newshooter12

MrHixxx - I've got a 995. It's an o.k. camera, but it doesn't work very well for fast action. There is only one remote release that I know of and it seems way to bulky for skydiving (too many buttons unless it could be covered or cannibalized), plus not cheap at all ($124.95). The other thing I've seen is a separate adapter with a trigger that attaches to it from there, but that seems bulky and about the same price ($124.00). The camera itself doesn't seem very well balanced for mounting on a helmet. Lots of good pictures here. The mount I've seen puts it far off the top of the helmet with lots of places for lines and such to snag. If someone could make a mount to keep the camera laying closer to the helmet it may help. A disclaimer though... I'm far from ready to fly camera. So I'm not sure how well it would really work, but I know I'd rather have an SLR type digi in my hands or on my head. Let us know how it is if you get one. pax, matt

Just a thought. A grease pencil could work and still come off with a soft cloth. Drawing the frame sounds like a good idea. matt

Quade - I should have looked at that site before I posted. Buffalo is back up to #44 again after a couple seasons at #47. (they took a couple counties away from us and gave them to Rochester a while back) I appreciate the humor... TV news can be far to serious! thanks. matt

one other thing... just to make yourself feel better about asking for a bit of $$. Call up your local TV station's advertising sales department and ask what the airtime would cost for the commercial. It will certainly make nearly any amount you ask for or get look very tiny. matt

Paul and Brent are dead on with the prep needed for a job, or any, like that. If they see that you take yourself and them seriously as well as turn a good product you will go far. Just don't bend over too far. I know a going rate for production work in market #47 is about $200/hr (including equipment rental/use). So to be on the nice side, but not short yourself for all the practice shooting, packs, rides, tape, etc... $500 - $600 a day? Make it a point to show them the product after each jump if you can so any suggestions they have can be worked out in the next jump. And even though your friend is involved get it all in writing and have your lawyer look it over to be on the safe side. pax, matt

A.M., congrats on the nice find. Does "[font "Arial"]Foveon X3 Technology" have anything to do with the fast jumps in quality in the last 6-8 months? Do you, or anyone, know when or if the X3 chips might make it into consumer cameras?[/font] [font "Arial"]Anyway it goes the quality puts my Coolpix 995 to shame as well as standard def video...[/font] [font "Arial"]Smooth landings... Matt[/font]

A couple years ago when I was working in television market #77 i started to learn Avid Newscutter. My brother and a guy I work with took delivery of an Avid Express DV system from Promax. They dealt with Dana and the first week out of the box they cut a half-hour show in addition to their 40+ hr/wk jobs. Lets just say all of the Avid software, systems, and support that I've seen have been top notch. (they'll send you out demo videos, DVDs, and software if you check out the website.) They built the software for editors and you can see it when you compare it to other systems. The others may look similar, but most can't do realtime with up to 3 layers of video (something like 10 max) and 4 layers of audio (99 max). It's an extremely versitile software base that can and will grow with you as far as your creativity will take you. Avid DV express v3.5 rocks. Except as jmfreefly said, that if you're not a student you need to commit the $1500 to $2500 depending on what bells and wistles you want or need. Or about $5k for a pretty kick-butt dedicated system. good journeys, Matt Ersing

Bogwarrior, I second what [size 2]WmLauterbach[size 1] [/size][/size] has to say about sitting through a photography class and Kodak's pan film being reliable. Shooting B&W taught me a lot. I hope you have the facilities and chance to develope and print your own. Sending some B&W film away to be processed can take a long time and cost quite a bit more than the c-41 process for standard color prints. But Kodak B&W +400 and +125 can be processed as standard c-41 and printed on color paper. Plus it's only about $3 per roll according to B&H. I think I'm gonig to pick some up to play around with on vacation. I found that exposure becomes more critical with B&W or at least i've been able to see my mistakes more clearly then in color prints. My photo teacher told my class to look for the mindtones and get a reading off of them so to get a good contrast range. I can't wait to get 400 or 600 jumps under my belt so I can start shooting. good journeys, Matt Ersing

I don't know what's in your area, but you might look for an A/V company that provides dubbing services. There is one that the company I work for uses just down the street, but that's in buffalo, NY. Having a company make you a dub in NTSC may be a lot cheaper then buying/finding the equipment neccessary. I've heard that some DV cameras can switch there output between NTSC and PAL. So if it's on the format you have try playing it out of there with the output switched. good luck and please post how things work out.

From what a couple friends that are still newspaper shooters have said, Tokina is not quite as good as a Nikor, but a bit better than a Tamron. All in all a good bang for the buck though with pretty good resale value. Try to go with the lowest f-stop you can afford. I've kicked myself a few times for buying the f3.5 lens instead of the f2 or 1.8 when it was available for not too many more $s. as for the hood... most Mfgs make specific hoods to fit each lens without blocking any part of the image. According to www.bhphotovideo.com that lens has a "Dedicated Lens Hood (BH-774)" made for it for $24.95. Just search for BH-774, you'll find a pic of it and other details. I use neutral density or uv filters on all my lenses just to protect them from dust, scratches and the like. I'd rather scratch or crack a $15 filter then the $200+ lens. hope that helps... matt

I know what I've heard called "Zoom Through" wide angle lens are made for ENG cameras, but does anyone know of any for small miniDV cameras??

Check out www.keh.com I've bought a number of times from them over the years and have been happy with them. Especially their rating system for used gear. matt

I've heard of and seen in stores cameras that say they can be switched between NTSC and PAL. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to try out that feature. Test recording/outputing while home may be your best bet especially if you can get your hands on an NTSC deck or vcr to confirm that it works. I know a lot of specialty A/V stores in the US have PAL dubbing capability, so maybe there's one around you with NTSC gear to test the theory. Is the camera only outputing in NTSC or PAL, or is it recording in one of the two formats? I believe that Mini-DV tapes record in an MPEG form, but am not sure if that is changed between NTSC and PAL. I'll ask one of the techs I work with at work Thursday. I hope that helps. Matt