Hi guys. What a great site. Thanks so much for all your help and input so far with the past threads. It will be a while before I've caught up on all the posts and great information available but I have a rather immediate need that I could not find a lot of information on searching.
What I'm most concerned about right now is investing in a high quality tripod. The cameras I've been using lately have been consumer level HD camcorders like those from JVC, Panasonic and Sony. I've been borrowing them for the last few months as I practice composition, distance and light. That type of thing.
I have a lightweight aluminum 35MM SLR tripod that is ?15 years old and just isn't cutting it. The mount movement isn't smooth enough for video when I want need to move.
I have around $500 for the next tripod but I'm not sure where to look or if that's enough, way too much or not even close to enough.
I'm also ready to try my hand at editing and need some software advice. I have access to some high end, large RAM, multi-CPU PCs so I'd prefer to stay away from Mac only software if possible. I don't have a budget idea on this yet as I don't really know how much I should even expect.
My goal for the material right now is to improve my writing skills by going through the process from page to image/sound. Internet video sharing is all I can imagine using the final product for at this point.
Also, I'm in central CA and would love to know if anyone knows of a shop that is acceptable between Sacramento and LA that they could recommend for low/no budget filming equipment. I already use Craigslist/ebay but I'd much rather funnel what little money I spend into more local business when possible and I strike out on CL.
Please feel free to guide me in any way you might see. Thanks for you time reading the post.
I'm also looking to buy a tripod (along with my first HD camera) and would be interested in what you end up getting.
In terms of editing software, I recently started to use Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and it's been pretty good so far. There are tons of tutorials online and some pretty decent books that you can find at any retail bookstore. If you know someone who works at Adobe, they can hook you up with a HUGE discount. I got my copy of Premiere Pro for $45 and it retails at $800. I think Adobe employees each have a certain amount of software that they can purchase at that price per year.
First off, thanks for your post. I was sure I'd get a lot of opinions on tripods and heads with the forum here but I guess not. Maybe I post was too long. Dunno.
We ordered a Bogen fluid pan head. We're still up in the air on the legs as we didn't fine one we liked yet. I don't have the model but I'll post again when it comes in after a week or so.
I've made three different steadycams (totally homemade) so far as well and they are actually working fine. Mostly out of gas pipe and aluminum stock along with plate weights.
I'm at a loss on the editing software. I didn't care for Final Cut after spending nearly a hundred bucks at a local studio playing with it for about 90 minutes. I would have jumped on Premiere at those prices as well though, that's for sure. Wish I had an in at Adobe!
Good luck with your work and I'll post up the model number and what we paid for it when we get it in and update with the legs.
