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Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

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Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Sub Nate » Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:59 pm

Hey everyone, I totally new to this,I've been checking web sites and trying to learn as much as I can. My questions are. I want to get a camera that is easy to edit I will be using Final cut, and use a Newer I Mac. From what I have been looking at I have narrowed down to 2 cameras the Canon HV 40 and the Canon Hf s10. So Is editing Avchd as bad as everyone says" And I heard if you want to add effects and color correction it is hard with that format. I haven't read alot of bad about hdv except it takes a long time to download, I plan on Making dvd's to send to friends and family at first then maybe start making short films. Blair witch stuff. So what would you suggest? Oh also I need a camera I can get a underwater housing for diving. Any info, websites or anything to help me get into videography would be great. My background is photography so I would like something I could dabble with manual controls too.
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Bobby » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:39 pm

Hi Sub Nate and Welcome to Muvipix. Glad to help.

Many of us use tape - either miniDV or HDV. Tape has the highest quality (i.e. minimal compression) and it is easier to edit as you have read. And, yes, the primary drawback is that the tape data gets captured in "real time" - meaning you have to play the tape just as if you were viewing it to capture it.

I have the HV-30 and I am very happy with it.

Not being a Mac person, I am unsure about how much processor power you need to edit AVCHD in that environment. Perhaps someone else will comment soon.
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Chuck Engels » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:34 pm

I just bought a HV40 not long ago. Very happy with the purchase and the decision.
Capturing the video takes as long as the tape recorded for, but I have always used tape so that doesn't matter to me. The time you save importing AVCHD to your project you will waste in other ways. Either rendering or converting to another format.

Final Cut is a DV editor just as Premiere is and it prefers DV over anything else. Your editing will be much more trouble free if you stick to a DV tape device like the HV40 ;)
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Sub Nate » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:44 pm

ya I'm leaning more towards the tape options. Digtal would be great but I think they need a different format to make it more user friendly.
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Bobby » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:53 pm

Well, it's all digital these days! Both miniDV (standard definition) and HDV (high definition), both using the same tape cartridges) are digital.
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Briantho » Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:30 am

Sub Nate wrote:...So Is editing Avchd as bad as everyone says" And I heard if you want to add effects and color correction it is hard with that format.


I video amateur theatre productions regularly and for the last few I've been using a Panasonic TM300 and a TM10 (both HD with AVCHD) and an older GS500 (SD). I've also been using a GS300 just for sound. For editing I have a six month old iMac and FCE. NO problems! On the contrary, I began to have problems with PE4 years ago, then PE7 (all these are sort of documented in various posts from me round here) and as for PE8 well, look hard at all the relevant posts round here and elsewhere before you make up your mind. I'm really glad I switched to the iMac/FCE combination. Not too much of a learning curve because there are a lot of similarities between PE and FCE.

The Colour Correction 'filter' in FCE is as sophisticated as you want it to be (superb graphical interface) and all other effects are as straightforward as PE.
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Sub Nate » Tue Dec 22, 2009 5:22 pm

Well after alot of reading and alot of viewing videos on Vimeo I went to best buy today and ordered the HV40, It just seemed to me to have better video, The avchd just looked really choppy when you panned and I also noticed that the people who used the hv40 seemed to do alot more editing of there video. But I will let you know what I think, they said it should be here before the New year. If anyone has any suggestions for importing and editing for a first timer that would be great. I mean setting and stuff and what setting are you guys using to get the best video? Well thanks for the help.
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Bobby » Tue Dec 22, 2009 5:43 pm

Congratultions Sub Nate - or is it Sub, or Nate?

Anyhow, you made a great choice. Just stick with one tape brand; I get Sony tapes from Costco that were $16 for ten with rebate this week.

I use the free HDVSplit program to capture my data. It seems to work very well and can sequentially number your clips or put the date/time in them as you prefer.

Bringing them into PRE is easy at that point - just give PRE enough time to fully read the files - you should eventually see thumbnails for all the files, and all creating of temporary files (the progress bar at the bottom right) should finish. You only have to wait the first time you use them.

Other than that, go for it! We are always here for questions...
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Chuck Engels » Tue Dec 22, 2009 5:57 pm

Yup, Congratulations, excellent choice.
Not only will you get great video that will be easy to edit, you can get tons of support from users here as well ;)

Cine Mode is popular and does a nice job, you can play around with the 24p setting and the manual focus. There are lots of settings and it's usually best to try them out yourself, that's half the fun anyway. But after you get the camera and check it out I'm sure you will come up with lots of questions we can help you find answers to :)
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Re: Excited to get into vidoegraphy but what first camera

Postby Sub Nate » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:27 pm

Ya its Nate, the sub part is just my Navy occupation. Ya I can't wait to get it. I want to see how much different it is then shooting SLR, but will see I'm sure I will have lots of questions.
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