Tuesday, February 25, 2014

What type of video camera do I need to use to make music videos?




marc


I want a type of camera that can film this type of quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jv9fNPjgk

How much would the cameras price range out to?



Answer
It depends on your requirements and experience.

Set a budget.

Pocket cams, point and shoot cameras and entry-level consumer camcorders start at around $100 and their small lenses and imaging chips prevent them from providing good video in low light. They are "good" because they are inexpensive. There usually is no mic jack and no manual audio gain control. Kodak Z series. (GoPro and Contour up to about $300.) You will need to add light.

At around $600, the mid range of consumer camcorders does a little better in low light because the lens diameter is larger as is the imaging chip, but the better bet is to add light. A mic jack appears and there may be some manual audio gain control. dSLRs start here - the lenses bump you into the high bracket and audio control is limited - as well, they overheat and have file size and duration limitations. Canon HF R series; HF M series. You will need to add light.

At around $1,100, the high end of consumer camcorders have a mic jack, manual audio control and a few other useful features buried in the menu and difficult to get to and use. Canon HF S series. You *might* need to add light.

The "prosumers" start at around $1,500. the lenses and imaging chips are larger, the audio gain control, might move to the outside of the camcorder along with a shared manual focus/or/zoom ring. Sony HDR-FX7.

The high end of the prosumers gets us to about the $2,600 range - like the Sony HDR-FX1000. Large lens filter diameter and large 3-element (in this case 3CMOS) imaging chip. Basically a pro camcorder, but lacking XLR audio inputs relying on 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo audio input meaning you get to augment that with a XLR adapter from juicedLink or BeachTek. Low compression high quality video. Lots of manual controls on the outside of the camcorder.

Then the pro grade gear goes up to about $80,000. Sony HVR-Z5, Z7; Panasonic AG-HVX200; Canon XF100 and XF300; Red, Silicon Graphics and others... The Balck Maging Cinema Camera and the Canon Cinema camera are nice and not so pricey.

Canon, Panasonic and Sony are "good" consumer, prosumer and professional camcorder manufacturers. So is JVC. GoPro and Contour make "good" action cameras.

Tripods and other steadying devices, mics, and maybe lights and a bunch of other equipment will be needed, too.

dSLRs (like the T3i and 5D Mark 2) are designed to capture still images. They can do well with that. Download and read the manuals from Canon... problems capturing video include overheating (and shutting down - cool down is a long time), motor noise from the zoom and focus motors will be recorded by the internal mic, internal mic is mono, use of good XLR mics requires a XLR adapter (juicedLink or BeachTek), file size limitations, video duration limitations, and more... These can be worked around, but the experience tells you how to workaround... This does not mean they cannot capture good video - they can - but it is a challenging and sometimes difficult environment to deal with. You might save money in the immediate term, until you learn that the video capture device is not the only investment needed...

We don't know what computer you are using, what you plan to edit with (this can do the conversion to the black and white video) or whether you need to spend money for upgrades like external drives...

What is a good DSLR Camera that records HD video for around 300$?




Cody





Answer
There is none - unless you are oen to a bridge camera (can't change lenses). But...

If video is important, then a camcorder is preferred. It is designed to capture video. And audio. capturing still images is a secondary "convenience feature".

If stills are important, than use a still image capture device. Capturing video (and audio) is a secondary "convenience feature". For example, if you read the documentation available for download from the camera manufacturer's web sites, you will find they will overheat when capturing video "for prolonged periods" (about 15 minutes maximum) and stop video capture until it cools down (takes a long time)... or... check their built-in (mono) mic and no (or extremely limited) manual audio control. This means no stereo without an external stereo mic and adding something like a XLR adapter (~$350) to plug into the stereo audio input + use the audio gain controls... or... use an external audio recording device like a Zoom H2, H2n, H4n and take the extra steps to import and sync the audio when editing.

There are no camcorders under about $1,500 that have an interchangeable lens system (Sony NEX VG series).

I am not saying bridge cameras can't capture good video - they can - but they cannot be treated like a camcorder and they cannot replace a camcorder. For example, if you take a bunch of short duration videos because the project is scripted and you are using a shot list, then you should be OK. The time between the short sequences *might* be enough time for the camera to cool down. There are workarounds for lots of things that you normally don't need to worry about when using a camcorder... If you can plan properly, the a bridge camera might work.

Be sure to include lighting (flash and video) requirements, steadying devices (tripod - especially for video), power supplies... and lots of other "accessories" needed for successful video capture.

For $300 you are in the low range of consumer camcorders. Something in the Canon HF R series should fit quite well. We assume your computer and video editor can deal with the AVCHD compressed video for editing...




Powered by Yahoo! Answers

Title Post: What type of video camera do I need to use to make music videos?
Rating: 92% based on 9788 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Yukie

Thanks For Coming To My Blog

No comments:

Post a Comment