Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
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That’s not a bad idea….
Al
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Thanks. No I would not rely on the Dictaphone unit.
Zoom makes ok gear, but personally I would never buy one again. I had one and it failed after two years. I found that in the price range, Tascam or Sony are much better products by and large. Note that one of the reviews talks about the tripod mount breaking off. It likely would get you through though. Sound quality is usually quite good on Zoom.
A Smart Phone lav mic might be a good investment for your phone, and there are very good cheap recording programs for iPhone, and I assume Android. I personally use Rode’s own software, which is based on Fire, if I remember right.
I have gotten a lot of work from people like yourself who had important things to shoot and record, thought they could do it themselves, and quickly realized that what separates any pro from an amateur is that people that make their livings doing these things invest in the right tools, and learn how to do it so they don’t miss the shot they are getting paid to get. Where I live, I would have been glad to shoot and process such a shoot for the less than the price you paid for the camera and what you expect to pay for the rest of the gear. In our backwater here in the Pacific NW, I routinely shoot and hand over interviews like this for about $500. for a half day shooting and quick handoff of raw footage. I bet you could find a pro willing to do the same (or an eager student) for that or less.
It’s not to say that you shouldn’t take the time and invest the money in having the right tools. Heck you already spent a lot on the camera, and it’s a great little camera! Many pros have them, there is a very active Forum on DVinfo on this camera with over 1000 posts (!). It’s biggest shortcoming is that it’s not great in low light.
Spending the time and money to buy a good recorder (they are ridiculously cheap these days), and practicing how to use it before going into a once in a lifetime opportunity is really a great investment. I personally think all high school students ought to be taught how to do this properly, because it’s so important to business marketing these days.
Anyway, good luck, and send us an update when you are done with the project. We’d love to see how it turned out!
Al
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Davida, you didn’t mention budget on this. It’s a shame that given the unique situation you are recording, you didn’t spend the money that you spent on the Panny on someone who has the equipment to do the job right for you. But that’s water under the bridge now. Having done a lot of interviews solo, I can tell you it’s very hard to do right, and takes a lot of practice to avoid all sorts of pitfalls.
I have an earlier model of the camera you have, and it performs very well, but again, it is rather complicated if you don’t take the time to practice. Autofocus mode might focus on something you don’t want to focus on, so I would try and put your interview subject in the center of your frame if you aren’t going to manually focus (which I would recommend, as you have a lot of Depth of Field with that camera). Be cautious of your lighting also, try and get it coming over your shoulder, not behind the subject.
The least complicated way to do what you want is to get a microphone boom, buy a decent mic that is somewhat cardiod, and boom it above the both of you, just out of camera range. But it isn’t great for when you are walking around (G).
As to mics, there are a huge range of choices today. Since you want two people mic’ed, I’d likely look to either a separate recorder, placed close to both of you, and marry the sound up in post, using the camera sound as a backup. If you go the route of the Beachtek, you might try this:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/962864-REG/MCC-2_2-Channel_Audio_Adapter_and_…
I can’t vouch that it will work for your camera, but you might try it) It allows for two 3.5 jack mics to be plugged in simultaneously.An idea that is worth exploring is perhaps using a Sony ICD-SX712 Digital Flash Voice Recorder close to the interviewees, and spread the mics on it out in a fan. I use this recorder a lot, mainly for meetings, but it does a very good job of recording, without putting a mic right on the person. It’s also very portalbe. and it has a mic in so you could put a lav on your talent and go right into the sony. You also could use the Zoom H1, but I’m unclear if it’s got the capacity for long recordings, as you are saying you might do. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/699403-REG/Zoom_H1_H1_Ultra_Portable_Digital_Audio.html
Tascam’s DR40 and DR5 are also great recorders for under $200.You can now buy a lav from Rode and use it with an iPhone, which is a great way to go, just be sure to put the phone in airplane mode prior to recording, and put it on a belt loop or pocket actually on the interviewee. I’ve found the quality of recording on my iphone to be astonishingly good, even without a lav attached. It’s all about placement of the mic. And it seems a lot of people have smartphones. I’ve not tried using an Android phone, but I bet it’s fine. Key is finding a lav that works with them. Not all do.
Lavilier mics are cheap and usually ok in the low end. I avoid Azden as they are cheaply made. But you might buy two and throw one out if they fail. They also can be very tinny sounding. You could get one lav and put it on the interviewee and run it into the recorder, and one into the camcorder. I usually use a lav on my Panasonic TM900 when I do an interview that I don’t want to take my professional gear along to (meaning I’m traveling and something good comes up to record). Also buy an extension cord for the lav. I carry two coiled extensions and while not a great idea, they always have worked with no interference. Again, having everyone turn off their cell phones prior to recording will help avoid cell phone hunting interference from the phones.
I use a https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/217486-REG/Sennheiser_ME4_ME4_Lavalier_Mic_for.html for my Panny or my DSLRs. It is good quality and relatively inexpensive. I didn’t know if it would work when I bought it, but it’s been great.
Your camera also has a headphones jack. I would make sure to test the setup before recording with your headphones on. Even cheap ipod phones are better than nothing.
So there you have it. A crash course in trying to DIY in the field.
Al
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As a point of reference, if it doesn’t work, see if you find a friend with After Effects. It has a “warp stabilizer” that i use in a pinch. Fabulous tool if you need it.good for short sequnences and you output and bring into any NLE.
Al
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I agree with many of what has been said. I have both a 5Dmkiii and a C100. I rarely use the 5D anymore. Even with the notion of a hacked situation, unless I had a very specific theatrical piece to shoot, I would choose the C100 every time over the 5D. Much easier to setup, it’s a dream to use, and the picture quality is superb, even without the use of the external SSD. The lens choice seems to make more of an issue than the camera. Yes, the 5D image, especially hacked, will be superb and a bit more unique than the C100. But if you are near a big city, try them out. I find myself using the 5D only for stills now, or as a B roll camera.
Al
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I went with the c100. It probably gives you everything that the Sony does except a rack zoom. But for the money, it’s a fabulous all purpose video camera that gives you great DOF when needed. I still have my camcorder around for certain gigs. But I now use the C100 more than my 5D mkiii. It’s now all between stills and video.
Al
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Ok. I see it, and am not an expert, but it seems like you are generating noise there. I see various artifacts at work there. Not sure that it’s something to do with the ISO you are shooting at (some are better than others), or if it’s a camera flaw. I would send this back to Canon when you ask for a repair. I assume this doesn’t show up in better lit scenes?
Al
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Can you provide samples? I’ve not experienced this on my Mkiii. But I may not have used it the same, and definitely haven’t used the 4:2:2 out, yet. The pixel issue probably should be a return to Canon, IMHO. Maybe the two were part of a defective production run? Serial numbers similar?
Al
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Be sure to upgrade the NB to the *latest * version which usually seems to include a lot of bug fixes (G).
If you have trouble with it crashing your machine, simply use it as a standalone product to render titles on standalone timelines. That’s what I do.Al
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I’m with John in that I own Pr CS6 and AE, but am sitting back and waiting for CC to either be rolled back or modified significantly. Yes, the price is cheaper than buying the standalone products, but that could change. As John mentions, the products like Boris and Red are great for doing titling effects. Pr doesn’t seem to have that kind of animated affects prebuilt, they force you to AE and then to do them you need to work much harder IMHO than in Boris or Red to achieve those affects. Obviously there is a huge aftermarket for prebuilt affects in AE. But you don’t need AE to run those. I won Boris and NB (which came with Sony 11). I do use them occassionally with Premiere projects, rendering out in Vegas what I need to MXF and importing into Pr. (sad but true, I don’t trust Vegas anymore for most of my projects).
Al