What equipment to consider?

ufoldager · May 15, 2012

Hello!

First of all, I am new on this forum and a complete novice and newcomer to photography and recording. I have decided to do a bit of research on this topic, and found this forum through a bit of googling, and am now hoping that there are some nice people in here that could possibly help me answer a few questions and give me some advice.

As mentioned before, I know nothing about photography and camera recording (video with sound), but my boss and I have thought of using these tools in our business. The situation is that when we are travelling all over the world and get to work at our client's offices, we often have lengthy powerpoint presentations of what we do and how we work.

More specifically, we are consultants within different areas of Enterprise Architecture, and doing powerpoint presentations to both small and large crowds gathered in a room is something we do quite a lot.

I mentioned the idea of purchasing some good (although not too expensive/high-end) equipment and do some recording of these presentations to my boss, and he loved that idea. We're thinking of recording our presentations, and upload and share them with the world on Youtube (and other relevant channels, for that matter), so that we can do some marketing of what we can provide for our customers.

Now, obviously, we need a camera and a camera stand for that, and quite possibly something else as well (microphone, lighting?), but I know not which kind of equipment.

Our budget could sit around $3000 (or 2500£) or something like that. I think I could persuade him to spend that amount.

So I'm simply looking for advice on which kind of equipment I absolutely NEED, what equipment (supplement) would be a good idea to purchase, and hopefully some advice on which camera brand and model would be the best for our specific purpose.

Personally, I would prefer if we could purchase a camera that is able to record at HD (720p/1080p, or whatever its called in camera terminology) video/sound quality for at least 60 minutes (preferably 120 minutes).

Here's a perfect example of something that we do. This is how we present powerpoint (and other) presentations, and pretty much gives an example of how we would go about recording it:

Mark von Rosing : BPM, SOA and EA User Group - YouTube

Obviously, we want to create our videos of higher video quality, but the sound seems quite alright. At least, you can hear what the person in the video is saying. The focus is to record high sound quality, and the big screen (where the presentation graphics are visualized), and then the person speaking. In this case, us consultants.

Looking forward to hear from anyone able to help me here!

Thank you so much!

Cheers,
Ufoldager

Judobreaker · May 15, 2012

I'm not too experienced in the video area but I can definitely tell you you're going to need a decent microphone.
I recorded a video with my on-board microphone on my camera once and the sound plainly sucked. xD

Dao · May 15, 2012

I think you may want to check with a video camera forum instead. They maybe able to give you a better answer.

However, from what I learned, a regular video camera is better for recording a presentation than a DSLR with video recording feature simply because most of them stop after maybe 12 mins or when the recording files is 4 gig in size. (There are some hack or working around out there)

I have the Canon VIXIA M41, but the VIXIA HF G10 seems to be great cam with good low light and dynamic range. Both allow you to have external light, external mic or wireless mic.

ufoldager · May 15, 2012

Dao said:
I think you may want to check with a video camera forum instead. They maybe able to give you a better answer.

So you mean like a different website forum that are more dedicated towards video cameras? Or is there a sub-forum in here I should consider using?

KmH · May 15, 2012

Yes, and I have moved your thread to that forum section.

It should only take a year or 2 to learn how to do the required pre-production, production, and post production to make a video worthy for promoting a business.

You can probably get all the gear and software you'll need for $5000 or so. The tough part will be learning to use the gear and the software.

ufoldager · May 15, 2012

Thanks for moving my thread.

I am an experienced Adobe user having worked with nearly all of their software products. I'm fairly new to Adobe Premiere, though, which I presume would be the preferred post-production tool for video editing, etc.

That part shouldn't be too hard, I reckon.

I'm more worried about getting the right kind of equipment. Camera, stand, microphone, etc. And not only the right kind, but also which pieces.

And what sort of camera should we consider? DSLR? Camcorder?

2WheelPhoto · May 15, 2012

Videomaker Community Forums

Dao · May 15, 2012

If it is just for recording an event, I will go with a Camcorder mainly due to the 12/15 mins limitation. For example, without any hacking/modification, my 7D can only record 12 mins HD video. So if the presentation is 30 mins, someone need to hit the record button when it stop recording after 12 mins. There are work around, but why?

I believe most of the DSLR video shooter use DSLR as their video recording tool because they can use different lenses and able to create shallow depth of field with the proper lens mounted. However, in presentation type video, I think you like to have everything in focus.

As for the sound, like the cams I mentioned above, you can use a wireless mic (up to 50m distance from the cam according to Canon) to record the voice.

DiskoJoe · May 15, 2012

You want a video camera and a wide angle lens.

DiskoJoe · May 15, 2012

Dao said:
If it is just for recording an event, I will go with a Camcorder mainly due to the 12/15 mins limitation. For example, without any hacking/modification, my 7D can only record 12 mins HD video. So if the presentation is 30 mins, someone need to hit the record button when it stop recording after 12 mins. There are work around, but why?

I believe most of the DSLR video shooter use DSLR as their video recording tool because they can use different lenses and able to create shallow depth of field with the proper lens mounted. However, in presentation type video, I think you like to have everything in focus.

As for the sound, like the cams I mentioned above, you can use a wireless mic (up to 50m distance from the cam according to Canon) to record the voice.

There are many camcorders that you can use slr lenses on.