Joined the Zi8 fold

[66strummer]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

Let's see, I bought mine while I was in Hawai`i, about 50 yards from Kailua Beach. So there's no way any moisture could have gotten near mine. Naaahhhhh. And I would never (ooops) drop something.

Fran

Fran.....

I had an 8mm Sony Camcorder that would get moisture in it and shut down from just sitting unused in one of the colder rooms in my house. What would allow me to use it again was opening it up with no tape in it and running a hair dryer (on the coolest warm setting) for a few minutes. I also think that my camcorder got bumped a time or 2 when my X-girlfriend was using it. She didn't tend to be as careful with things as she should have been . It started doing this annoying thing where it would suddenly record in black and white sometimes. Weird........ Still it lasted me over 10 years. When I tried to get it fixed a few years back the parts were outdated and unavailable. Too bad because it was originally $750 plus when it was in style. Amazing how the times change .

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by bluesypicky

....would well justified, the Zi8 is blowing all other HD pocket cams out of the water IMO (and for now) partly thanks to this external mic input...
But that's until another one comes out with a 40 GB internal memory for 100 bucks!!!
BTW, where did you order that remote if I may ask?

Hi Bluesypicky,

I ordered mine from the online Kodak Store, which had a 20% off sale yesterday when I ordered it. This can also be ordered from other places too. The cost for the remote control is negligible and would allow you to sit in place and do numerous takes without getting up and restarting the camera or whatever for a new take and possibly physically knocking it off the perfect-framing position in which you've already set it. Follow the link:

http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsu...ctID.145068700

Regards,

SpruceTop

[66strummer]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Hi Bluesypicky,

I ordered mine from the online Kodak Store, which had a 20% off sale yesterday when I ordered it. This can also be ordered from other places too. The cost for the remote control is negligible and would allow you to sit in place and do numerous takes without getting up and restarting the camera or whatever for a new take and possibly physically knocking it off the perfect-framing position in which you've already set it. Follow the link:

http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsu...ctID.145068700

Regards,

SpruceTop

Now that amazes me! $12.99 for a remote?????? That is very reasonable IMO. Last night I couldn't find the power adapter to my Canon FS10 camcorder. I was stressing over this because I went to the Canon website and they want get this.........$125 for the lousy power cord Are you kidding me?????? Fortunately I called a friend of mine who lives out of town that I visited last week and thank God it was at his place. The power cord is never leaving home after this and God forbid I ever lose the remote to my FS10.

[bluesypicky]

Yes it is amazing.... Ordered!
Thanks Spruce!

And for those ZI8'ers interested, found it at $9.99 here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...e_Control.html

Happy Holidays!

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by 66strummer

Fran.....

I had an 8mm Sony Camcorder that would get moisture in it and shut down from just sitting unused in one of the colder rooms in my house. What would allow me to use it again was opening it up with no tape in it and running a hair dryer (on the coolest warm setting) for a few minutes. I also think that my camcorder got bumped a time or 2 when my X-girlfriend was using it. She didn't tend to be as careful with things as she should have been . It started doing this annoying thing where it would suddenly record in black and white sometimes. Weird........ Still it lasted me over 10 years. When I tried to get it fixed a few years back the parts were outdated and unavailable. Too bad because it was originally $750 plus when it was in style. Amazing how the times change .

It's hard for me to be mad at the Kodak when I'm waiting for my other camcorder to get back from the shop. This Hawai`i trip was my first with a video focus and I think the main thing I learned is that I need a shockproof waterproof camcorder!!!

Fran

[Yamaha Man]

I think I have found a really nice video editing program that'll work on my computer and works with mov files, and can convert them to a vast selection of files. The program I'm looking at is called Movavi Video Suite 8. It has tons of features built into it, and I can even download YouTube video with it. It also has a nice looking timeline for video editing.......I have the 30 day tryout version now I'm experimenting with. It looks like a real winner though.

While converting with this program my cpu usage hovers around 60% instead of 99-100% with the ArcSoft software. So I may not need to upgrade my cpu afterall.

A couple of the features I really like is the video cropping and picture quality settings that really add to the picture.

[Yamaha Man]

After playing with Movavi all day today, I ened up buying the full version called Movai Video Suite 8, which has all the bells and whistles of video editing tools. So far I really like the program and think it'll work out great for me.

For more information about it goto their website here......

http://www.movavi.com/suite/

[Wayne Train]

Hi all, I bought a Zi8 and pro24cm and started out recording a jazz drummer's seminar. Turned out real nice but I was a little too conservative with the mic gain setting. Set it at one click above all the way down. With that mic and band I should have used three clicks above lowest.

[Marshall]

You want to have it much higher than that. If you can run a sound check of similar sounds, you ought to set it just short of clipping. Read Fran's discussion about setting the level. He's much more scientific than I. But I try to get the peaks in my sample about 3/4 of the way up the scale.

[BoB/335]

Wow! Just read through this thread and I feel like I did when I first got a computer. Totally illiterate!

I've recently got the YouTube bug from watching so many great videos on YouTube and was wondering what it takes to get a good quality video up and running. I guess my 10 year old 8mm video camera isn't going to cut it, is it? All all this software talk. YIKES! Guess I better just stick to playing and forget the video thing.

[Yamaha Man]

Up until a few weeks ago, I never did anything with video, I was a strickly audio type guy. But then after watching a few You Tube video's made by people on this forum, I decided to get involved with it. The Zi8 came highly recommended and I was satisfied by the quality of videos it made. The Zi8 comes with a software program called Media Impressions ArcSoft, which is a pretty basic program, but can get the job done. However I wanted more editing features, so I first bought QuickTime Pro, then I bought the Movavi, because I could do more with it, like download and save video's off of You Tube that I liked. Another forum I go to recommends Corel video editing software. I downloaded the trial version, but it doesn't work well with my computer. I also looked at Sony's Vegas but in it's list of supported video files, .mov files is nowhere to be found, and that's what the Zi8 puts out. I also tried out Adobe's Premeir Elements and that too wouldn't work with my computer.

So after all is said and done, I'm now using basically the Movavi or ArcSoft to edit my video's.

In the middle of all this trial and error, my computer started going haywire. I later found out I had a couple of bad memory sticks installed in the computer, as soon as I took them out, the computer runs fine.

So I've been busy the last couple of weeks, but it's paid off. I can now post video's onto the internet, which is something I couldn't do before. I much prefer watching a performance than just listening to a MP3. This also gives me the chance to see myself as others do. So I have no regrets on becoming involved with video production. It's fun actually.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by BoB/335

Wow! Just read through this thread and I feel like I did when I first got a computer. Totally illiterate!

I've recently got the YouTube bug from watching so many great videos on YouTube and was wondering what it takes to get a good quality video up and running. I guess my 10 year old 8mm video camera isn't going to cut it, is it? All all this software talk. YIKES! Guess I better just stick to playing and forget the video thing.

Actually, if you don't need any fancy editing, you can simply upload the video straight out of these new little HD cameras, no software needed. Plenty of people do. Of course, they look a bit doofish walking back from the camera and putting on the guitar while muttering to themselves, but it avoids the software issue ... <grin>.

Fran

[CCreyeder]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

Actually, if you don't need any fancy editing, you can simply upload the video straight out of these new little HD cameras, no software needed. Plenty of people do. Of course, they look a bit doofish walking back from the camera and putting on the guitar while muttering to themselves, but it avoids the software issue ... <grin>.

Fran

Speaking of..... Fran I REALLY enjoyed your "aloha Fridays" videos.. Love the multicamera angles and the editing that you did.. Can you tell us how you did those? Should we start a new thread? My goal is to use at least 2 cameras to put something more interesting together than just me sitting in front of the camera...

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by CCreyeder

Speaking of..... Fran I REALLY enjoyed your "aloha Fridays" videos.. Love the multicamera angles and the editing that you did.. Can you tell us how you did those? Should we start a new thread? My goal is to use at least 2 cameras to put something more interesting together than just me sitting in front of the camera...

CC, there isn't much to say. Well, my wife has a few things to say about my one little Flip Mino HD pocket cam turning into a bag full of cams, tripods, power supplies, and audio gear. But that's basically all there is to it. To do cutaway shots you need two cams, or be able to play the exact same thing twice, which I cannot do.

For the Aloha Friday series I had two cams that only shot for an hour, and one on a power supply that shot the whole two hours. I would just put one wide, one head on, and one angle and let them roll until they ran out or I quit.

Back at home I use Adobe Premiere Elements 7 (I hear 8 is not real stable right now) to line up the clips, fade between them, sometimes pull in the audio from the Zoom H2, then do the titles.

I hate PE in every version I've ever used, it's balky and slow and spends most of its time redrawing and hangs up a lot ... but it's relatively cheap and has lots of capability. Many people love Vegas, and there are relatively cheap versions of that as well, but I've never tried it.

What I've found as I've done this is -- we're making movies. We may not think so, we may think we're just fooling around for our friends. But when anyone sees our work, including our friends, they see a movie, they see with movie trained eyes. So I'm trying to learn about how movies work, and how to improve the "movieness" of the stuff I do. Probably the single thing I'd like most right now is a teenager with a burning desire to learn about video. One fixed camera and one roaming, with a good eye behind the roaming one, could really kick up the fun.

Fran

[CCreyeder]

Fran... thanks and I can totally relate. I orig intended on getting (just) the Zi8, but while shopping, I convinced myself that I also needed an additional camcorder. For the last couple of months I have been viewing HUNDREDS of youtubes of amateur film-makers to get tips and techniques. I havent actually DONE anything yet of course lol.. I have this sinking feeling that this could become an obsession worse than GAS, what with cameras, lights, conning a family member to hold up a reflector lol.. I wish one of my kids would be interested, that way THEY could be the obsessed one and then I would get them to film me lol..

I had PE 4 but it wouldnt work with HD, so I picked up sony vegas studio. So far I like it alot better than PE.

So, you recorded direct to your Zoom H2? I dont have one of those, but I do have a friend with a H4. I was thinking about recording the audio direct to one of the cameras via it's mic input and then using that video with audio plus just the video from the other 1 or 2 cams... Should work right? Did you use the old "hand clap" trick to help with your synching?

btw... check out "film riot" on youtube. They have a lot of good tips to increase the "movieness" as you say. Most of it is how to do special effects like gunshot wounds and stuff like that, but they also have a lot of good tips on angles, depth of field, etc.. Plus, they are funny as heck