A Trip To NYC
I usually carry a Canon 300D when I'm on my way to NYC. My daughter has it this weekend, so it seemed like a good opportunity to shoot my $30 camcorder. The camcorder is so simple and rudimentary that using it forces you to concentrate on basics that are often forgotten, or covered over by better gear. I edited with Windows Movie Maker for the same reason. I've put together a little video documenting my trip, which is at the bottom of this blog entry: http://www.geofffox.com/MT/archives/2007/07/01/a_couple_of_guys_go_to_broadway.php

Thanks. I've been here hacking the still image cameras mostly - but now I'm impressed with what one of the camcorders can do! (Or maybe I'm just impressed with the editing job... :-))

heh...nyc. i should post up my videos then...my fiancee and i went up there one day with a bus group, and got dropped off at 59th. we were "apparently" supposed to stay in that area...so we went over to west side, then back to east side, then we took the subway down to chinatown to play in the arcades. mad fun. we like the arcades.

Friendly advice
Obviously, this camcorder is capable of producing very nice video. It does have its shortcomings. So, if you'll allow me - a little advice. I don't shoot for a living, but I have a little expertise here (and 7 Emmys at home). Don't pan! The lens acts as if was a medium telephoto. Panning will be jerky. There's really no way around this. The only exception is if you're panning something that's large and you're reasonable far away. Even then pan as slowly as you can. Pan more slowly than you think you should. Brace yourself. The steadier your shot the better it will look. Find a comfortable position that you can hold. This camcorder will exaggerate your motion. Use natural sound where you can in your videos. Even if you're using music, keep some 'nats' under. Natural sound makes video look better! If someone's speaking on-camera, move close to them. With the onboard microphone, you're going to have to fight background noise. Give yourself a chance by moving in. Avoid fancy transitions. Use cuts or dissolves as much as you can. The clever transitions detract from your videos. Take my word on this. Dissolves will allow you to join to pieces of video which won't resolve with a cut. The editor built into Windows works fine for nearly everything you'll want to do and it's not an overpowering learning curve for someone getting started. You can produce really good videos on a shoestring. Good luck.

Please, don't hold that against me.