G'day at DVinfo.net

Russell Heaton · October 20th, 2010, 09:08 PM

I consider myself to be an amateur videographer who tries hard to make documentaries of our travels for our own consumption and for our friends and relatives (whom I presume get bored to death every time I send a new title to them.) I have been working in HD (1440 x 1080 50i) and downconverting to SD to make DVD's.

I have two HDR-HC3 mini DV tape cameras and a GoPro "Surf" full HD waterproof camera. I edit in Vegas Pro and have done so since version 6.0 was released. Some of my productions aren't bad but fall that tiny bit short of being salable due to my constant shortcoming of not taking enough footage up front, thus making stitching the final product together difficult.

I am learning from my mistakes and I hope to one day make a travel doco that might just earn me some money. I am very fortunate to be semi-retired and do a lot of traveling Australia between working. This has given me an opportunity to use magnificent Australian scenery as a backdrop to all of my productions.

Recently She Who Must Be Obeyed and I decided that if we are serious about this videography lurk, then we ought to have a decent camera. After much research we have decided on an XDCAM. I'm still torn between the PMW-EX1R and the EX3. I'm leaning towards the EX1R purely because I can't see myself using interchangeable lenses. My DSLR camera ends up with the wide angle lens on most of the time and rarely gets changed, so I figure that the EX1R will be good enough.

I've been a lurker on this site for a fair while now and find that the knowledge base of the members is enormous. I doubt that I'll have a whole lot to add - there are a lot of smarter people than me out there, but I'll certainly be asking plenty of questions - not too dumb, I hope.

Cheers

Russ

October 20th, 2010, 09:08 PM	#1
Russell Heaton Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cossack, Western Australia, Australia Posts: 84	G'day I consider myself to be an amateur videographer who tries hard to make documentaries of our travels for our own consumption and for our friends and relatives (whom I presume get bored to death every time I send a new title to them.) I have been working in HD (1440 x 1080 50i) and downconverting to SD to make DVD's. I have two HDR-HC3 mini DV tape cameras and a GoPro "Surf" full HD waterproof camera. I edit in Vegas Pro and have done so since version 6.0 was released. Some of my productions aren't bad but fall that tiny bit short of being salable due to my constant shortcoming of not taking enough footage up front, thus making stitching the final product together difficult. I am learning from my mistakes and I hope to one day make a travel doco that might just earn me some money. I am very fortunate to be semi-retired and do a lot of traveling Australia between working. This has given me an opportunity to use magnificent Australian scenery as a backdrop to all of my productions. Recently She Who Must Be Obeyed and I decided that if we are serious about this videography lurk, then we ought to have a decent camera. After much research we have decided on an XDCAM. I'm still torn between the PMW-EX1R and the EX3. I'm leaning towards the EX1R purely because I can't see myself using interchangeable lenses. My DSLR camera ends up with the wide angle lens on most of the time and rarely gets changed, so I figure that the EX1R will be good enough. I've been a lurker on this site for a fair while now and find that the knowledge base of the members is enormous. I doubt that I'll have a whole lot to add - there are a lot of smarter people than me out there, but I'll certainly be asking plenty of questions - not too dumb, I hope. Cheers Russ