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Digital Video Newbie ...

M

MacPanda

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 15, 2006
115
0
Hey folks,

I need your advice. I am a bit of a digital video newbie, never used final cut pro, but I know iMovie really well and have used it before tonnes of times.

However I am trying to do a series of mini documentaries which I will edit in iMovie. I was wondering if you could advise me which camera would be great to get.

I'd love to shoot HD as that is really where everything is going. I am looking for something where I can put it on a tripod and press record and film the person talking. I have used the Flip Mino HDs before and was impressed with the quality in high light situations but not in low level light. Also if I need to record the sound, do I need a microphone or can I rely on the one built into the camera?

I would say that £500 is my budget. I have a lot of lights as my dad used to be a photographer, and have tripods etc ...

Thanks for your help folks! - Panda ...
 
spinnerlys

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
That really depends on your budget and where the end product is gonna be delivered to.

The Flip Mino HD might be an okay camera, but for what you wanna do you might need a better calibre.

Also an external mic is highly advised, if possible via an external mixer into the line-in of a camera.

State your budget and end product recipient and you will get more responses.

Also consider lighting equipment.

PS: Your title is to general. Maybe something like "Looking for a camera to do interviews, budget 6000 currency units" or so will help more. You have to target the audience you wanna get help from.
 
M

MrLatte23

macrumors regular
Jul 18, 2007
148
0
HDV or AVCHD Camcorders

Try something like the Canon Consumer HD camcorders: HV40, HG20, HF20. Those are in your price range. You should almost always use a microphone better than the built in one. Even a separate, hot shoe mounted one will give you much better "wild" audio when shooting b-roll. For any speaking parts or for sounds that matter, as mentioned above, use a good Shotgun or Lavelier Mic (Sennheiser) and portable audio mixer (Shure FP33) and a decent set of headphones.

I'm not familiar with iMovie anymore, so I can't say if it's good enough to edit a series of mini documentaries. Taking the time to learn Final Cut Pro or even Express could help you in the long run to maintain quality and have more tools at your disposal if you want to key, color correct, composite or mask something out.
 
G

giffut

macrumors 6502
Apr 28, 2003
467
156
Germany
The ...

... best setup I could see for you would be:

- a SDHC flashed based camera, like Canon HF/HG series (already mentionned)

- flashed based audio recorder, like the Edirol R09HR, Zoom H4N, and additional microphones for all speaking persons involved (connected to your camera and the audio recorder, depending on the amount you will need).
 
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