[Roger Van duyn]

Hi. I use my two XH’s quite a bit shooting sports. First of all, you are describing very tough shooting conditions. I don’t know if you can (are allowed to) physically move the cameras so that the sun coming through the windows is behind you.

Don’t expect to get good results shooting into the sun with ANY camera.
Shooting into the sun is problematic with ALL cameras, not just your three. When I’m sent to shoot football and soccer games, it’s usually from the press box or roof of the press box on the home team side of the field. But if that side is facing into the sun, I shoot from the bleachers on the visitors side.

To minimize the motion blur, you will need a faster shutter speed. However, it’s a catch 22. Fast shutter speeds lower the amount of light striking the sensors in the camera. If the room isn’t extremely bright, that’s a real problem. You cannot compensate by opening the iris because that lower f-stop diminishes the depth of field, and the fighters will move out of focus.

The two things that will help most with your present gear are to move to the west side if you can so you aren’t shooting into the sun. The second thing is to turn on more lights in the room. Again, if that’s possible. You can also add gain in the camera, but at the expense of more grain.

There are other things you can do with motion blur in other sports, such as when I pan the camera at the same speed as a moving horse or moving athlete etc., but that won’t help with the fighter’s hand motion.

Bright red has historically been a problem throughout the history of television. Just do the best you can with the exposure settings and presets.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

Sometimes when I go into multicam mode the audio level for clips that have had audio adjustments made drops way down. When I exit multicam mode, the rendered audio adjustments come back sounding like they were before going into multicam mode. So the audio effects and changes don’t get lost, it’s just playback isn’t right while in multicam mode. Not sure if I’m making this clear, but it seems like you are describing something similar to what happens on my system. I’m running MC 6.02

Oh yeah, audio came back without any re-rendering.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

I can’t really add anything to what David and Mark said. I used a formula in the business and marketing forum to come up with my base rate. Then I estimate the amount of time & effort required. Then come up with a written quote.

Don’t forget the hassle factor. Whatever you do, don’t let the client think they will get unlimited revisions for a set fee. Write up an estimate for them. Spell it out. Even when you do, some clients will try to get unlimited revisions without paying for your time. Some are just uninformed as to what is involved in video production. Others are grinders.

When they talk about wanting hand held, natural look, I immediately think they want cheap or free work.

There are online apps that help you to track time, manage projects, write up estimates, handle the invoicing. Be professional in your approach.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

Honestly Marianne, it’s practically impossible to find a “going rate” in this business, at least in my area, for what one man band video producers, videographers, or whatever you call us charge. It’s all over the place. There are threads here on the Cow on how to come up with an hourly rate to base your charges on.

However, from the companies that do the hiring, the going rate seems to vary based on how these companies are going. Are their revenues going up, going down, or are they on the verge of going out of business.

You mentioned the prospective client is a startup. That’s a red flag in my book. How well funded are they? Lot’s of dreamers consider themselves visionaries until they get into cash flow trouble.

I’m no spring chicken either. If I hear big talk, lot’s of “projected revenues…” coming from a prospect, I get very cautious. I remember, Greenspan’s comments on “irrational exuberance” a few years ago.

People that really understand business budget for expanding their business. No budget equals no understanding of the realities of business.

A meager budget can be a hopeful sign. At least that type of client is budgeting, has some concept of business realities.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

Those times of having no work are indeed frustrating. However, I caution you. Having work, but working at a loss is worse. I’m a one man band videographer whose been learning about qualifying the clients before taking on jobs. Being realistic, a very high proportion of prospects looking for a one man band are looking for dirt cheap work, not just a good deal. Learning to evaluate your prospects is essential for your business to survive, let alone grow, in this troubled economy.

You mentioned working for a guy previously at that tech company. I’d try to find out from him what kind of budget they had in mind before going too far in trying to land the job.

Working at a loss can be worse than no work, unless you are trying to gain some experience. Even then, if you are trying to gain experience (and make valuable contacts), doing pro bono work for certain charities might be more valuable in the long run for building your business. Hard to say.

I’d try to find out if the client has a decent budget for the project. Learning to politely say “no thank you” when an adequate budget isn’t there is an important skill to master.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

Thanks for the post. My pair of Canon’s, and XH-A1 and an XH-A1S have served me well. And I really like their ergonomics. However, sooner or later I’ll switch to something tapeless. The JVC is very enticing to me.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

Some battles really aren’t worth fighting. Even if you win them, they can damage your reputation and make you seem like someone that’s hard to work with. In business, you want to avoid acquiring a bad reputation, especially when you really are a good guy.

I don’t make much money shooting sports either. Long ago when I worked in retail, work like my shooting sports is called a “loss leader.” You offer something at a low price to bring customers into the store and they wind up buying some other stuff too.

Low paying sports gigs are really just part of marketing my business. I get noticed by business owners that are members of the school booster clubs etc. It’s a lot like doing pro-bono work for local charities. People see you around, form a good impression, and a small percentage either book you or give your a positive referral.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

[Timothy Nordmann] “I tape a lot of high school sporting. Usually one customer hires me to do a video then they give a free copy”

If you don’t want your material on HUDL or YouTube, have you spoken with that customer that hires you and told him not to share it with someone who is uploading w/o your permission. Maybe he doesn’t know where that the free copy he gives to his friend is winding up. A lot of problems are cleared up just by a friendly chat.

Of course, the guy hiring you might consider the whole matter a work for hire. The companies that hire me to shoot sports had me sign a work for hire agreement. Private individuals that I do the same thing for, it’s more or less just a favor.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

I can second what Joel says about the Z-96 lights.

Roger

[Roger Van duyn]

Hi Jaanus.

Your question: “One more question. If I hang the lav on a standard microphone stand close to the big mic for the public, will there be any interference problems?”

You’re not asking about feedback are you? That comes from your microphone picking up the amplified sound coming through the PA system and then going back through the PA system again. It’s not anything that comes from microphones being close together.

Again, not sure how much experience you have. As someone still not all that far from the newbie level myself, I know how hard it can be to ask the right question.

Roger