One of our members set Videomaker Magazine straight in this month's issue
 

I was thumbing thru the new issue of Videomaker Magazine and began reading a letter written to the editor. I soon noticed it was written by no other than our very own Edward Troxel, lol! He set them straight on a lot of sloppy info givin on an earlier article they did on DVDit and even made sure he made mention he uses Vegas- a program the editors rarely shed light on. They all seem to be riding Adobe Premiere. Way to go Ed, heheh!

Videomaker is not very accurate in a lot of areas.

I attended one of their weekend shooting seminars in Chico about 4 years ago and was appalled at the misinformation they were giving to a (largely) educator audience.

The hands-on gear was inadequate and only 2 of the groups managed to produce a finished video. The other group's equipment just crashed. All of the equipment they used was stuff sent in by manufacturers for evaluation.

Needless to say, I don't subscribe to their publication.

I'm glad Edward spoke up.

I can't really speak for any of their seminars as I'm locate far, farrrr away from CA, or FLA. I actually have to say I do like their publication. It's a good mix of beginner/intermediate level articles. I've found some of their lighting articles to be particularly helpfull. On the flip-side I subscribed to DV magazine and they were the complete opposite- seemingly geared towards way more advanced applications and equipment. Half the articles weren't even worth reading because they dealt with some $100,000 hd pro cameras and advanced Avid systems.

I'm sure any publication is riddled with misinformation from time to time. Honestly, I don't find them to be any more misinformed than any other publication.

Videomaker is a good entry-level publication. Anyone who has more than two years worth of back issues will notice that their articles recycle. "How to storyboard your video," "how to use microphones," "lighting your subject," etc.

What's the next step above Videomaker in terms of advancement and knowledge of the field. Like I said I tried getting into DV magazine but it seemed too advanced for me, plus the articles were mostly about equipment I couldn't even begin to afford!

Videomaker is a great beginner and intermediate level magazine. They are geared at mostly an untrained audience and they hit their mark very well. If your beyond that point and tired of the same beginning lessons then by all means go for another mag.

People have to crawl before they can walk and videomaker helps get people going in video and they get people interested in it. They do a great job and you can expect some errors from any magazine.

Ben Lynn

If you're interested in the craft side of motion image acquisition, there's no beating American Cinematographer. Even the ads are educational.

I think you need to expand the number of mags that you read once you leave Videomaker.

the candidates are

DV mag (which I find is consistently the best).
Videography
Video Systems
Millimeter
Film & Video
AV Video Multimedia Producer
I also scan Keyboard and EQ.

I dropped American Cinematographer not because it isn't a good pub but it is geared towards feature film work and silver-based film work.

That said, some of their books are great and should be reviewed.

BTW, I don't think videomaker 'makes' it into the intermediate level very often. Their editor that specializes in lighting is the only person who had a good session at the training seminar. The rest of the presenters were frequently inaccurate about the technology aspects of video. Especially the guy that talked about sound.

I'd have to say that the one saving grace for VideoMaker is that Bill Davis writes for them occasionally.