Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The Canon hf r10, Great for a Beginner

                Lowest Priced Camcorders



    How low can you go?
   
    We have looked at Dslr Cameras and consumer camcorders. We have gone as low in price as the Canon HV 20 for our low budget film. The truth is that you could drop down to the HV 10. It will give you most of what the other Hv cameras have to offer. This camcorder sells for 80 to 100 dollars less than the HV 20 and 30, but we can go lower still.

    How about those canon vixia cameras?

    They also shoot native 24p and in high def.

    The problem with them, particularly the one I am going to talk about is that many do not have threads so that you can attach lenses and dof adapters. There is a work around. It is ultra low budget, but we are not here to impress people with how much we are willing to spend on our camcorder, but how good our end product turns out to be.

    Let’s have a look at my favor of the Canon vixia series the hf r10 (do not confuse it with the massive g10).  This little baby has most of the manual setting of its bigger brothers. It can be gotten brand new in the 179.00 dollar range. Used it can be found for around 130 and I got one for less than 100.  I love this little camera, it has the toggle rather than the touch screen. You can record internally or to card.

Did I mention that it shoots 24p?

    Naked with out any additions it is a pretty good camera for the beginning film maker and I plan on using mine this fall as the second camera on the feature I am going to be producing and maybe directing. Here is a quick review of the camera and what it does.



    Now let’s upgrade this kid. We have a camera that does not have threads. We can not add any extras to it unless we are able to add an adapter ring to the camera. I could explain it to you or you could check out the video that taught me how to do it and I have to say that so far so good. I have tried it with a wide angle lens attached and soon I am going to try it with a static depth of field adapter.



    So here is the tutorial. Good luck and be careful when you do this. You really only get one bite of the apple with this DIY unless you want to have to buy another camera.


   
    Almost forgot to include some test footage shoot with the camera and a dof adapter. Take a look at this. Okay I guess that is it for now. The next post is probably going to be about the GH series and I do not mean General Hospital. Remember us on stumpleupon and google plus. If or when you decide to buy a Dslr consider using one of the camera shops that sponsors this blog. They help to pay the bills and if any of them is reading this if you want a product review contact me, send me the item  and I will be honest about it. If any of the shops wants me to review a Red camera I will happily do so right after I do to it what Peter on the Family Guy did to his Surfing Bird record.


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Firmware and Vegas Software

                More About Firmware And Editing Software

    Since the Canon t2i post I have gotten questions about firmware and ways to upgrade (or Hack) your Canon. There is a guy who did a great 9 minute tutorial and he can spell it out a lot quicker than I could. So here it is.


    Let’s try to keep our eyes on the real prize here guys and that is that the camera is only one part of the film making universe. You can make a great film with any camera that shoots 24p or even 30p if you learn how to light properly. Let’s remember that we are constructing a visual world. The lighting that you select along with the setting will be more important than the camera itself. Hitchcock once said that film is a glimpse into a world and not thee world.

In the case of your film it will be the world that you have created. This created world is much like our world, it is a world of light and shadows. What we allow the audience to see and what we keep hidden.

    The tools that you select to edit will be as important as your camera. If you can afford the higher end editing software then go for it. But if you are a micro to no budget filmmaker like myself I would suggest something like Sony Vegas Pro 11. The price is pretty fair for the quality of the software. Features have been cut and edited using this software. If it is still too expensive then you can drop down to Sony Vegas 9 or 10 which you can pick up on Ebay cheap. Given the choice I would go with pro 11 directly from Sony because you will have all the updates easily available along with the fact that when they upgrade to 12 or higher you can buy the upgrades at a discount.

    Here is a look at some footage altered using Sony Vegas 9 and then a brief review of Sony Vegas pro 11.





    Thanks for visiting guys. Remember to recommend this blog to others.

If any of you have a trailer that you would like for me to add to the trailer park drop me a comment and I will contact you or add a link to your comment and if the trailer is good I will post it.

   Okay to close I am going to be looking at the Panasonic Dslr cameras soon. Also I am going to post about the cheapest camcorder that I believe that you can make a feature with. Here is a hint it is a Vixia and it can be gotten for less than any of the Canon HV camcorders. So stay tuned for that and if any of you guys are horror film makers I am starting a blog on horror film making. It will cover special effects and makeup and all the little things that go into making a quality horror film. If you wish to visit that Blog you can by  clicking here.