Steve Crow
Forum Replies Created
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550D but for the shallow depth of field look upgrade to the 50mm 1.8 or even better the 50mm 1.4 lens if you can afford it. Just remember with DSLRs the basic camera and lens is just the start, in fact it’s not that usable yet with just these two items, for instance the audio is going to be worse than on your Samsung! Solving that means additional mics and other gear.
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Oh, I thought it had a mic import, okay in the case I’d still suggest an external mic PLUS now an external digital recorder…The Zoom H4N is the usual suggestion but take a look at it’s baby brother which might quite well for you too (sorry don’t know the model name)
Syncing the two audio sources isn’t too difficult at all and there are tools like PluralEyes that can do it automatically for you but usually it’s just a matter of matching waveforms up so not a huge pain. Later, you can use the same mic and external recorder with your DSLR camera but this will get you going. I always use wireless lavalier mics but you may be able to get away just fine with a shotgun style mic placed on something like a c-stand just out of frame. I think you mentioned you may be recording several members at once so you might try and find a mic that has a wide enough pickup pattern to support that, you definitely wouldn’t want a tight, tight, pickup pattern because then you would only record the person closest to your mic.
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Why not just connect an external mic to your existing camcorder which would be a much, much cheaper and more sensible solution. I love filming with DSLRs but your budget does not allow for it…besides the camera you will STILL need external mics to get good sound so why not just buy the mic?
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Yes that could work, in particular for the Web site, however check with your client’s security department on the badge thing…they often require that all badge pictures be taken in front of a standard background so your interview set might not work for them and you may or may not be able to duplicate what they have.
There’s also the issue of you getting the headshot picture to the security department, it’s frankly a lot faster for them to do it as part of a new employees “on boarding” process…the badge thing gets quite complicated because the badge itself has to be encoded (the magnetic strip on back) in order to input facility access privileges. For security departments still using the Polaroid style cameras for security badges you WOULD be saving them the cost of that film but it would be more hassle for them – bottom line I don’t see this as a practical use case.
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I don’t want to burst your bubble but I would council some caution here both from a technical and business point of view.
If you try to shoot stills with the same camera you are filming video with and at the same time you are risking
1) messing up your video clip by the shake caused by you firing off a still
2) Possibly a “click” shutter noise or other noise you make on your video’s audio track (all depends upon how you are doing the audio)You could extract a still from a 1920x1080p video but that would be considered still a very low resolution still image with 12MB and higher images being typical so that wouldn’t be any advantage to a customer. Video and photography are different disciplines….now you could have a partner that shoots one while you do the other that obviously works and perhaps you can do it at a price that is far cheaper than hiring separately. (although caution again on building a business that is built on being the cheapest…I know from bitter personal experience you aren’t doing yourself any favors by trying that!)
From a business marketing point of view it’s not much of a differentiation…plus it is one that you competitors can easily duplicate once they let you figure out all the hard stuff on how exactly to do it.
I heard of a photographer in our local area that is boasting to the local camera shop that he gets a lot of business because he is the only in the area that has a 1.0 f-stop Canon lens….well obviously anyone who is willing to shell out the bucks for one of these has just taken away his advantage.
The only thing a competitor can’t duplicate is you being uniquely you…how you handle customers, how you make them comfortable, how you deal fairly and openly on price etc thereby creating trust…you won’t find that in any B&H catalog so you are safe from copycats!
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One thing to check (and I am not even sure this is what is going on for you in particular) but make sure that the Quicktime player has fully buffered your video and then play it again…this can make a large difference in the playback quality – sort of like watching a streaming or progressive download version of your video coming off some Web site…that can be choppy too if the video is not fully or largely buffered
Just an idea but something tells me you have a different situation going on.
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Also, does your mic require power? For instance does it need AA or a 4 volt batteries? I don’t think the camera supplies power.
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There’s a firmware update that provides this capability, search the Zoom support Web site
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Thank you Dave for your response – to clarify – if my subject is in focus as seen through my camera lens/LCD can I be assured they will also be in focus in the video itself?
My concern is that my subjects will be out of focus because I am not taking into account the issue of distance,
On the other hand they are in focus when viewed on my DSLRs LCD (using the Z-Finder with 5x/10x display magnification) so can I trust that or not?
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Yep, all good ideas – In certain situations, like filming in a client’s corporate office, marching in wearing knee pads might look a little odd (but maybe that’s just my vanity speaking) but certainly a small camping stool would be ideal. Outdoors, by myself, knee pads, elbow pads, heck even a crash helmet if I thought it would help would all be fair game 🙂
I even thought of those thin blue camping foam ground coverings designed to go under your sleeping bag would be good for lying down on the ground.