News & Videos

Tips on How to Take Great Video at Night

Below are some tips on how to take acceptably good video in low light situations or more particularly during the night time.  It should always be born in mind that you always have to choose the right position in exposing your subject to really extend the light beyond the seen distance.

  1. Turn the lens to manual, focusing on the lights.  If the subject is far, then you have to focus the lens to infinity.
  2. If possible, prefer to use the smallest f-number that is available.  Choose the long shutter speed in recording lights.  In trying to be creative, you can try to move your subject with longer shutter speed and illuminate the subject with a little flashing light and bring it to a shape during long exposures.
  3. Using a tripod or a Gorillapod will be of great help since it will keep your camera into a sure steady post.  Use the self-timer so as to prevent the camera from shaking when pressing the button.  You have to stabilize your shoots at night.
  4. Master the spot meter of your camera and point your subject to be able to properly expose them.
  5. Review the photos taken.  If the lights on the photo are not bright as you want them to be, try the lower shutter speed.  But if the photos appear with so much brightness, then try a faster shutter speed.
  6. Don’t ever forget to set the mode dial back to Auto or Program mode after having the shoot.
  7. You may use a bigger ISO number to enable the camera to increase its sensitivity, taking into consideration that with this, the picture’s quality maybe affected.  You may stick to using a tripod and a low ISO number if what you want is the best quality.
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Sony’s 2010 Upcoming HD Camcorders

High Definition 1080i HDR-FX1 Camcorder

Sony has announced at having to release their new High Definition 1080i HDR-FX1 Camcorder. This  camcorder is Sony’s introduction of the first 3 CCD consumer HDV camcorder to the world market.  Together with other big companies like Canon, Sharp and JVC, Sony has consented to use the HDV spec for  their upcoming high-definition camcorders. This features the 1080 lines horizontal resolution/60  interlaced frames per second frame rate.

Apple and Adobe, being two of the biggest and most popular video editing software companies, gave their support on this matter.

The announcement of the HDR-FX1 is made by the Product Manager for Sony Camcorders US, Linda Vuolo.
While HDV specification was first introduced by JVC in GR-HD1, the shooting mode of the two products are quite different. They showcase different scanning and resolution.

Please take note that this camcorder, even if it offers progressive scanning, it does not offer a true progressive scan filming.

Sony NEX-VG10: An HD Camcorder With DSLR Brains

Another product from Sony is soon to come out probably by the end of this year, 2010. The product is called the NEX-VG10. This is a camcorder which would be having DSLR brains, and along with this, will be featuring a lot of important and exciting features. The soon to come out camcorder will basically be offering settings that are automatic so as to be friendly to the amateur users. There would also be a number of important features to expect with this new creation that is soon to come out in the market like manual controls on video, still image and focus. Another one is the shooting 1920-by-1080 A VCHD video at 60 interlace fields per second, and the speed of 24 mbps max bit rate for capturing videos.

With these features, Sony is sure to pack the market with its customers who will be trying to grab a piece of this new masterpiece from Sony.

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Canon’s 2010 Upcoming HD Camcorders

Canon MPEG-2 codec

An upcoming professional video camcorder is currently under development by Canon. Its upcoming product is going to adopt MPEG-2 full HD (4:2:2) file-based recording codec which is giving the assurance that it will be compatible with editing and processing software which is according to industry standard.

The upcoming product will feature the following:

  1. high quality imaging
  2. audio performance with up to 50 Mbps data recording
  3. higher resolution and increased colour data
  4. industry standard MXF file format

The file-based formatting is ideal to be used on videography of events, gathering of news and film making. The said format is being used to help video operations to achieve greater efficiency.

Canon LEGRIA HF M32 Legria HD Camcorder

Just a few weeks from now, on September 2010, Canon will probably be conquering the market once again with its new Legria HF M32 HD Camcorder. It is a compact and modish camcorder in which you can craft spectacular full HD movies using it. What makes shooting easy with this innovative camcorder is its touch-screen edge. With its 64GB of memory and SDXC support, you are sure to record more events.

Canon Legria offers the following features for you to capture your most valued moments.

  1. 64GB Dual Flash Memory, SDXC Support and Relay Recording – it has internal capacity and memory card shooting; continuous shooting even when changing media as it will continue on the SDXC support.
  2. Easy HD Shooting – it has scene recognition technology and face detection technology
  3. Touch screen technology – this enables the user to navigate with the camcorder easily
  4. Canon HD camera system
  5. Dynamic OIS and Powered IS – the Dynamic Optical Image Stabilizer will reduce shake when shooting and Powered Image Stabilizer will keep the images steady
  6. Easy sharing
  7. Pre REC – with pre recording feature, the camera starts recording 3 seconds before pressing the button that’s why you are sure to capture the most important scenes
  8. 25p Cinema mode – it will gives more cinematic feature to the events
  9. Better audio – it has built-in microphone and headphone jack

Essential Features to Look for on an HD Camcorder

Before choosing a camcorder of your favorite color or what you think is the best to fit your lifestyle or needs, few things must be considered to come up choosing the best HD camcorder. You have to look for the following features of a camcorder so as not to waste your money and time.

  1. Buy a camcorder that record to flash memory, hard disk or DVDs. These media types use the Advanced Video Codec High Definition (AVCHD) which uses MPEG-4 to compress video. MPEG-4 has this picture quality advantage at a lower bitrate. It is the encoding method being used for handy devices like the camcorders. Even though AVCHD has had slow acceptance in its early months of evolution, experts have already overcome its inefficiencies. They are now highly recommending the use of this over the use of tapes in recording. These tapes, MiniDV tapes in particular, are recording in high definition video (HDV). To fit the video into the tape, this format uses the MPEG-2 compression.
  2. If you are looking for the most portable camcorders, then you have to choose those that record to flash memory since they are considered to be the most compact among the rest. Camcorders using this medium are the smallest and the least heavy on the pocket. The smallest which is available in the market are those quite smaller than an i Pod. You can use cards with this, but they might be quite expensive.
  3. Pick camcorders which have a long optical zoom. With long zoom shots, the images are more stabilized because they work against camera shakes. For long-zoom shots, the use of tripod is being advised.
  4. Find an HD camcorder which has imagery with a greater number of pixels because they take still shots that are really very good.

Panasonic’s 2010 Upcoming HD Camcorders

Panasonic HM-TA1

At long last, Panasonic has already come up into the creation of their first ever pocket HD camcorder called the Panasonic HM-TA1. This camcorder is able to record high-definition videos in 1080p at 30 frames per second while using an MP4 codec, which is up to 12 Mbps. This just certainly means that files will be very compatible to be uploaded to Facebook and YouTube.

The LCD measures two inches and it writes videos to SDHC/SDXC memory cards which are detachable or removable. The battery which is rechargeable and is made of lithium ion is also removable. It also comes with a separate battery charger. But like any pocket HD camcorders, it doesn’t have any optical zoom.

This new device from Panasonic can be used as a standard-definition webcam for Skype. Not yet so sure if this can also be used with other Web chat services.

Connecting digitally to HDTV for video playback will not be possible with this camcorder because it has no HDMI port.

Panasonic HDC-SDX1

This is a new, high-definition video camcorder with traditional form factor from Panasonic. This product records 1080p video at 60 interlaced frames per second. It uses an A VHD codec (up to 17 Mbps) which is higher in quality. It has a body feature of 2.7 inch LCD and has lens that is offering 20x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. With this, the user will be able to capture photos and videos that are more focused and clear. This also records to SDHC and SDXC memory cards.

Panasonic HDC-SDT750

Another from Panasonic is the world’s first consumer 3D video camcorder which is called the HDC-SDT750. The camera will be functioning as the player at the same time, since there are no 3D players available in the market yet. The user just need to output to a 3D capable TV via the camcorder in order to watch the videos or photos taken.

Sanyo’s 2010 Upcoming HD Camcorders

Sanyo intros underwater Xacti HD camera

Another camcorder from Sanyo to be added to its array of Xacti digital cameras with the DMX-CA100 is its underwater camera. It has a vertical design which is waterproof for up to one hour. You can shoot more memorable scenes underwater with this new product. You need not to go out of water every once in a while. It could be put underwater with depth of up to 10 feet. The camera can record an up to 1080p video in those computer-friendly H.264 format. The Sanyo Xacti digital camera can also capture still photos with 14-mega pixels. For more focused photos and videos, the camera has 6x optical zoom and with a 6x advanced zoom which is cropping the image sensor. You can create more focused scenes even when you are quite farther from your subject. Moreover, it can capture photos of not more than 22 shots at 7FPS because of its High-Speed Sequential Shooting mode.

This newly introduced camera from Sanyo is also user friendly since it has two sets of controls. These sets of controls will definitely not cause any confusion to the user since each control is committed to its particular functions like either capturing photos or recording of videos. The cameras are available in black, yellow and pink. Just have to feel free choosing your favorite color or what you think will be best to match with your mood or style.

Sanyo Xacti HD1010 Video Review by Jcruzs3

As a detailed review by Jcruzs3 on Sanyo Xacti HD1010, this camcorder is really great! You can take still photos while on video. So check this out.

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Sanyo Xacti VPC-FH1 Video Review by Geekanoids

As a detailed review by Geekanoids on Sanyo Xacti VPC-FH1, this camcorder offers great video with excellent color and detail but is slightly not good when it comes to low light video. This camcorder comes with a lot of accessories. Check it out!

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Canon VIXIA HG21 HD Camcorder Review by Davidbell.com

As of the detailed review by Davidbell.com of the Canon VIXIA HG21 Camcorder, he showed how this camcorder works in both low light and outdoor settings. So check this out and know what the review has to say.

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Kodak Zi6 HD Video Review by Nathaniel

As of the detailed review of Nathaniel of the Kodak Zi6 HD, he stated that this camera is great in good lighting but had some issues on low lighting. So check this post and know it’s Pros and Cons.

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