Re: Maverick 2007 Youtube Video
^^ I was joking about the tripod on the train 
But now that Morté615 mentions it, I can see how it could be done, or using a monopod. I know what you mean by most hand-held videos being herky-jerky. I can appreciate you going the extra yard to use a tripod, especially when it can be cumbersome to carry one around. I mentioned somewhere else along time ago, the park looks different as viewed thru the lens of a camera or camcorder, and can be an interesting experience in & of itself.
That's interesting info about UMG. It explains why some videos have ads attached to them. That's one thing I never looked into, as I hadn't bothered to put music on my videos. I like recording natural ambient sounds. You do see a lot of comments on videos asking what music is used. That happened to me on a Halloween video that had incidental music playing in the background. But I can't stand most of the songs in a lot of the youtube videos I've seen. I do like your two videos above with the Bon Jovi song.
^ The way I hold my Sony TRV-30 is in the palm of my left hand. It acts as sort of a steady-cam as "steady" as holding it in your hand can be. I can also pivot the camera more smoothly & quickly. As opposed to the way most hold a camcorder with their right hand inside the side strap. I have carpal tunnel, which shows up in certain situations, so my hand's actually been completely numb by the end of the Tell-Tale Heart and Monsters Rock! after the half-hour. I used a tripod once for MR! but I was too bored with the results for that particular application. It's not to say I won't use a tripod. I have a pretty nice Vanguard one for what it is. All non-pro equipment just to document the park to look back on it someday. It's just easier to carry the camcorder without one.
One trick that helped me steady the picture when walking hand-held, was to use a heavy wide angle lens. The wide angle hides the camera bounce and the additional weight steadied the camera. The weight of the lens broke my manual focus ring over time, which the lens screws into, so I can't do that anymore. When I taped a walk-thru of the entire park, holding the camera like a football, it was mid-afternoon, and the lens flare was really bad. Then I started to point the camcorder up too high - dooh! It was a hand-held experiment anyway. I'm just mad I can't do it again properly unless I get a new camcorder. This old one would be a pain to get fixed. It actually has a better lens and internal circuitry than most consumer HD camcorders do these days. It also does analog pass-thru and although it looks like widescreen it's actually is letterboxed, but that's OK, esthetically I like the 35mm aspect ratio regardless. The point being, it's a fun camera to use and I like the results, so I tend to take more video than I really have time for.
The other thing that comes to mind is video vs. still photos. I have a Nikon D-100 DSLR, but because of the dynamics of the park and the ambient sounds, I like shooting video instead. There's tons of nice user photo galleries online to view anyhow. With computers being faster, consumer-grade video software, cheap hard drives, MiniDV tapes & DVD-R's and high speed connections to upload video it's more feasible to shoot video than it's ever been. Being able to show & tell on youtube is a bonus.
Last edited by HalloWeekends!, April 1, 2008, 10:26P
Could the sun be anymore orange – Comic Book Guy