Newbie needs advice

R

RandyHJ

New member
Hello everyone. This is my first post and I am brand spankin' new to making videos, although I do have a bachelor's degree in Radio-TV-Film, I have only used it for radio over the past 30 years (and I am still pretty mean with a grease pencil, razor blade, and editing block).

I am in the process of planning to purchase some video and audio equipment in the very near future, so I have been doing research on the Internet and it led me to this site. Here is what I am planning to do:

The equipment will primarily be used at first to record me doing public speaking, and I wanted both video and audio equipment to avoid recording sound over the air from a camcorder mic. If the digital "bug" hits me, I will probably expand to greater ventures (my senior project in college was a time-lapse film of a grocery sack leaving my mom's house, getting in her car, driving to the market, getting out and going shopping, I used the 'Popcorn' song for my audio track).

So far my research has led me to these options -


  1. Panasonic HDC-TM 700 (or GH2 depending upon the maximum video length I can manage to record on the GH2 vs. the TM 700
  2. Zoom H4N Digital Recorder (I need to know if I can go directly from the H4N into either the GH2 or TM700 and get good quality audio)
  3. Heil PR35 dynamic microphone (I will be using a long cable with XLR connectors for my mic and prefer a handheld, and I move around a lot when I speak)
  4. Vegas 9 editing software
  5. Some kind of setup for additional lighting since I will be recording indoors in a mixture of incandescent and the new swirly type eco friendly lightbulbs several feet overhead.
  6. A new computer dedicated to video editing and processing. (I am A+ certified so I can build it myself from Newegg if I have to).
I plan to upload my videos to the internet. As a beginner I know I probably need advice about a lot of things, but I thought I would start with the equipment I need, and this thread addresses the two cameras I am considering.

Any equipment advice in any of the areas I've listed (or overlooked being a novice) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Randy :)
 
I would also look into getting a tripod, preferably fluid head - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/556159-REG/Manfrotto_701HDV_701HDV_Pro_Fluid_Video.html
This will definitely help if you do tilts/pans.

As far as the H4N goes, audio will be recorded separately. You can sync up audio in post, there's a plug-in called Pluraleyes that will sync the audio for you. I'm not sure if it works with Vegas or not.

I would also look into getting a lavalier, as the closer the mic to your mouth the better.
 
Thanks for the response, Nantnee.

What kind of lavalier would you recommend for what I am doing?

Thanks,

Randy
 
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