Help the pops!

January 1, 2008 11:01 AM

Digital video / SLR equipment advice for a documentary my father is making.

My dad is going up to alaska to make a documentary on the education system in tiny alaskan bush towns. He is an academic and is doing this on his own to supplement papers he is writing on the same subject. His budget is flexible, he does not want to buy junky equipment as he cant go back to reshoot anything.

He needs a digital SLR rig as well as a digital video camera. He is pretty adept at using film SLR cameras and is good with computers so he should be able to figure out whatever equipment he buys.

First the SLR: I have been looking at the XTi etc, these seem to be the standard issue entry digital SLR. He will be shooting all kinds of shots, from landscapes to portrait, so he will probably need a few lenses. Any advice?

Second the digital video camera, I know next to nothing about this. He will want to shoot in HD probably, or at least a high resolution, and the camera should be as small / portable / long battery life as possible. I know these things are usually mutually exlusive but hope there is something out there that will work. Another question is how should he handle files? I assume he will be filling up whatever storage media the camera takes pretty frequently, should he buy a number of tapes or memory cards or whatever or plan on taking a laptop / external hard drive to dump the video on to? How big will these files be?

Lastly is the processing software, he needs some basic video editing software that is not too hard to learn. This will all be done after he gets back from alaska.

Thanks for any help.

posted by outsider to technology (9 comments total)

Lenses:
I just started using Canon's 10-22mm wide-angle lens and while it costs a few pennies, I've been really impressed with the shots I've gotten, even if I've not actually taken a landscape picture yet. The Canon 50mm f/1.4 is just about as perfect as I can imagine having for most portrait shots, but Sigma makes a 30mm f/1.4 that I can see being more versatile. Shots taken with both are in my flickr account - there's a link in my profile.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 11:14 AM on January 1, 2008

(I use a Digital Rebel XT, btw.)
posted by beaucoupkevin at 11:19 AM on January 1, 2008

As for video cameras, I've really liked the Panasonics, and they have a pretty good selection of HD cams right around (and well under) $1000. For video editing go with a standard Adobe Premiere or Premiere Elements, which is under $100.
posted by sanka at 11:54 AM on January 1, 2008

Obviously it all depends on your budget, but for video I thoroughly recommend the Panasonic HVX200. We just shot a feature and a documentary in 720P and with some color correction the footage looks wonderful. Use a Macbook Pro with Final Cut to swallow the P2 card footage and a TB drive. All of that should cost around $10K. But you could probably cut that in half buying a used camera and a Powerbook G4 (with in built PCMCIA slot) and a "used" (ahem) copy of Final Cut Pro or Express.
posted by rocco at 12:25 PM on January 1, 2008

I would not recomend that someone someone do their first HD shooting with anything but tape.
Get a tripod and lock off all shots the long GOP of most compressed HD formats will thank you.
Finalcut pro is excellent and when he needs help to finish or to finalize the project there are lots of pros who can help. If it's a documentary interview footage will be likely don't neglect a good mic pack a lav and a ton of batteries goes very far and headphones to monitor the audio.

For cameras I only have experience with the Sony cameras and have liked the z1u quite a bit.
posted by jade east at 1:10 PM on January 1, 2008

I would seriously look at the dvx100, it is not HD, but is one of the best SD/480P cameras on the market, has the ability for changing lenses and 6 hour batteries. It records to MiniDV, and many documentaries have been filmed with it (Iraq in Fragments was one, and one reviewer called it the "best 16mm he had ever seen shot on film").

If the DVX100 is out of your range, look at something like this. 3ccd, records to minidv, not HD, but again will still have some great color depth and image resolution because of the 3ccds.

Buy lots of minidv tapes. He does not want to use a tape he has already recorded over, because he may not know if he could use a scene from the original record later, and it is just better for the camera to keep using fresh tapes. When you buy tapes, buy one brand and type, and stick with it. It really helps with the life of the camera.

Seconding the good pair of headphones and a wireless mic set (this is what I used while in ireland). With something like the dvx100 you can have the subjects audio come in on one channel, and the on camera mic pickup the second channel, so you can get ambient audio along with dialogue, but as two separate sources so you can mix them accordingly in post.
posted by mrzarquon at 2:23 PM on January 1, 2008

You mentioned your father is an academic, which I assume means he is associated with a university or college. Have him try to find the local film club / film classes and the associated geeks. he will want to practice filming subjects and using cameras before going anywhere. It doesn't matter if he has $5k worth of gear, if finds out when he returns that the backlight is blown out and the audio sucks, it was wasted.

Bringing a laptop to review footage while in the field would be great, as it means he can find out if he needs to redo an interview because the audio / video didn't come out as he expected.

It is more important that he is comfortable with his equipment and knows how to use it, and has filmed / taken photos with it, than the quality of the gear. The reason I mentioned the dvx100 is that in the hands of someone who is comfortable with it, you can get some amazing material. Also you can find them used, in good condition, for around $1500.
posted by mrzarquon at 2:32 PM on January 1, 2008

Nth-ing DVX100. I shot several shorts on the DVX-100 as an undergrad, and I found it to be a durable, solid camera that performs pretty well under a wide variety of of conditions. Low-light is not the greatest, but can be passable.

In any case, I'd seriously recommend sticking with MiniDV / standard def for now. I don't have very much hands-on experience, but from everything I've read, the highly-compressed HD formats that most consumer/prosumer HD cameras shoot these days are kind of bleh, especially with panning or any kind of very active shot. Besides, the DVX-100 has great image quality!

Also, you will want a lavalier mic, preferably wireless, and a pile of batteries. The difference in sound quality between a lav and a shotgun, for interviews, is night and day. That said, you'll also want a good short shotgun for non-interview shots, or shots where more than a couple of people will be speaking -- the internal mics on cameras are never any good.

Also, a good, light tripod and head will be a great asset. I used to use a Bogen/Manfrotto 306 head (I think that's the model, light-duty fluid head for DV cams), but I believe that model isn't manufactured anymore. In any case, a fluid head and a good set of sticks will serve him far better than a cheap photo tripod.

Will he be shooting indoors/in low-light? If so, he might consider picking up a cheap portable 2-light kit. Some of them are very light-duty and collapsable -- I used Lowell gear, but there are cheaper options out there. Don't forget a roll-up extension cord/outlet multiplier.

Also nthing the suggestion to find a local group of video shooters and hang out/practice. This stuff looks easy, but it's not! (I still have a lot to learn, for certain).
posted by Alterscape at 10:49 PM on January 1, 2008

I'm from Australia, so my knowledge of Alaska pretty much entirely consists of watching North Exposure when I was much younger, but the first consideration that your post raised for me was: will he be shooting outdoors much, and if so will it be cold?

Digital SLRs are are a relatively mature technology - at least compared to the early days - so all are capable of excellent results, in the right hands.

Michael Reichmann's camera reviews look as much at handling as they do at image quality, and he places great emphasis on how the camera fits in the hand, whether the controls feel like they're in the right place, and whether one can operate it wearing gloves.

Despite what I said above regards the general state of DSLRs, at the lower end of the market Canons produce the best high ISO images (the new Nikon D3 has taken low-light image quality to all new levels, but at many times the cost). And if he is going to be shooting indoors that could be an important consideration.

In terms of lenses I would assume he will be shooting mostly indoors. Typically this sort of assignment calls for wide-angle lenses and wide apertures. The two don't go together without considerable cost.

Depending on his existing skillset the best bit of advice you might give him is to spend a few hours perusing Strobist: this treasure-trove of info on using off-camera flashes will improve his photos many orders of magnitude over which particular camera and lenses he settles upon.
posted by puffmoike at 9:01 AM on January 2, 2008