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i know we're not all film students but i'm sure there are some of you on here that can help me out.
quick details....
i'm a campus minister. every week we have to do announcements. everyone hates them. so we try to do video announcements. short little (3-5 min) "movies" for our announcements. they work great. everyone loves them and we get our announcements out.
for two years i've been having to bring my personal camera to work and get up with students so they could film. then they give the camera back to me and i start editing it.
last week i went to go by a camera for the ministry so i could stop bringing mine back and forth. right now i'm not to pleased with my purchase. i bought one of these
Sony - Flash Memory Handycam Camcorder with 2.7" Color LCD - Silver - DCR-SX40
i like that it's small, i kept the purchase under $350.00 with the bag and i could just drag the files into the computer rather than having to record them off a tape in real time.
here are the bads...
i have a mac (that's not a bad thing ) and i like to use imovie hd (the older imovie). when i tried to upload the clips imovie wouldn't recognize the camera. so i opened final cut express (which i still don't know how to use) and it didn't recognize the camera. i finally opened up itubie (mac's horrible video editing software that they call imovie that is only good if you're planning on making some short thing to put on youtube).
well, itubie recognized the camera and imported the files. i was then able to open imovie hd and import the files from itubie (imovie hd still not recognizing the camera). only problem is the camera films in 16:9 and imovie hd had to squeeze everything to make it fit 4:3. i HATE when this happens. plus, the picture wasn't all that great.
so, i'm looking at taking the camera back. does anyone have any suggestions for a decent camera? i'd like something relatively cheap (we don't have a lot of money in campus ministry), small, able to record in 4:3 and open in imovie hd.
any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
quick details....
i'm a campus minister. every week we have to do announcements. everyone hates them. so we try to do video announcements. short little (3-5 min) "movies" for our announcements. they work great. everyone loves them and we get our announcements out.
for two years i've been having to bring my personal camera to work and get up with students so they could film. then they give the camera back to me and i start editing it.
last week i went to go by a camera for the ministry so i could stop bringing mine back and forth. right now i'm not to pleased with my purchase. i bought one of these
Sony - Flash Memory Handycam Camcorder with 2.7" Color LCD - Silver - DCR-SX40
i like that it's small, i kept the purchase under $350.00 with the bag and i could just drag the files into the computer rather than having to record them off a tape in real time.
here are the bads...
i have a mac (that's not a bad thing ) and i like to use imovie hd (the older imovie). when i tried to upload the clips imovie wouldn't recognize the camera. so i opened final cut express (which i still don't know how to use) and it didn't recognize the camera. i finally opened up itubie (mac's horrible video editing software that they call imovie that is only good if you're planning on making some short thing to put on youtube).
well, itubie recognized the camera and imported the files. i was then able to open imovie hd and import the files from itubie (imovie hd still not recognizing the camera). only problem is the camera films in 16:9 and imovie hd had to squeeze everything to make it fit 4:3. i HATE when this happens. plus, the picture wasn't all that great.
so, i'm looking at taking the camera back. does anyone have any suggestions for a decent camera? i'd like something relatively cheap (we don't have a lot of money in campus ministry), small, able to record in 4:3 and open in imovie hd.
any help would be GREATLY appreciated.