Just starting out and looking for gear advice

[Mike Crupi]

Where to start....I'm completely new to video, I'm in the market for something compact, but that features decent inputs/outputs for audio. I work at a small paper and our budget is pretty limited at the moment. I will need to be shooting both still and video at some events and the video will be strictly for use online. I was looking at the Vixia HF10 until I realized it only shoots in HD (I was considering the HV30 miniDV for awhile but I think that is now HD-only as well). I also started to get nervous about editing AVCHD files, although I'm getting Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, which claims to handle the files just fine. I'm working on a PC with a Quad Core Intel 2.66 processor and 4gb of RAM and I'm not quite clear on whether it will have the computing power to work well with AVCHD. I was of the mindset that I wouldn't have a ton of time on my hands, so the faster I could transfer video to my computer the better; flash memory seemed to make sense but now I'm not so sure so I'm starting from square one. Suggestions on cameras, audio gear, editing software for PCs or any of the above would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Chuck Fadely]

Hi Mike - Welcome and I hope your experience goes well! Video can be a huge time suck and I hope you start out with small ambitions and work up. If you've been doing SoundSlides, you should do ok. The secret is how you shoot stuff, and not in what gear you're using.

All gear at the lower end of the price spectrum is a compromise in one way or another, and the choices are hard.

Your computer, with CS4, should be able to edit pretty much anything, including HDV and AVCHD ok, though you need lots of fast hard drive space. The devil's in the details with video though, so once you choose a camera google it along with CS4 and your computer to see if there are any gotchas.

A tape camera like the HV30 has ongoing supply costs but the archiving is cheap and fast - throw the tape in a box. A tapeless camera is faster at the front end (depending on the camera and the edit system) but takes time to manage and archive the files if you want to keep them, and lots of hard drives or server space to store them.

All of the less-expensive consumer cameras, whether tape or AVCHD, are fiddly to use, hard to control, and will frustrate you as you become more experienced. But a budget is a budget.... The Canon HF200 at $600 is pretty good and has both headphone and microphone jacks. For $1k, you can choose the slightly larger and slightly better Canon HFS100 or several Sony and Panasonic cameras with similar features.

The HV30 tape camera will shoot in HDV and downconvert out of camera to SD if you want faster render times. We've been using some HV20's and they've been pretty good cameras, but everyone who was assigned one switched to AVCHD cameras when given the choice.

Remember that video can take many forms and a point-n-shoot that does video might cover most of your day-to-day needs, when matched with a voice recorder with a decent mic.

I'd say spend money first on good audio - an ElectroVoice RE50 plus a wireless lav plus an on-camera shotgun are your basic "lenses" for audio. Then see how much is left for a camera, headphones, and tripod.

Video stuff adds up quickly and is scary expensive. But a good videographer with a cell phone can make a great film!

[Mike Crupi]

Thanks for the advice Chuck. I'll definitely start with good audio pieces and go from there. Any recommendations on headphones?