Client wants me to shoot some footage.

A

andybuk99

New member
Hi all and thanks in advance for any help or advice.

A photography client has contacted me out of the blue and he wants me to start shooting some footage of product demonstrations that will then be uploaded to youtube and their website. About 14 years ago when I diversified away from commercial photography for a while and into video I used a few high end broadcast camera's and an avid suite for a couple of years however I expect everything has changed significantly. What advice with regards to camera's and editing software would people recommend? I don't want to spend silly amounts as I am not sure how much more of this work I can get. I currently shoot stills with a Leaf Aptus and do my post production work on a PC.
 
If you are a professional photographer, I guess you have something like a 5D or 7D. They are brilliant for video! AS for editing, Avid, Final Cut, Adobe Premiere...
 
If you are shooting with a Leaf then you don't need to worry about the stills capability of your video camera.
Panasonic GH2 shoots much better video than the Canons.
If you have a higher budget you can go for the Panasonic AF100.
In some respects the GH2 can produce better quality video than the AF100.
However the audio capabilities are superior in the AF100.
 
HVXguy said:
If you are shooting with a Leaf then you don't need to worry about the stills capability of your video camera.
Panasonic GH2 shoots much better video than the Canons.
If you have a higher budget you can go for the Panasonic AF100.
In some respects the GH2 can produce better quality video than the AF100.
However the audio capabilities are superior in the AF100.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice so far.

What are the options with audio? For example voice overs?
 
Andy - I generally agree with HVXguy -- for YouTube and the web, you'll get the highest quality video for not a "silly amount" of money with a closeout Panasonic GH1 ($400 body only) or a GH2 ($1000 body only).

But if you don't want to deal with interchangeable lenses or the audio limitations of DSLR form-factor cameras, you may be more comfortable with a camcorder. If you don't want to spend $4795 for a body-only AF100, you can still get pro quality high definition results for $2000 with the Canon XA10 (backordered) or $1795 with the Panasonic HMC-40 (which needs a $290 interface for pro XLR mic inputs).

Hope this is helpful,

Bill
 
well , if you don't know how to do that, just forget about it, unless you can have all the workhours paid.
first you will need to find the equipement, and then learn to use it. And then customer will ask this and that (lighting, delivery, compression format etc...).
if you need to learn and fix every mistake you do , be ready to spend many hours on that.
 
andybuk99 said:
Thanks for the advice so far.

What are the options with audio? For example voice overs?
Click to expand...

Any decent editing program will let you lay down a separate audio track. How high does the quality need to be? If you go with the GH1 or GH2, and you want a portable audio solution with the ability to record high quality 24-bit/96kHz audio voiceovers, you will want an external recorder such as the $100 Zoom H1 or Tascam DR-05. These recorders have 3.5mm consumer mic inputs. If you want an external recorder with XLR inputs, your best bets are the $299 Zoom H4n or the $329 Tascam DR-100.

If you don't need 24-bit sound, a quality USB mic into your PC in a studio sound environment should do the job.

Cheers,

Bill
 
for product demonstrations, your best bet for audio may be a zoom H1 and a lav microphone (depending what products those are, a boom may not fit even if you can get a dedicated person to hold it); for youtube, I wouldn't get anything more expensive or complicated than that
 
Thanks for the helpful people on here. As was explained in my original post, I do have experience allbeit 14 years ago hence why I stated that I expected things had changed significantly. Bill thanks for those links, I assume the recorders are available here in the UK, so will take a look.Thanks again.
 
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