-drop, Manoa.

First off, Searider Productions didn't just come out of nowhere. It started in 1993 with a single editing bay in a tiny closet space, and a couple of Hi-8 video cameras. These were some of the things that our teachers remided us of all the time when I was a student there... knowing where we came from.

I don't think anyone - students, teachers, or anyone else - was intentionally trying to reinvent Wai'anae's image, although that certainly may have been a result of the program's success throughout the years. The program's founding teachers simply recognized technology's potential of enhancing education. Using the visual medium, especially with a generation that's grown up with it, was a way to help students learn. One founding teacher (now the program's coordinator) taught Spanish, and with a VHS camera, filmed kids acting out scenes they wrote in Spanish to apply what they learned.

Over the years, different people in the community saw the program's potential, resulting in the funding that would come from various companies, organizations, federal grants, et al. SP is definitely fortunate for everything it has - not just financial backing and the equipment it has, but the fact that alumni who have worked professionally in TV production have come back on their own will to pass on what they've learned to younger generations.

Today, SP isn't just a video production program; it also encompasses student newspaper and yearbook publication, web publishing, motion graphics, audio/music recording, and more recently, Flash animation. I spent my four years in SP working on the newspaper, yearbook, and video production. Working on the newspaper was especially instrumental in helping develop necessary writing skills, not only in producing a good video, but in college, work, and life. This summer, I've been freelancing for them on a video project, and going back there just makes me nostalgic... even if it's only been two years.

The program's going through some mighty changes (as they always have)... you can read more about that in a recent Honolulu Advertiser article.

Another thing too... Wai'anae High School isn't the only Hawaii school that's doing video production. Off the top of my head, there's Nanakuli, Kalaheo, Kalani, Wai'anae Intermediate, and Chiefess Kamakahele Middle School on Kaua'i. Those schools also have some budding storytellers - videographers, writers, editors, etc. Video production is being embraced by schools because of the improved accessibility and relatively lower cost of equipment (compared to, say, 10 years ago). Plus it's helping kids tap into their creativity, enhance their education, and explore possible career paths.

...and I must give credit to the hard work of the teacher that has brought Waianaes Video Class to the National Stage...

Again, the program is fortunate to have advisers that are so supportive of their students. But I think the credit should also go to the students... they're the ones producing the actual projects that have launched the program into the national spotlight.


Gosh... I write too much!

[liberty]

Re: Best Video Camera?

The DOE does have some nice equipment... however, we are not able to purchase the newest things as they come out.

With all of the cutbacks that the DOE has faced recently... The DOE is not capable of staying up to date with new equipment every year.

I don't think it's necessary to keep equipment up to date every year. Tempting, but not necessary. If you have the capacity... by all means. Using the operational equipment you already have to make compelling stories or execute interesting or humorous concepts - those are the most valuable assets any program can have.

As for the original thread topic... I'm not sure what else I could add because there's already been a lot of good advice given in this thread.

[TuNnL]

Re: Best Video Camera?

Pick up sony dcr hc36 or something like that. good lens. good quality.

You forgot no headphone jack. No microphone input. No built-in light.Not exactly something you’d want to buy even for an amateur production. But decent enough for “you tube.”

Can you manual focus on that thing? I couldn’t figure it out, but I assume you have one since you are recommending it.

[kimo55]

Re: Best Video Camera?

You forgot no headphone jack. No microphone input. No built-in light.

Nope. did not forget any of those. Have them firmly in mind. as much as I have the query this is in answer to:

"Recommendations.
Reason: I like make My Chinatown Documentary!!! "

Not exactly something you’d want to buy even for an amateur production.

it is one of the many cameras... that would be exactly something for an amateur production. The more stuff you have, the less innocuous and the more visible you are. Chinatown documentary would require something like this.

Can you manual focus on that thing?

absolutely. But again, one of the many reasons this would be ok to employ for aunty's purposes is, good nightvision, for scenes where you do NOT want a light shining at people.
stereo mic is sufficient.
I can't see aunty going, "yo. ice dealer, hang on. lemme set up my focus, and position this lapel mic on you.... now i put on my headphones... ok, Now, give us something off the cuff an spontaneous. uh, where you goin?!"

[tutusue]

Re: Best Video Camera?

[...]Gosh... I write too much!

Quite the opposite, Liberty! If you're any indication of the quality of students Waianae High School is producing then I'm very, very proud to be living right next door to it!