I purchased a small 4×5” clear vase and some food coloring at Walmart. At home, I setup a small table with a piece of 8×10 white cardstock about 8″ behind the vase, and a same size piece of cardstock under the vase. To light the background. I used a single, adjustable-angle desk lamp. although two would have been better.
Shooting
I used my Canon HF10 on a tripod and zoomed in on the vase. To focus, I set a drinking straw in the vase, which was filled with water. The camera was set to PF24 mode, and I slightly overexposed all shots.
I tried three techniques for the food coloring:
Drops squeezed into water
Drops squeezed into water and ice cubes
Drops squeezed into water with ice cubes that I pre-colored with food coloring prior to freezing
Post
Converted all clips to 24P using Cineform NeoScene
Edited in Sony Vegas Pro 9
Lots of use of the Vegas Pan/Crop tool to rotate, flip, and zoom clips
My home is beginning to look like a UPS shipping dock with packages arriving with stuff for my road trip later this year. I’m almost down to the end, and lately have been getting guide books, maps, etc. While reading one of my photo guide books, I was struck by this comment:
You will notice that I do not talk much about equipment throughout the book.This is essentially because gear is not a decisive factor in the quality of your photography. Light, the ability to “see”, and an eye for composition are much more likely to affect the quality of result than simply pointing an expensive camera at a well-known landmark and shooting.
Unlike photo enthusiasts who purchase models such as a Nikon D90 or Canon 50D, Video enthusiasts seem to be a much more niche market, at least as far as online sites that support them. My personal opinion is that video enthusiasts purchase camcorders in the $1000-2000 range. In that price range one usually gets a better lens and more features , such as choice of framerate, and more audio and video control. Generally, enthusiasts shoot for the love of their hobby and not for profit, meaning they generally can’t justify the cost of even low-end professional models.
I haven’t yet found a site that I like that supports the Enthusiast Videographer. I was on a well-known video forum a few days ago looking for some discussion on the new Panasonic HDC-TM700 camcorder. The discussion wasn’t very useful because there seemed to be too many elitists dismissing any merits of the camcorder based solely on cost. It’s difficult to discuss a topic when others are telling you that you’re wasting your time even considering such a model. For the enthusiast, the TM700 is an intriguing model for this year, and it woulod be great to find some more informaation and good discussion about what it may or may not offer.
In the USA, I believe only camcorderinfo.com offers consistent reviews of enthusiast model camcorders, with testing procedures, and they do a nice job. Still there is one large area that I haven’t seen covered for the enthusiast, and that is accessories.
Going Wide
As an example, i’ve been on a search for the best wide angle attachment for my camcorders. I’m not alone, because you can find lots of forum topics where others want to know which adpaters are the best. Basically you find recommendations either for Raynox, or for your camera manufacturer’s own attachment. I did a lot of searching and found that attachments from Century Optics seem to be the most expensive, but there is no professional site that I could find that has reviewed these items. I ended up buying a Raynox 5050 based on recommendations and user reviews, and I’m really disappointed because of the amount of Chromatic Aberration. I now have the Canon WA attachment for my HF10, and in my opinion it’s a better product. Too bad I can’t find a real comparison review of these attachments anywahere. I would love to know if the Century Optics attachments are worth the cost. A camcorder site would do enthusiats a big service by reviewing not only lens attachments, but microphones, fluid heads, tripods, lighting, etc. that fits into a serious hobbyist’s budget. I can dream.
Climb off your high horse, Mister
Here are a couple of shorts that relate to the book quote at the beginning of this post, and the elitist attitude of some videographers. Both videos were shot with prosumer camcorders.
Shot with a Canon HF100 AVCHD cam with a 35mm attachment:
For the most part, photo enthusiasts that purchase a camera such as the Nikon D90 aren’t using them in a professional setting. True, some use the camera professionally if they can’t yet afford a higher end model, and others may use a D90 as a backup on a job, but the camera is mainly geared for photographers that know a fair amount about their hobby and want more than a compact or entry-level DSLR offers.
For enthusiasts, a battery grip is probably not a must have accessory. I find it amusing that in some user reviews, people purchase them simply because they look cool and give the camera a look that suggests it’s a much more expensive model.. Other purchasers like the added hand area and heft, while still others want the convenience of portrait shooting that the grip provides. In my case, I really wanted the extra power for the long shooting days for my road trip.
Nikon does make a grip that fits both the D80 and D90, the MB-D80, with a street price of around $150.00. The Zeikos grip is less than half that price. I had a bit of trepidation when I ordered the grip, but I read good reviews of it from several sites. Here are the main points:
Construction, Installation, Fit – The unit is constructed of fairly high quality plastic with a rubberized cover for vertical holding. To install the grip you simply pop the battery out of your D90, and slide the battery cover off of the body. The battery cover fits into a convenient slot on the protruding portion of the grip, so you don’t have to worry that you’ll lose it at some point. Simply slide the protruding portion of the grip into the battery chamber of the D90 and then tighten the grip to the body; an easy process. The unit fits snugly against the body of the D90 and there is no wobble or loose feel. My only complaint about construction is that the grip’s battery cover switch feels just a bit flimsy, and the cover can be wiggled when it is locked down. However, this doesn’t affect battery contact at all.
Power – The grip comes installed with a battery holder for 6AA batteries. I haven’t used AA batteries with the grip yet, but the D90 does provide a menu feature that allows you to specify the type of batteries you are using (alkaline, lithium, etc.) You can easily pop out the AA battery holder and use two Nikon EN-EL3 batteries, which is how I have my unit setup.
Vertical Grip Mode – When using your camera in Portrait Mode, you turn a switch on the grip to activate the shutter and two command dials. Unlike a couple of user reviews I read, I found the response of the grip’s command dials to be just as good as those on the body. The grip also has an AE-L button. On my D90 I have AE-L setup so that when I press it, it locks exposure without having to hold the button down while shooting. Exposure lock is a necessity when shooting in Movie mode, using ND Grads, or shooting timelapse. The grip’s AE-L button cannot be locked in this manner. You must hold down the button while shooting to lock exposure. Not a deal breaker for me, since I can just as easily use the AE-L button on the D90 body.
This is a great product at a very good price, but you should carefully consider before a purchase. Buying the grip for cosmetic reasons is silly, and you’ll discover that the extra weight can sometimes get old if you need to move around a lot on a shoot, unless you invest in a comfortable strap. If you need the extra battery life, or you often shoot in portrait mode, then this a a great accessory.
Review
Pros
Cons
Well constructed - good fit - matches nicely with D90
Can use AA or EN-EL3 batteries
Has both command dials and AE-L button in portrait position
Mayhaps I spoke hastily. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was underwhelmed with the 2010 line up of prosumer camcorders, although I knew at the time Panasonic had not yet announced their prosumer models. Now, the Panasonic HDC-TM700 has been announced, and although there are not a great many new features, I’m probably going to get one before my upcoming trip. Here’s why.
About a week ago I was closely examining HD footage from my Canon HF10 at the best quality output on my HDTV. While the foreground and midground areas of the shots looked good. I noticed the backgrounds looked muddy, particularly trees. This concerned me, because when I take my upcoming trip I want to get the absolute best footage possible. I know some of this muddiness is probably due to AVCHD compression. However, i went online and re-examined the specs of this year’s prosumer Canon models, and the Panasonic HDC-TM700, looking at the stated horziontal video sharpness, to compare to my HF10 and Sony HC1 HDV cams. Both the newer Canons and the Panasonic sharpness levels are 800+ lines of horizontal resolution as compared to the roughly 650 lines of the HF10 and HC1. So why am I choosing the TM700 instead of getting one of the newer Canons, which would be compatible with the accessories I already have for my HF10?
1080P60
35mm on the wide end (in 35mm terms)
Better quality in low light
built-in intervalometer
separate battery charger
I’ve never owned a Panasonic Camcorder
Let me further address some of these points and add some other, lesser points.
I’ve already seen lots of arguments pro and con about the merits of 1080P60 on this camcorder. The codec is probably the same as some of last year’s Sanyo models used for 1080P60, which is an AVC codec at 28mbps. This is, of course, separate from the AVCHD codec that is probably used for the cmera’s 1080i60 mode (I’m not sure about this). I think for me, 1080P60 will be better for crane shots and to use as slow motion on a 24P timeline.
The wide end of the lens, while not as wide as I want, is still wider than either my HF10 or Hc1
Reviews of last year’s Panasonic TM300 had very nice things to say about color rendition from the camera. Although the sensor in the Panasonic is smaller that that of the Canon, there are three of them. Another contributing factor is that right now the TM700 is listed for $999.00, about $100-200 cheaper then the Canon prosumer models.
In other features, the Canon and Panasonic both offer 5.1 micing, and an EVF.
I mentioned in another post that the camcorder I really want is the Panasonic HMC150. I was online again checking it our, but With the cost of my trip I really can’t afford a $3500.00 (with accessories) purchase. So, as soon as the TM700 is available for purchase, I’m picking it up.
When I first joined Vimeo in May 2008 there weren’t a lot of videos that employed timelapse. As a few users showed what could be done with an intervalometer hooked to a digital camera, or speeding up sequences shot by a video camera, the technique exploded to the point where I’m now seeing comments such as “I’m sick of timelapse video” Every time I log into Vimeo and view my new videos Inbox, there are many, many timelapse shorts and tests.
I recently viewed a 40+ minute timelapse video on Vimeo as part of my research for my upcoming trip. The video was shot in 2005 and obviously employed HDR. Although some scenes had that overcooked HDR look, most of the work was stunning; but I could barely get through the video because it was so boring. The video really needed to employ other techniques and much more varied shot selection. The main problem I have with timelapse video on Vimeo is that they are endless shots of clouds, and sequences aren’t edited to show much variety.
I have two favorite artists on Vimeo that I think use timelapse well. First is Tom Lowe, who does fantastic work employing an automated dolly into his shots. You’ll also notice his daylight shots are almost all done during “magic hour” and he captures some beautiful light. His shot variety is also good, because he employs foreground interest. Most timelapse videos on Vimeo are simply wide angle vista shots.
The second artist I want to mention is Edvard Brun, who’s captured some great video of the mountains in Washington State. His latest video is a timelpase of ice, captured using a cross-polarization technique:
I think until most of us reach the level of artistry of the clips shown above, we are better off using timelapse as simply another shot selection in landscape video, added for more variety. On my upcoming trip I do have three sequences in my mind that I want to make sure to capture. Even though I’ve never been to the areas I’ll be shooting, I can plan in my mind for the outcome of those sequences, and the type of shots that I want to capture. I still need lots of practice on my timrlapse work so I can get my desired outcome.
