Q. I'm looking into film-making / movie making and I have a starter budget of $200. I need a video camera for action films that involve the night time, with preferably HD recording, that connects to a PC via USB, and looks a bit professional. Any suggestions.
A. Hi Dean:
I know that $200 sounds like a lot of money to a 14-year-old, but your budget is pretty low for anything professional-looking. And at that price "low-light" sensitivity (for night-time shots) won't be very good.
Hollywood films actually use a lot of artificial light (carefully placed at certain angles) for many night-time shots. Watch several old movies on Turner Classics (especially film-noir B&W movies like "The Maltese Falcon" or "D.O.A.") for night-time lit scenes like this one:
"To Kill a Mockingbird": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FROgIia2cb8
[For more about film-noir lighting, see Mark Apsolon's excellent video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1gMxT2R9z4#t=31s ]
Here's a good night-time interior from "Bladerunner": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwJEb3vJvWY
And a more-recent one from "The Dark Knight": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c_H45kt1_8
You'll notice that almost all the lighting is from the extreme side(s) or a strong backlight (for a silhouette effect). Sidelighting and backlighting creates strong shadows, which enhance the feeling of "night", even though the subjects' edges are brightly lit.
For an actual camcorder recommendation, try one of Canon's factory-refurbished models, to save you some money and stretch your budget: http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subCategory_10051_10051_-1_17252
One of the cheaper Canon Vixia HF-series (HF-R300) or the Canon FS-400 should be in your price range, refurbished or new, if you shop carefully.
hope this helps,
--Dennis C.
I know that $200 sounds like a lot of money to a 14-year-old, but your budget is pretty low for anything professional-looking. And at that price "low-light" sensitivity (for night-time shots) won't be very good.
Hollywood films actually use a lot of artificial light (carefully placed at certain angles) for many night-time shots. Watch several old movies on Turner Classics (especially film-noir B&W movies like "The Maltese Falcon" or "D.O.A.") for night-time lit scenes like this one:
"To Kill a Mockingbird": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FROgIia2cb8
[For more about film-noir lighting, see Mark Apsolon's excellent video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1gMxT2R9z4#t=31s ]
Here's a good night-time interior from "Bladerunner": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwJEb3vJvWY
And a more-recent one from "The Dark Knight": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c_H45kt1_8
You'll notice that almost all the lighting is from the extreme side(s) or a strong backlight (for a silhouette effect). Sidelighting and backlighting creates strong shadows, which enhance the feeling of "night", even though the subjects' edges are brightly lit.
For an actual camcorder recommendation, try one of Canon's factory-refurbished models, to save you some money and stretch your budget: http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subCategory_10051_10051_-1_17252
One of the cheaper Canon Vixia HF-series (HF-R300) or the Canon FS-400 should be in your price range, refurbished or new, if you shop carefully.
hope this helps,
--Dennis C.
How can I stop erections from happening during sleep?
Q. I seem to always get erections during sleep. For the purpose of quantification, I set up a video camera to record myself as I slept naked. I watched the playback the day after and it seems that from the time I appeared to fall asleep to when I woke up, I had about four erections during the night. How can I get them to stop?
A. You don't. If you don't get erections during the night, that is abnormal.
Let nature be.
Let nature be.
What camera should be good for recording at night?
Q. Hopefully, something that's not too demanding on the money. Basically, I want a camera that can record during night; something that I can record to a hard drive/memory stick (maybe about 8 hours of continuous recording). I want to do this to monitor my premises as there are vandals that come along every now and then, who are deliberately targeting me.
A. You want a surveillance camera with infrared and a surveillance/security DVR located in a different place.
While it is possible to use a hard drive based camcorder that can record multiple hours, you will need to have power run to it as there are no batteries available that last that long. Assuming there is power available, the built-in infrared emitter that the Sony cameras have (with "SuperNightShot" mode) have only about an 8 foot throw to effectively see anything in low light. Camcorders were not designed to remain outside 24/7.
The better option is to use 2 or more surveillance cameras - wired or wireless (though even wireless ones need a wire for power) that feed video to a multichannel surveillance digital video recorder.
Fry's Electronics (and other sites) have a good selection of this stuff... For low-end consumer gear that may be enough for your needs, Swann, Clover and several other manufacturers have complete kits - with weather tight housings, cables, monitors and even computer network connectivity for monitoring over the internet.
While it is possible to use a hard drive based camcorder that can record multiple hours, you will need to have power run to it as there are no batteries available that last that long. Assuming there is power available, the built-in infrared emitter that the Sony cameras have (with "SuperNightShot" mode) have only about an 8 foot throw to effectively see anything in low light. Camcorders were not designed to remain outside 24/7.
The better option is to use 2 or more surveillance cameras - wired or wireless (though even wireless ones need a wire for power) that feed video to a multichannel surveillance digital video recorder.
Fry's Electronics (and other sites) have a good selection of this stuff... For low-end consumer gear that may be enough for your needs, Swann, Clover and several other manufacturers have complete kits - with weather tight housings, cables, monitors and even computer network connectivity for monitoring over the internet.
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