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You often read of people being saved by the innocent or ignorant. I can claim only one of these characteristics so you’ll have to do some of the tin king for yourself.
My time with video is short - but it is getting longer, as the opportunities to record shows and dances multiply. I’ve started out knowing little and have forgotten much of that, but there’s a few things about video cameras that have become evident:
The shape of some cameras cannot be easily hand-held, while others cannot be well-mounted on a tripod. Yet both types can take decent video footage. The designers of the insides don’t talk with the designers of the outsides.
My own camera is fine in hand and can be slotted onto a video head by means of a quick shoe, but once on, it cannot be easily shifted when the time comes to change batteries. It’s meant I needed a double arrangement to allow me access to the battery door in the middle of a shoot.
Other cameras are fine as long as they are connected to external audio recorders, memory storage, and a big monitor. These all need to be plugged in, and some cameras hold their connections in odd places - and cover them with awkward flaps or plugs.
The answer often is a cage to enclose the camera that will bear the weight of the other accessories. This, in it’s turn, puts more strain on the tripod head or the rig that the film maker proposes to hand-hold. In all these cases, the best answer is less…try to choose a camera with an adequate LCD display and easy access to all the in and outputs.
You cannot lump all lenses into the same bag when it comes to video - the focal lengths needed may vary widely according to the needs of the scene. What you do want is reasonable resolution, no focus shifting when zooming, and an aperture control that can be make click-less. There are plenty of times when you do not want an automatic aperture change messing up a shot.
Finally, do not panic too much about the various limits to recording times posed by regulations. No-one wants to see a video with the 30-minute takes…most people have 5-minute attention spans. Break it up and the camera will have time to cool down anyway.
Note that cameras that can take an external power supply to provide electricity that doesn’t have to be batteried in every 15 minutes are a blessing. Even if you haul a big gel battery, the fact of not having to dismount every blessed thing is wonderful.
Text and Images by Richard Stein
