Those Stupid Mistakes...
 

C'mon, time to list really dumb obvious errors that only a newbie should be making, but even those who do this for a living are prone to every now and then :)

I'm nowhere near that capacity, but after a few years of operating cams from a consumer JVC to a PD150 you'd think i'd have learnt the basics.. but no!

1. As mentioned in the other thread, simply forgetting to remove my wideangle when shooting a subject quite far back (needed a 4-6x zoom at minimal really). And making matters worse, not having cleaned the dang thing. Luckily only one shot was affected by this, but its still a kickself moment. Not remembering to take earplugs for a large outdoor rig was also not the best move that day!

2. Showing a bit of footage I was well and truly happy with to the person I was shooting (was a bands performance), then putting the camera down, picking it up an hour later and filming the next band.. did i remember to fast forward to the next blank space? Of course not. Lost my best song.

Not using headphones to check the feed coming from a mixer during a live concert. I'd only had my GL2 for three days and really didn't know how it worked yet. Yeah, the audio was basically one long square wave. Thankfully I had a second camera running through most of the concert, and I managed to use its onboard mic feed (sounded pretty good). I learned that lesson quickly (almost always use headphones now) and have successfully taped other events since (thanks to DVInfo!).

I've been lurking long enough, and this is a good time to bite:

Recently I was on my own shooting an impromptu interview in an uncontrolled location, and it was turning into the perfect summation for my project. My interviewee was telling a story that was heartfelt and spontaneous, illustrating everything I needed. I was so caught up in the moment that I thought to myself that Boston's "More Than A Feeling" building in the background was a nice touch.

Anyone have any tips for isolating voice from music?

Here's my "favorite" - the one I simply can't seem to learn to not do. It is not pressing the record button (XL2) hard enough to get it to activate. This means either that I don't start recording when I want to or don't stop recording when I want to. In either case the camera is in the opposite state that I think it's in so I get lots of footage of my feet, framing, composing, adjusting exposure... and then when the shot is all set up recording stops. Too dumb to remember to look at the annunciators in the EVF!

Talking during a shoot. Damn camera mics pick up every whisper behind the camers, and never what is in front!

I'm shocked that this hasn't come up yet...

Forgetting to White Balance after coming from an indoor location to do a standup with a high ranking state government official. The Betacam had a B&W viewfinder and I didn't have a field monitor. She was a beautiful color!

I have done what A.J. did twice! I get caught up in the framing and focus and forget to check its recording. I end up fast movement to my feet and miss the event.

Haha yeah, I've done the not pressing the rec hard enough too... missed my favorite song of a band, NEVER repeated it again :)

I still use a battery powered mic, and the amount of times i've forgotten to switch it on for the first song... (i need a phantom power mic i think!) luckily i've only missed the entire set once. And my "professional" friend who borrowed the cam didn't realise it had an on/off button either. I should leave my audio AGC off cos then i can always see the monitor on my screen....

Dumb things
 

Forgetting to set both audio channels!

Hey A.J.,

We've ALL done it at one time or another, or in my case quite frequently in my start up days. It's called "reverse recording" or in videographer's venacular; "walking the dog" as you see a dog's perspective of your feet, the asphalt, the sidewalk trash cans and every other thing than you THOUGHT you were not recording.

I've also made the line level input mistake based on a beautifully zero'ed
camera input meter. Doesn't mean zip if the actual mic level is way many ohms over what the mic level input is set to accept.....

Oh well. We all have to make these mistakes to learn not to make them again.....

Happy shooting,

Stephanie