ChitownRC

I wish there was some way we could get more videos of the races. Any ideas?

Buy a video camera. =P

I picked up a nice Sony camera couple weeks back for about 450. Used it at Hardesty's last time we were there. Got some of the B-main and most of the A-main on tape. Can we upload files that big on the board Tune ?

What format did you tape on? Hi8? Digital DV?

I taped it on one of those tiny tapes then downloaded the video to my hard drive.

If we could just get a semi-dedicated camera person with some skills that would be great. Slim is a great photog but he's racing. We need someone's kid or GF. Maybe we take turns?

Taking turns isnt bad. I think the majority of us have some sort of decent digi cameras to take pictures. I've been saving up for some time now to get a high end camera and take up photography as a second hobby. By next outdoor season, I should be able to take some good quality action pics.

That's very cool! Rich, you're a multi-faceted individual. I knew that something deep lay beneath the surface...

snakebite46 Wrote:Taking turns isnt bad. I think the majority of us have some sort of decent digi cameras to take pictures. I've been saving up for some time now to get a high end camera and take up photography as a second hobby. By next outdoor season, I should be able to take some good quality action pics.

Snakebite, if your going to the bash on Saturday, I can give you some pointers on photography and equipment. I have been in professional photography and digital production for 10 years. I was also a media producer and videographer for the City Colleges of Chicago for 3 years. So I can pretty much give you any advice you or any of the other guys need. I will be taking pictures at the bash on Saturday with my Canon G5.

damn im very good at making video's with camera's. Not the greatest at editing them but i can take some very good footage. I do a lot of zooming in and out and i like to get pictures of everything thats going on at the moment. I would gladly be a dedicated video person if we could get john to host them. Somebody could take over when its my turn to race also. Only thing is i dont have a camera so somebody is gonna have to donate one at the races or bash.

I'm looking at picking up a Canon 20D with a lens package from a place in NY. In your opinion, what do you think is a good lens to start with for action RC shots?

thanx for the props bruce!

What's the file size of you're video snakebite? Is it in avi format?

I know that when I've transfering video from my camera to the hard drive, the file size is usually pretty damn big. In the gigs. It sees alot of compressing and chopping to make it download ready.

I've got some footage that I'd like to get going, but I keep forgeting to get my camera back from bigd. He's been borrowing it for like 8 months...

I think we're on to something here!

snakebite46 Wrote:I'm looking at picking up a Canon 20D with a lens package from a place in NY. In your opinion, what do you think is a good lens to start with for action RC shots?

Canon 20D is a great semi-pro camera. We tested it alongside other pro cameras and it held up very well. In the end my studio opted to go with 2 Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II(16.7MP). I assume you are talking about B&H Photo in New York. If not, I would be wary of any other mail order companies out of the east, B&H is very reliable. You also have the option of ordering from Calumet Photo here in Chicago. You could even go down to their showroom here in the City and they also have a showroom in bensenville(I think, I can call my rep and find out).

The lense you get should be able to cover all your needs for RC and outside of RC. I would opt for a Wide Zoom range say 28-135 or a 28-200 F3.5-5.6 ( The F number represents the effective speed of the lense based on focal length, so a lense thats F range is f2.8 to f16 is faster than a f3.5-5.6 to f16 lense. This becomes important in low light or fast subject situations where depth of field is not really an issue.). I would if you can afford it buy a canon lense as opposed to a aftermarket lense such as: sigma or tamron. They may be cheaper but sometimes they are lower quality lenses with issues that can be seen by the trained eye. The 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS USM lense I mentioned before has an image stabilizer( handy for again for low light or fast moving subjects) whereas the 28-200mm does not.

Mr. Tune Wrote:What's the file size of you're video snakebite? Is it in avi format?

I know that when I've transfering video from my camera to the hard drive, the file size is usually pretty damn big. In the gigs. It sees alot of compressing and chopping to make it download ready.

I've got some footage that I'd like to get going, but I keep forgeting to get my camera back from bigd. He's been borrowing it for like 8 months...

Remember most video footage comes into you system at 640x480 or a 4:3 aspect ratio @ 30 frames per second. Most video from consumer cameras is interlaced or 2 fields per frame (one odd and one even). You can drop the frame rate down to lessen the storage footprint of the edited piece. The video will also play easier on computers that are slow. Output to a compressed format such as mpeg for web delivery. Reduce colors to reduce file size. Change pixel format to lessen file size as well such as making the video go from 640x480 to 320x240.

Thanks alot for the info. really appreciate the help on the lenses. I'll check out the place in Chicago when I'm ready to buy. Maybe I could pick you up and you could help me out when that time comes.


Tune, I'm not sure on the file size but I know it wasnt close to being a gig. I'll check when I get home from work.

I have a copy of PinnacleStudio if anyone wants to edit, add music and change size/format of file. I also have a sony digital8 cam. I could bring to races., but how will i run my4 classes, marshal, and film?

I'll bring some info to the bash for you to look at. My availability is pretty limited during the week as I work no less than 10 hours a day. Which means the weekends are spent running errands the wife couldnt do during the week. so the bash would be the best time to pick my brain.

Cool. Thanks again.

As for video uploads... I will get a list of sites that you can upload to for ree as well as some better splitting sowtware if for some reason you need to downsize the files. I don't have the links offhand so I will get them on here as soon as I can.

That would be good, but for video you would need gigs of space available. That would cost something to get. But if it happened I can get a copy of Final Cut from a friend and edit. I have some experience at it but haven't done it in a number of years.

This is great! I'm tired of seeing these cool videos from around the country while knowing that we can do much better. Let me know what I can do as far as shooting. I've shot a baptism or two before.

Bring your cameras to the bash, both still and video if you have them and I can help people with understanding how to get better images and video footage.

ProPC

Kinda off subject but also kinda related.

The wife and I are looking to get a new SOny Camcorder. The ones that take the mini DVD. I think we where looking at (I think the 403) It sells for like 799.00 at Best Buy

Any Pros or Cons

Heres the link
click me