I figured now would be a nice time to share this little tid-bit of tech info. Right about the middle of summer, I received an ad from Big Lots with an HD camcorder from Kodak for $40... I was like whhhaaaattt? I sped to my local Big Lots and snagged up one of these little bad boys. To tell you the truth, I should have bought at least one more. I have several other Kodak mini HD cameras, so figured this would be a nice edition to my collect. Sure enough it's a gem... but with a few flaws. Let me get those out of the way. No removeable battery (boo), microSD (cool and not cool), water tight door gets in the way when plugging it up to a computer. The USB connector ejects from the bottom, like the Flip cams do (or now DID should I say ooohhhhh, poor Cisco Systems). One last bad note, the out of water video is just ok (after it's been in water). If you use before, it's aight, lol. Now the good :) UNDERWATER CAMERA!!! Did you read that right? UNDERWATER CAMERA. I love it! Quick advice, for the best shots, wear goggles, it's the only way to composite a shot on the tiny LCD on the bad. Once that hurdle is crossed, it's on like Donkey Kong. The video is clear, crisp and clean. The camera is fairly durable, and it's waterproof :) The camera is capable of 720p video at 30 fps, and 5 mp stills. The still are great too (if composited correctly). I know the summer is over for most of the US, outside of Florida, California, or Hawaii lol, but this may be a perfect time to pick one up for next Spring Break and the 2012 summer. If you can't find them at your local Big Lots, eBay has a few for a couple bucks more. Now for some samples, I know, I know, it's time for me to shut up. Here is a quick sample of the first time I used the Kodak Zm2 Underwater HD camcorder/camera. Enjoy!
A new online video editing service was just brought to my
attention by one of my partners. It appears to be a pretty neat service that
ANY do-it-yourselfer can do. But, is it worth it? Let’s talk a little about the
service and other options. The service (Pixorial) allows you to mail your
tangible media like VHS, Hi8, etc. to their processing center or upload your
digital media via their website. Once your media has been digitized or uploaded,
the fun begins. Once online, you’ll be able to scroll through all of your
original footage and edit all the shakes, bumps, blurries, and mishaps out. You
can add traditional transitions like dissolves and wipes. This will help your video masterpiece be all
it can be. All of this while connected to the net. So what do you do when you’re
done? Well, with the service you’ll be able to post directly to Facebook, email
all your friends a link, embed to the site of your choosing or have Pixorial
master you a custom DVD (and mail it to you). So what does all this cost you
ask? Actually not too much. You can use their limited version for free, which
will limit your uploadable media. You can also pay $25 a year for unlimited
usage.
How does this fair with computer software or hiring a service? Let’s dive into that a little. If you’re someone who shoots a lot of video, you will want your own installed software. Of course Apple comes with the VERY powerful iMovie, which can handle HD quality and is very simple to use. Windows comes with MovieMaker, which in my opinion is a waste of space on your hard drive. Pixorial will offer you more options. Beyond the free software, you can purchase multiple video applications for Windows which all have their pros and cons. All of these programs will start at $100 and go up from there. Using these, you will have unlimited usage on your computer and storage will be based on your hard drive space. Now beyond this you’ll have Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Studio and Sony Vegas. These editing suites cost a bundle, but offer you the most options for manipulating your media. They are also the most difficult to master. Here at Lucky-Star, we use both Final Cut Studio and Adobe products. It’s the only way in our eyes to delivery whatever the heart desires.
That brings me to the next point. Hiring an outside company to hype your home-videos. This by far is the most expensive, but will likely deliver the finest results. We charge both an hourly or project based rate, but doing the pre-budgeting, even a simple show will cost you around $300-$500 and that’s from us. Other services can charge double to triple that depending on the editor and house rates.
So again, it’s all up to you. How important is your video final product? How much are you willing to spend? How much control do you want when doing it yourself? What exactly do I want? These are all valid questions that you will need to ask yourself before taking the next step in any video production. As I always say, there is no wrong way to try… So go with what is best with your comfort level. Good luck and happy shooting.
