Video Tips

     In my last post I touched on the subject of making money with your video camera.  In this article I will be discussing the different types of video cameras available, their use, and some techniques for their use.  I have owned just about every type of digital camera and video recorder that has ever hit the market, and I can tell you that while technology has made amazing progress some things have remained the same.  My first digital camera was a 1988 Canon RC-
250 XAPSHOT that boasted a whopping .25 megapixel image size.  It required a computer interface card along with a plug in charging cord that looked like it should be in my garage rather than my camera bag.  The best part of it was that whenever I used it people would state with great authority and wisdom, “that’s nice but it will never repla
ce film.”
     In a way they were right as it took almost twenty years for the digital image to surpass the film.  Depending on what expert you believe a film image is composed of what would be the equivalent of a 20 megapixels.  Amazingly that astronomical figure has been now been ground into the dust by cameras like Hasselblad’s H4D-200MS which boasts a staggering 200 megapixel image, by the way you can own one of these babies for a mere $45,000.  That would give it about 800 times the resolution of my prehistoric XAPSHOT, which I still have by the way.  I only mention these facts because as I said technology has made advances in imaging that boggle the mind, but at the same time the basic rules of photography have not changed since Joseph Nicéphore Niépce created the first known image of the view from his window in 1826.  Incidentally it only took two days of exposure to get the image transferred onto silver-copper plate and involved the use of several harmless chemicals including mercury.
     It took until the end of the nineteenth century when a man named Thomas Alva Edison gave man an invention whose impact is still amazing the world today.  Edison created what would be commonly called “Moving Pictures” and produced films with titles like “Fred Ott’s Sneeze”, “The Great Train Robbery”, and a scandalous piece called “The Kiss”.  From its very beginning the ability to see the actors moving (and later talking) not only captured the attention of the public it mesmerized them.  There was a catch though, in order for the images to be transferred to the film traveling at a rate of 24 to 26 frames per second a lot of light was needed and the camera had to remain steady and as motionless as possible.  In other words the camera shot one scene at a time at a pre-focused distance while the actors performed within the confines of that specified space.
     The reason I have drug you along this line is to try and impress you with my first rule of video and that is “THE CAMERA LOVES TO CAPTURE MOVING OBJECTS, BUT HATES BEING MOVED!  If you watch a movie you will see that the camera rarely changes position, that’s because the movie is supposed to replicate how the human eye views things. If you are wondering what this means try this little experiment.  Look straight ahead at something with depth, like your yard.  Now without moving your eyes try slowly turning your head from left to right while continuously refocusing on the different objects that your eyes encounter.  Not easy is it, as a matter of fact it’s enough to drive you nuts right?  You see when we turn to look at something our eyes really only want to focus on what’s in between, they are only concerned with the image they see when the movement stops.  Well it is the same with a camera, only worse.
     Have you ever noticed that when you pan your video camera left or right it looks nice and smooth through the LCD screen or viewfinder, but when you download it to your computer it seems to be jerky or what is called stilted.  That is because your camera which you probably have set on automatic is trying to adjust the light, focus, and white balance as it moves.  So instead of having one flowing scene what you are really seeing is a bunch of little scenes that the camera has thrown together hoping that no one will notice.  To avoid this you would have to shoot in a pure manual mode when you pan the camera which is extremely time consuming and difficult to set up.
     So the solution is the same as it has been for the last 120 years, set your scene use a tripod if possible and stay away from panning unless you are an expert.  The same rules apply to zooming, the human eye does not have the capability of zooming so whenever you use this feature the finished product looks unrealistic to the viewer.  There are exceptions to this of course when a certain effect is desired, like zooming in on a planet from outer space or using the macro effect to look at very small objects.
     And now for a word from the soap box.  Today there is a trend to not only move the camera but to move it violently and quickly from one subject to another.  Truth be told this is because the cameramen or camerawomen aren’t talented enough to film the scene properly and the use of this technique solves the problem.  Unfortunately it also leaves most viewers with motion sickness and trying to figure out what they just watched.  So don’t do it!  Well I think that is about all for this post, hopefully I have confused and bored you all at the same time.  Unfortunately that is the problem with most things you have to learn, like college algebra, or learning to speak Japanese, you’re not suppose to enjoy it, you just have to endure and survive it.