Tripod/ stands

chestpod

monopod

Tripods are very important in video shooting. Since camera steadiness is important, using support will improve our scenes that are recorded to the tape. Tripod is essential whwn we are using a telephoto converter and longer focal lengths. The tripod also important when we using macro shooting and shooting subject in long period. Fluid head tripod provide freedom of movement and the cameraman able to pan and tilt more smoother. The tripod can be adjusted to any height that we want to. If we want to use support lighter than tripod we may use monopod, shoulder holsters, chest pods or many others.

tripod

More about camcorder

All camcorders more or less have the same function. They have viewfinder that acts as a monitor, able to playback the scenes that are recordered before. Besides with AC current the camcorder can be powered by rechargeable batteries. Camcorder also has zoom lens and built in microphones. The different are their format(tape size used), image resolution, sound system, shape, weight and etc.



Format;

In broadcasting the most common format camcorders used are Betacam, DVCam, MiniDV, DVC Pro and many more. The common home used camcorders are palmcorders. This palmcorders use mini DV tape, video disc or Hard Disc. Nowaday VHS camcorders with VHS tape are no longer used by videographers. That type of format are very seldom available in the market.



How to choose camcorder:

Besides the price, there are several features to consider before buying camcorders;

• The camcorder should be light and portable if we plan to do a lot of travel videos
• Picture quality should be hight to avoid picture drop quality during copying
• The tape length is also very important.
• The quality of sound.
• The robustness of the camcorder is very important especially in broadcast.
  

Digital-Camcorder or Analogue – Is There Any Comparison? By John Gibb Platinum Quality Author

People have been getting along just fine for years with old-fashioned analogue camcorders. Why are digital ones any better? There are lots and lots of reasons.

First of all, if you’ve ever seen a video made on an analogue camcorder, you’ll know just how low the quality is. It’s grainy, with nasty textual watermarks and bad sound. Digital camcorders, on the other hand, use digital recording techniques to give you higher resolution, which means higher picture quality – even the worst digital camcorder has picture quality dramatically better than a TV is even capable of displaying.

Digital camcorders are also easier to carry. The digital media they record onto is smaller, lighter and has a higher capacity, meaning that the unit doesn’t have to be designed around bulky tapes. Digital camcorders’ designs are much smaller and sleeker than anything that has gone before.

Some people think you have to have a computer to use a digital camcorder, but that’s not actually true. What is true, however, is that it’s so much easier to transfer any videos you make to your computer for further editing or posting on the web. All you need to do is plug in a cable, click a few buttons and you’re done – in fact, if your camcorder has a Bluetooth wireless connection, you don’t even need to plug in the cable!

The final factor in favour of digital camcorders is an interesting one, and one that many people don’t realise. It’s impossible to use an analogue camcorder as a normal stills camera, because of the completely different kinds of film. With a digital camcorder, however, it’s dead easy to also use it as a digital camera, and store stills and video right alongside each other. When you consider the amount of money you save by not having to buy both a camera and a camcorder, it makes digital camcorders look like an even better deal than ever.

John Gibb is the owner of digital camcorder sources . For more information on digital camcorders check out http://www.digital-camcorder-data2k.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Gibb

How To Make A Time-Lapse Video With Your Digital Video Camera By Kevin Rockwell

Getting the most out of your digital video camera can mean being able to create some really cool stuff. You just have to step outside the manual a bit and find the cool things you can do with your digital video camera and your editing software.

We have all seen them in a movie or a TV show, those very cool shots where they speed up time and capture a long segment of time and condense it into a very short amount of video. My very favorite example of this technique was an arty movie of many years ago that was called Koyaanisqatsi. (view trailer) In that movie they had some very interesting segments where they did time lapse effects to show driving on a bridge, flowers growing, clouds flying by and so on. Another example is many of the TV news stations nowadays have a camera that captures the day’s weather and then they process it down to a 20 second clip to show the clouds and weather racing by on screen.

Well this technique is not just a tool in the hands of the movie makers or the big TV stations. You can do this with your digital video camera gear too. I will go into two ways that you can accomplish this effect and get some cool results for your next video project. This one is worth playing around with in order to find the right settings to get the most dramatic effect.

Technique number one is to use the camera itself to do the time lapse recording for you. Almost all digital video cameras have the ability to do an interval recording. What this means in a nutshell is that you tell the camera how long you want to record for and how long in between recordings and it will go on autopilot for you for as long as the battery lasts or the tape runs out. This is what those cameras at the convenience store do, they record a few seconds of motion every 30-60 seconds giving the overall view of the traffic in the store over time.

Now if you want to capture some time lapse in your digital video camera you will need to get into your cameras menu and find Interval Recording (or in my case Int Rec, as I use a Sony PD 150 for my camera) When you select this option you will decide how long of an interval between shots you want and how long to record each time. If you are trying to capture something that takes a long time to occur and in which not much happens quickly you will want to set the interval at around a minute and the record time as short as possible on your camera. An example would be if you wanted to record a day in the life of a flower or the clouds rolling by in the sky. Suppose however that you want to capture an event that has lots of action and occurs over a much shorter time frame. Then you would want to shorten the interval between recordings and increase the time of each recording. So in this case you might record every 15-30 seconds and record up to 2-3 seconds of video each time.

I used this technique to capture an afternoon of work being done by a team of carpenters on my house remodeling project. The result was a flurry of activity as workers raced hither and yon nailing boards, carrying equipment and building walls. I have added it to my photo collection of the project. (Hey I had to live through the project so I might as well have a great record of it for posterity!)

Now suppose you have one of the great software video editing packages on your computer to work with your digital video camera. Now you can do it in post as they say in the business. You can record any length of video you want (subject to the limitations of your tape length) and then import it into your editing program.

Sidebar:

I use Adobe Premiere Pro for my editing jobs, but I have also used Avid DV Express, Final Cut Pro, and others in the non linear editing world. These are all great programs and are very powerful products that can create some very professional looking videos. You don’t have to have these products to create your own videos but if you are serious about digital video editing it might be a good idea to take a look at these options.

I digitize my raw video of the scene I am doing time lapse on into my computer (big hard drive, video eats up GB’s of space) and then import the clip into my time line. From th3e timeline you can then select the clip with a right click. From there you will be given a menu with options depending on the software you use. Select the option that says “duration”, “speed” or something similar. Change the speed of the clip so that time will speed up considerably. If you have an hour of video in the clip and want to shorten it to 2 -5 minutes then you need to increase the speed of the clip to 3 or 4 thousand percent of normal. This will require your software to render the clip at the higher speed and may take some time top process depending on the speed of your computer.

Once you have rendered the video clip at the new speed you will want to play it to see if the movie flows evenly or if you will want to readjust the speed setting to make it better. Sometimes you may want to shorten your raw video and adjust the speed down somewhat in order to get a smooth flow of action. Once you have rendered the clip at the new speed you can now cut and splice it as you see fit with the speeded up action intact. There are some things you will record that might only need a slight speed change, take for instance some digital video of your kids playing sports. Double or triple the speed of the clip and show it to them and you might have them rolling on the floor.

You can also use these techniques to capture the growth of a flower or plant over the course of days or weeks. Simply set you camera in exactly the same place at the same time each day and record an interval that works each day fro however long you want to document. May be you get the seedling just breaking soil and follow it all the way through turning into a full grown plant.

Another interesting idea is to capture the path of the moon across the night sky. Set up your camera on a tripod in a spot that can see the path of the moon for several hours. Set the camera to interval record and put the moon on one side of the frame so that it will pass across the frame as the night passes. This one may require some testing in order to get the exposure and framing right as well as the right interval to record at. Most likely you would want to set the interval as long as you can and the record time as short as you can but do a test run first to see what works.

I can’t stress enough that using your digital video camera can be great fun and you can achieve some cool results. Play around and test. You just might find yourself creating some very creative digital video to share with the rest of the world.

Kevin Rockwell worked as a network TV cameraman for 20 years shooting news and sports. Now a devoted fan of digital photography and video he works to gather information, tips and news for digital camera users. Oh and he loves to shoot pictures of cool and interesting things all the time. http://www.great-digital-cameras.com/gdcj.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Rockwell

Sony DCR HC 38E Camcorder By Monty Alexander

Sony DCR HC38E camcorder comes with powerful zoom lenses. It has the optical zoom of 40 x and digital zoom of 80/2000 x. It sports Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens with the filter diameter of 30 mm. Optical zoom is a feature that alters a camcorders focal length, filling more of the frame within the subject. An optical zoom lens actually moves in and out of the camcorder. Unlike a digital zoom, an optical zoom will not reduce the resolution of your video; moreover it helps you to concentrate on the subject of the video to be shot. This camcorder also brings a faraway object nearer and hence is useful in shooting videos of flora and fauna or anything that is moving. Whereas a digital zoom is software inside the camcorder that enlarges subject in the video to be shot. Digital zoom enlarges the subject of the video to be shot, while reducing the resolution of the video.

Sony DCR HC38E: Inside Out

Sony DCR HC38E camcorder has 2.5" screen which is a wide 4:3 LCD Screen with Touch Panel. It has various features like: video playback controls, Program AE, effects mode, search and title entry by a simple touch on the generously sized LCD screen. The touch panel is treated in such a manner that it gets protected against dirt and fingerprints.

For those who have a shaky hand, Sony DCR-HC38E camcorder comes with the option of Super SteadyShot System. With this you can get rid of those unwanted blurs which at times hamper clearly enjoying the video.

Uniqueness

One of the unique features of Sony DCR HC38E camcorder is the presence of Super NightShot. With this feature you get a built-in infrared system that allows you to capture video in monochrome recording from up to 10 feet away even in total darkness. It also helps in increasing the brightness, contrast and quality of the picture with its Slow Shutter speeds.

Another feature that will impress you is the option of video talk. With this feature you can talk live to you callers and even playback any video to them. Another interesting feature is the Video Streaming mode. With this you can do live recording on your PC, you won't need to use the i-LINK terminal.

Conclusion

For those who have a knack for photography, this Sony DCR HC38E camcorder is the best buy.

Monty Alexander has a good name as an author; his articles cover many topics including Sony camcorders, digital camera, camcorders and camera.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Monty_Alexander

Using Your Micro Video Camera For Recreational Purposes By Nahshon Roberts Platinum Quality Author

Your micro video camera can be used for recreational purposes, too! Just because it is used for monitoring nannies and employees, cheating husbands and erring children, cops and robbers, does not necessarily mean that it cannot be used for good, clean fun, too! Here is how.

Remote Controlled Toys

If you attach a micro video camera to a remote controlled toy, you will get a feeling akin to playing a racing video game. The only visible difference is that instead of virtual landscapes, you will be navigating real terrain.

You can attach a micro video camera to the nose of your toy helicopter or plane and watch your neighborhood park and your yard from a totally different perspective! You can control the toy to zoom around the neighborhood just so you can get to know the layout more. Just be very careful that you do not exceed the limits on objective expectation of privacy and other laws lest you find yourself in a totally different neighborhood, otherwise known as the jailhouse.

As to your toy car, you can also attach the micro video camera inside it. Watch how grass looks from an ant's point of view, almost like being in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" movie! You never know when you can use the footage for your very own "shrinking" home movie, right?

You should look for a camera that can be plugged into the receiver as power source or a camera that can be used with a Y splitter. The idea is that your tiny camera will operate on the same battery as that of the toy vehicle.

Practical Jokes

If you are a fan of gag shows like "Candid Camera", a micro video camera is the right tool to get you started on a career as a practical joker. Just remember that your practical jokes must never endanger the lives of the targets; go easy on scare jokes for old people, weights falling down on heads, and other potentially fatal pranks.

You can position the hidden camera in a strategic place - opposite the doorway when the joke involves door pranks like stacking up books to block the entryway, up above the ceiling for better coverage, inside the bathroom for monsters-popping-up-on-the-toilet-seat pranks, and other places you deem good for capturing the action. Again, be mindful of privacy issues.

Voyeuristic Tendencies

This is an extreme in recreational purposes for a micro video camera. You are endangering your freedom in exchange for satisfying your sexual kicks. Then again, America has always been about "each to his own", right?

There a few things you need to remember on voyeurism. You are invading the privacy of the individuals you are videotaping without their consent. As such, you can be prosecuted and jailed for violating the laws. You might be able to hide pinhole cameras to become a high-tech peeping Tom but only under the cloud of a felony (and more than 12 years of prison time for some crimes) hanging over your head.

Is it not better to play with toys and jokes than with privacy issues? The next time you think of using your pinhole cameras for recreation, try to stay within the confines of decency and of the law.

Who says your pinhole nanny camera, especially the wireless nanny camera, can only be used for altruistic purposes? Use your micro video camera to have fun, too, and visit Video-Surveillance-Guide.com today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nahshon_Roberts