| Chris Hedemark on Wed, 5 Feb 2003 06:29:29 -0500 |
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I like lots of ins and outs but what does linux like? Is it ok with usb
Firewire is the de facto standard for video camera connectivity. MiniDV is the de facto media format, with DV being the de facto compression type. You may see other media types with firewire, or even MiniDV with USB instead of firewire, but these are bad combinations. If you get MiniDV with firewire you're more likely to be okay. Sony and Canon are the two most popular brands, and with good reason. Both make excellent cameras. I'm a Canon man myself. Among other reasons, I chose Canon for the superior optics and warmer color reproduction. My camera is a Canon GL2. My application would be occasionally dumping video to the hd to edit and Any non-linear editor is going to want that same combination I mentioned, MiniDV with firewire. For Linux, I think you're still limited to Cinelerra for editing. This does tie into another recent thread; the thing that pushed me over the edge to get an Apple PowerBook is that it comes with everything I need short of a camera to do Non-Linear Editing (NLE). I've got the firewire port for connecting to the camera, iMovie for simple editing, S-Video for playback to a TV, etc. There are many other software upgrades possible for a more professional editing solution, including Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro which have really been just taking over the broadcast post production world. Windows is unfortunately also enjoying a lot of success in NLE. The thing that has kept me from Cinelerra is its base hardware requirements. They ask for some pretty elaborate hardware up front. In contrast, my PowerBook is 800MHz PPC with 512M RAM & 40GB HDD. The biggest pain for me right now is lack of HDD space, but keep in mind I usually edit maybe 4 or 5 hours of footage from just one camera per event. Having a much larger HDD set aside for your workspace is highly advisable if you're doing anything more than short home movies. And for the cam folks, is there a point to digital over analog? Digital is a fact of life. The old school filmmakers are being dragged kicking & screaming into digital, but it is inevitable. Digital is a great medium to work in. There are two things that most people overlook when buying a digital video camera, though, that should be kept in mind. The word "digital" is not a magic bullet that will take out all analog equipment, after all. (1) Optics: the CCD('s) can only faithfully capture whatever is delivered to them. Crappy lenses will cause the CCD('s) to faithfully reproduce a bad image with poor color reproduction. (2) How many CCD's do you get? One-chip cameras, as they are called, have only one CCD which drives the price down but also the quality of the picture. Three-chip cameras have three CCD's and, given good optics, will produce a much sweeter picture. Here is a small example of what a half decent digital camera can do, passed through a low end NLE (iMovie). No tripods, fancy mics, special lighting, color correction, or anything has gone on here. Just a short home movie with some primitive transitions & titling. (WARNING: For high bandwidth users ONLY!) http://www.yonderway.com/postcards/cookiemonster-large.mov (Yes, I do event videography for-hire. And I do use tripods & wireless mics for those.) Chris Hedemark PGP/GnuPG Public Key at http://yonderway.com/chris/hedemark.gpg -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (Darwin) iD8DBQE+QPU9YPuF4Zq9lvYRApMtAKDFDDtk9IyCU5RTV5p1Nr/LCpxAcwCfb0y+ dFsDDJ/xByLLc1LbSAiZPhE= =wbOh -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug
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