Reid Welch
1 MW
__________________________________
___________________________________________
POINT OF THIS THREAD: SERIOUS: WHAT KIND OF e-adventure, pocketable,
VIDEO CAM, DO YOU, OR WOULD YOU HAVE, and WHY?
__________________________________
___________________________________________
I've got, via Ernie, over a year ago now, a Canon HV30 tape-based HD camera.
It is excellent, old-tech HD. You have easy to computer-edit, yet, archival quality actual raw tapes.
But, it is highly electro-mehcanical. A tape-style videocam is just too delicate and bulky to carry safely on a bike.
Been using the old(er), red Casio model EX-S770, review here:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EXS770/EXS770A.HTM
for my ampdavolts videos. It is about two-plus years old and works well;
got the very first one that came to the stores.
The Casio is good and tiny, and takes fine quality still shots, but it is not great for "no brainer" instant movies in SD.
It can't do "HD" at all. It has pre-sets to fiddle with...and being small, it tends toward the shakes.
And, lately, I shake pretty bad, much of the time (police beating results, these body shakes come, and sometimes, go).
____________________
Sample again of the familiar video, all have seen this before.
Casio, held in one hand, whilst ebiking through the neighborhood.
Last April, before I got pummeled, and those results, that day, were "good enough"
and the Casio is not excessively delicate, but...don't drop these things.
Casio is held in a free hand, other hand on the bars:
[youtube]VXHcqnk3hnU[/youtube]
Addendum, here, it shows how far we have traveled in twenty five years.
Same driver, same house, same everything, but for Ernie being the silent, still-protective, cameraman.
Turn down the song, if you prefer, yes, but, I TURN UP the sound volume, for that is Laurence Tibbet of 1934.
Have two of his keepsakes (18th century nude girlies, hand coloured, French engravings), as a daily reminder...though...
it's the song, this video, and the technical comparison across a mere quarter century,
which count, in telling how very far we have traveled in such a truly, minute, span of Time:
[youtube]W3jto8f2ooI[/youtube]
____________________________________________________________
I would like to upgrade to an "HD" sort of solid state minidigicam.
My choice is on order from Amazon.com (thanks, Ern!) Cost, including free "sock",
it's thick like a tall pack of cigarettes. Total cost with cable, sock, camera, delivered: under $170US.
USES either its OEM supplied, rechargeable AA cells (2), or two regular AA cells from the local store,
good for about two hours of shooting, or it can also use the Energizer "lithium" throw away AA cells
that last so much longer in service.
The supplied pack must be nickel metal hydride,
and can be recharged from the USB port of any computer.
We all know better than to try to "recharge" alkaline or 'lithium' AA cells.
Review A)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10230759-1.html
Review B)
---
The old Casio: if I set it up properly (pan focus may be a mediocre "best" for ebiking, but you know,
"pan" focus is never as sharp as auto focus; plus, once the Casio cam starts shooting, it grabs,
via auto focus, an initial focus upon whatever is closest to its focus-style setting,
and that focus, then, does not change during filming near nor distant objects.
The Casio's mono audio (pinhole electret in front) does just fine for my casual videos.
I can set it for "macro" for close-in SD videos of technical parts, then stop, and get out of macro
for the ride to come...but the new camera to come,
is not likely to be "in focus" enough, being fixed or "pan" focus, to do real close ups.
On the other hand, the Flip Ultra HD should give good results for road-ahead work,
and its fixed focus may be adequate for bike-tour videos,,,,or for emergency documentation of 'things that come up'...
..like that unfortunate, recent robbery. Carry a cam instead of a gun?
I'll post some more about the Flip, and you guys, tell what you use?
I need a pocket-able digicam simpler to turn on than the red Casio, which was fumbly for me,
and so I did not quite catch that robber in time; he'd gotten into his car by the moment when filming began:
SD, Casio model EX-S770, now obsolete, panic-use situation; and once it starts shooting, that's the focus it keeps:
[youtube]lg1-ycOQnNs[/youtube]
But, too many times, I have started the Casio whilst focusing on a countertop, and then, the next filming of something distant,
is all fuzzy (see video #5, double click on the one above and see the out of focus).
The SHAKE of that robbery video (#4 number owes to my NEW* personal problem: neurological shakes.
But the FLIP is known too, for being "shaky"; THAT, friends, is the NATURE of a tiny, hand-held at arm's length:
every, tiny, essenial tremor, of even the Very Young and perfect, is MAGNIFIED one hundred fold! Now, being
a mechanical smartie, I can work around that by hard-mounting it to the bike, OR, BETTER:
or adding a broomstick section to its bottom-mount tripod socket,
and holding it, gimbal-style by the "balance" point of the six or twelve inches of broomstick,
which I can 'weight', for mass-stabilization. I think I will like it, though non of these tiny cameras are
the be-all-end all. In a few years they will be laughably out of date, even for YouTube work, which is my focus.
Next form: side by side comparisons of YouTube "finds" of Flip Ultra HD, and Flip SD, etc.
There are other brands of nearly the same kind of camera. The Flip does not take still shots;
but you can make screen "grabs" of lousy quality. The Flip does not replace the still-shot camera.
___
*edited in NEW, for this is documentary work. And I did not shake before last mid-March.
I wait and watch the days and night slowly, quickly slip away, and I tremble, not in fear, at all.
___________________________________________
POINT OF THIS THREAD: SERIOUS: WHAT KIND OF e-adventure, pocketable,
VIDEO CAM, DO YOU, OR WOULD YOU HAVE, and WHY?
__________________________________
___________________________________________
I've got, via Ernie, over a year ago now, a Canon HV30 tape-based HD camera.
It is excellent, old-tech HD. You have easy to computer-edit, yet, archival quality actual raw tapes.
But, it is highly electro-mehcanical. A tape-style videocam is just too delicate and bulky to carry safely on a bike.
Been using the old(er), red Casio model EX-S770, review here:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EXS770/EXS770A.HTM
for my ampdavolts videos. It is about two-plus years old and works well;
got the very first one that came to the stores.
The Casio is good and tiny, and takes fine quality still shots, but it is not great for "no brainer" instant movies in SD.
It can't do "HD" at all. It has pre-sets to fiddle with...and being small, it tends toward the shakes.
And, lately, I shake pretty bad, much of the time (police beating results, these body shakes come, and sometimes, go).
____________________
Sample again of the familiar video, all have seen this before.
Casio, held in one hand, whilst ebiking through the neighborhood.
Last April, before I got pummeled, and those results, that day, were "good enough"
and the Casio is not excessively delicate, but...don't drop these things.
Casio is held in a free hand, other hand on the bars:
[youtube]VXHcqnk3hnU[/youtube]
Addendum, here, it shows how far we have traveled in twenty five years.
Same driver, same house, same everything, but for Ernie being the silent, still-protective, cameraman.
Turn down the song, if you prefer, yes, but, I TURN UP the sound volume, for that is Laurence Tibbet of 1934.
Have two of his keepsakes (18th century nude girlies, hand coloured, French engravings), as a daily reminder...though...
it's the song, this video, and the technical comparison across a mere quarter century,
which count, in telling how very far we have traveled in such a truly, minute, span of Time:
[youtube]W3jto8f2ooI[/youtube]
____________________________________________________________
I would like to upgrade to an "HD" sort of solid state minidigicam.
My choice is on order from Amazon.com (thanks, Ern!) Cost, including free "sock",
it's thick like a tall pack of cigarettes. Total cost with cable, sock, camera, delivered: under $170US.
USES either its OEM supplied, rechargeable AA cells (2), or two regular AA cells from the local store,
good for about two hours of shooting, or it can also use the Energizer "lithium" throw away AA cells
that last so much longer in service.
The supplied pack must be nickel metal hydride,
and can be recharged from the USB port of any computer.
We all know better than to try to "recharge" alkaline or 'lithium' AA cells.
Review A)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10230759-1.html
Review B)
---
The old Casio: if I set it up properly (pan focus may be a mediocre "best" for ebiking, but you know,
"pan" focus is never as sharp as auto focus; plus, once the Casio cam starts shooting, it grabs,
via auto focus, an initial focus upon whatever is closest to its focus-style setting,
and that focus, then, does not change during filming near nor distant objects.
The Casio's mono audio (pinhole electret in front) does just fine for my casual videos.
I can set it for "macro" for close-in SD videos of technical parts, then stop, and get out of macro
for the ride to come...but the new camera to come,
is not likely to be "in focus" enough, being fixed or "pan" focus, to do real close ups.
On the other hand, the Flip Ultra HD should give good results for road-ahead work,
and its fixed focus may be adequate for bike-tour videos,,,,or for emergency documentation of 'things that come up'...
..like that unfortunate, recent robbery. Carry a cam instead of a gun?
I'll post some more about the Flip, and you guys, tell what you use?
I need a pocket-able digicam simpler to turn on than the red Casio, which was fumbly for me,
and so I did not quite catch that robber in time; he'd gotten into his car by the moment when filming began:
SD, Casio model EX-S770, now obsolete, panic-use situation; and once it starts shooting, that's the focus it keeps:
[youtube]lg1-ycOQnNs[/youtube]
But, too many times, I have started the Casio whilst focusing on a countertop, and then, the next filming of something distant,
is all fuzzy (see video #5, double click on the one above and see the out of focus).
The SHAKE of that robbery video (#4 number owes to my NEW* personal problem: neurological shakes.
But the FLIP is known too, for being "shaky"; THAT, friends, is the NATURE of a tiny, hand-held at arm's length:
every, tiny, essenial tremor, of even the Very Young and perfect, is MAGNIFIED one hundred fold! Now, being
a mechanical smartie, I can work around that by hard-mounting it to the bike, OR, BETTER:
or adding a broomstick section to its bottom-mount tripod socket,
and holding it, gimbal-style by the "balance" point of the six or twelve inches of broomstick,
which I can 'weight', for mass-stabilization. I think I will like it, though non of these tiny cameras are
the be-all-end all. In a few years they will be laughably out of date, even for YouTube work, which is my focus.
Next form: side by side comparisons of YouTube "finds" of Flip Ultra HD, and Flip SD, etc.
There are other brands of nearly the same kind of camera. The Flip does not take still shots;
but you can make screen "grabs" of lousy quality. The Flip does not replace the still-shot camera.
___
*edited in NEW, for this is documentary work. And I did not shake before last mid-March.
I wait and watch the days and night slowly, quickly slip away, and I tremble, not in fear, at all.
