A new HD camera tips!

JPWDW

Member
Hello everyone! My name is Joe and maybe most of you dont know me, that's why im trying to get myslef introduced here in MouseBits.com...Im a very disney fan and I specialy love the shows and parades disney always present to make a dream come true!  :D
But the real thing is that I just got and brand new Sony HD camera ad Im way too happy to enjoy it!
There are several questions that I have in mind and you guys know a lot about the topic, so I want to ask: What are some of the tips or divices you can give me on how to use a hd camera, andy suplies or special things must buy to get a good video? If have many questions, but it would be cool if you all could help me! Thanks for reading!
Regards:
JPWDW (Joe)
PS: The camera is Sony Digital HD Video Handycam Recorder (HDR-SR10)
See ya!
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Take te dream with you, where ever you may go! "Mickey Mouse"
 
The main thing is, learn how to use your camera. Know how to focus manually, and how to ride the exposure as you tape, then make sure the auto settings are off . There is nothing worse than a great quality video that goes blurred in a dark ride or during fireworks.

If it has optical stabilisation, use it. If it is electronic, switch it off.

Get a lens cloth, and keep the lens clean!

These are basics for any format, not just HD. I`ve seen far too much footage shot on HD that may as well be on cine film it is so poor.
 
Can I just say, keep quiet whilst filming,  too many decent "family" videos not what they could be, with the operator and family talking over what is being recorded.  Many people forget the sound aspect.
 
Thanks guys! I did knew about being quiet while shooting the footage, and I must say that recirding with a hd camera isn't that so easy as a normal one..., but I guess I'll try it out! About what you said Martin, what do you mean by the auto seettings and the difference between optical and electronic stabilisation?
Thanks!
 
JPWDW said:
Thanks guys! I did knew about being quiet while shooting the footage, and I must say that recirding with a hd camera isn't that so easy as a normal one..., but I guess I'll try it out! About what you said Martin, what do you mean by the auto seettings and the difference between optical and electronic stabilisation?
Thanks!
With regards to image stabilization...  Optical would be the actual lenses, etc adjust as the camera moves to try to keep everything stable.  Electronic stabilization is tough to describe...  Picture two rectangles, a smaller one inside the larger one.  What you record is actually the smaller rectange and as you start to jerk around, it slowly uses the data in the larger rectangle to slow the movement.  Kindof like cropping a photo...

Just like optical zoom = good, digital zoom = bad!
 
Yes, except the blur effect of electronic stabilization is not as dramatic as the negative effect from a digital zoom.

I would actually suggest you keep the image stabilization on no matter what, unless you deliberately want to achieve a very jerky camera effect.  The increased random motion in the video with stabilization disabled takes a lot more storage data in order to achieve an equivalent image quality compared to a calmer, less jittery video.  The bitrate is fixed, however, so instead it will result in overall reduced image quality as the file data is used to compensate for motion instead of texture detailing.  This is due to the more modern, higher compression codecs used in HD camcorders (both HDV and AVCHD).  Of course, I have not used your camera model, so test this hypothesis with the video quality set to the bitrate you want to use, with stabilization on and then off.  If the bitrate is high enough it may more than compensate for the motion and, with stabilization disabled, you will have a very slightly sharper image.

Note that this recommendation does not apply to standard definition camcorders using the DV codec, since each frame is compressed separately without concern for motion.
 
By auto settings, I mean turn them off. Focus manually, and set (and alter) the exposure manually. 2 examples of HD vids being ruined by not knowing how to use the camera. The principles are the same with HD or SD - you get more detailed blurred and over/under exposed images with HD.
 
manual focus is very hard on hd cams .. the viewfinder (if theres any) and display can only display a fraction of the hd resolution .. so t might look ok on the display but it could be pretty much out of focus


I use a combination of both .. for fireworks and stageshows I prefocus with the autofocus(hard to do but it works) and then switch to manual to keep the focus level steady
 
In fact, I've been trying to see all of those functions that camera includes, so what you gys say is that I sould turn off the satabilization of it and try to adjust the focus by myself? I have tried useing camera's scene selection with several shots I did, when I record with little light in screen, there are bunches of pixels arround all the video, but with more light the video becomes better! Any idea on how can I make the twilight scenes come better?
Thanks for everything!  :D
 
Any idea on how can I make the twilight scenes come better?

there's hardly any way because .. your camcorder has a very tiny image sensor .. so it's not very good in low light .. to avoid grtain you could reduce (if possible) the imager gain .. but i don't know if you can control it manually
 
I'll see if I can do that! Beacuse when recording with almost no light, it becomes a awuful video..Thanks! ;D
 
It's a great shame that with such a sophisticated bit of equipment they can't get them more sensitive to low light conditions.
My old (now deceased) analogue video camera (VHS-C) took fantastic videos of the dark rides (POtC, Pinocchio, Snow White etc and my Hi-8 camera was reasonable but my DV camera can't cope at all (OK it's got a nightvision setting but the colour goes).
Is there a HD camera that will work in poor light.
The old (analogue) camera went down to about 0.5 lux, the new one only 3 and that was about as good as I could find - even the more expensive models were all around that (including some costing 4 times the price).
 
eyore said:
It's a great shame that with such a sophisticated bit of equipment they can't get them more sensitive to low light conditions.
My old (now deceased) analogue video camera (VHS-C) took fantastic videos of the dark rides (POtC, Pinocchio, Snow White etc and my Hi-8 camera was reasonable but my DV camera can't cope at all (OK it's got a nightvision setting but the colour goes).
Is there a HD camera that will work in poor light.
The old (analogue) camera went down to about 0.5 lux, the new one only 3 and that was about as good as I could find - even the more expensive models were all around that (including some costing 4 times the price).
I know what you mean.  I spent $1400 on a Sony HD 100-GB hard drive camcorder, and I find myself returning back to my 1998 Sony Hi-8 whenever I go on anything I think will be in low light.  What a waste.  Even worse, if the light level drops at all the picture slows down and a dragging effect occurs.  It's truly unfortunate that in the 10 years since I bought the Hi-8 they haven't improved on it much, except perhaps in the realm of lines of resolution.  But what good does having more lines of resolution when you've got no picture to look at!  My, what crisp looking blackness!  Sigh...
 
The low light issue is a consequence of the much smaller light sensors for each pixel resulting from the higher resolution of HD.  The alternative is to make the sensor chip bigger, but this pushes it out of most people's price range.  Sony makes $5000 cameras for that if you'd like...

Also, keep your eyes open for Sony's upcoming new CMOS technology, which radically improves light sensitivity by moving all the data collection stuff behind the chip instead of part of it being in front.
 
I really liked my HC96. It was as nice quality as a consumer level(while not prosumer) standard def camcorder could get. It processed things at 3.1 megapixels down to the 720x480 NTSC DV standard which is pretty good for SD but the reason I bring it up after SirLamer's post is because rather than go for the 3 smaller pixeled CCD sensors that total up to a larger resolution approach that most camcorders went for, Sony just put it into one big giant sensor. I liked it better personally. I could ride dark rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and slow my sensor down 1 or 2 stops so it wasn't too much for the motion blur and get great footage.
 
I also think it is quite noticeable that (certainly at DLRP) that many of the dark rides are getting darker.
I noticed that, this year in particular, POTC has rearranged the lighting yet again (16 years of video comes in handy  ;D  ) and have placed brighter lights near the front of most of the figures (but not illuminating them) which causes the camera to adjust the exposure (on auto) so everything in the background is much darker. The individual lighting for each figure is also more restricted and far more orange than it used to be.
I suspect Disney tests the lighting with camcorders just to frustrate us.
This year, I have Peter Pan with very few pictures (no skull rock at all) and even the Hook/Crocodile figures are barely visible (They were better last year with the same camera and settings).
I'm also wondering if they have some counter measure to night vision as well as several rides (again, POTC and HM being quite noticeable) just didn't come out as well as they should have with it switched on (again, by comparison with last year) whereas the results for other rides were the same as last year (so it's not a camera malfunction).
Is there a conspiracy or am I getting paranoid.........
I do usually take my old Hi-8 camera but didn't take it around the park this year.
I may just dig out my old VHS-C camera (cheap, spare one I bought second hand when my good one dies) for next time.
Great, 3 camcorders, Minidisc and digital camera to cart around now!
Need a cart now! Maybe I'll pretend to have an invisible small child and hire a stroller ;D
 
eyore said:
Is there a HD camera that will work in poor light.
The old (analogue) camera went down to about 0.5 lux, the new one only 3 and that was about as good as I could find - even the more expensive models were all around that (including some costing 4 times the price).

My vote is for Canon HV30(black model of my hv20 with some minor changes)

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-HV30-Camcorder-Review-34401.htm

or

Canon HG10
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-HG10-Camcorder-Review-33146.htm

also doin a good low light job is the
Samsung SC-HMX20
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Samsung-SC-HMX20-Camcorder-Review-35416.htm
 
Oh, wait! Too many things that I don't get, but resolved in a simple question:
Are there any ways to change or adjust the night settings in the cameras to have a better video without the black points arround? Or are there any things that I can buy to have a better video?
Thanks to everyone for all the imput here... ;) :p
 
well most of the time the camera gains for a reason .. it's reaching (beyond) it's lilmits ... if you camera has an option for controllling the gain (the hv20 only has some indirect exposure lock and exposure control) you could try to reduce the gain to +~5db or so .. depending when your imager starts to g(r)ain
 
Hmm.. I couldn't find this thread before.  I took a chance and picked up an Canon HV30 just the other day.  WOW!  I'm totally impressed.  I'm not looking for pro level features, but this ting looks like it's going to keep me busy.  Plenty of time before my next trip, so I'll be prepared.

This is going to be fun!
 
Things to record:

1.  Fantasmic!
2.  Rock'n Roller Coaster
3.  Splash Mountain
4.  Haunted Mansion
5.  Illuminations

Thanks!
 
As you can see, there are conflicting ideas as to what is best practise for an HD camera, or any camera. The only real way to see what works best for you and your camera, is to get out there and use it.
There are a few other topics about that suggest basic camera practise (monopods, UV filters etc.)- give them a read and see. Also, read the manual! You could find jewels of information there, including how to best manually set focus and similar.
My own suggestion? Get out and try it! Maybe go to a zoo, or a park and film animals? Attend a party and record the tomfoolery? Put yourself in conditions that you would find at WDW and trial what happens.
Best of luck, look forward to seeing a masterpiece in the near future!
 
i just purchased this HV30 4 weeks ago and i love it.  low light i don't like how single cmos performs.  even if there are 3 cmos performace suffers  i wish they made this camera with 3 ccd at a 1/3 size...
 
sadly .. and for some reason a 3chip camcorder with relatively large imagers and god manual controls is what the peeple all over the internet would love .. but you either get 3 small chips with sub HD res (pixelshift) or one chip (ranging from tiny to mid range)

I guess the big players want to push their large models ... If they'd only realize that those are too large (for casual carry around)
 
as the one person said about his hc96 (i have one two) that is a full size chip 1/3 on it.  i got great results from it.  the hd in day on the hv30 rocks i must admit.  i dont mind holding a 3chip camers since i am large myself.hhehe will be getting either a canon XH-A1 or the Sony DCR-FX1 since that is discontinied for a 3 1/3 cmos version.  i know there are a few out there still new in box.
 
well my hv20 looks very flimsy when I hold it ... so an fx7 or XA-H1 would fit me better too ... but imagine the bag to hold that cam and then try to put that bag in front of your seat when riding R'nR coaster ... too bulky .. my tamrac holds my EOS 400 and HV20 and still fits in every coaster

that digital red scarlet looks interresting but 3000$ for a raw body ist heavy but the specs are out of the roof for that one
 
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