Improving quality of camcorder??

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SE7
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Improving quality of camcorder??

Post by SE7 »

Hey, I was wondering how to help make my videos better, by improving the quality of my camera. First of all, this is my cheap camera...

http://store.a1pluselectronics.com/jvcgrmidvcaw.html

As you can tell, it's not too good.... So what should i do to help improve the quality and make it more professional feeling?

(i already use these tips: dont zoom, use manual focus and whitebalance, etc. )

I'm thinking of increasing the contrast and fixing the saturation and hue... (Premiere Pro)

But does anyone have anymore important tips or techniques??? Thanks.... SE7
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DEDFX
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RE: Improving quality of camcorder??

Post by DEDFX »

Maybe adding colored filters such as a light blue, and probably decreasing the contrast.
Ornsack
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RE: Improving quality of camcorder??

Post by Ornsack »

Ah that's the camera I used for Chemical Ali/Naughty Soldiers!

It's not actually a bad camera if used right. Check this out:
http://www.guksack.com/naughty/Naughty.mov (<- Quicktime)
http://www.guksack.com/naughty/Naughty.WMV (<- Windows Media)

My tips would be to play with the white balance, experiment in different locations. You can get a nice blue effect for 'cold' scenes and an orange hue for 'warm' scenes.

Play with the exposure. I find that if you have your exposure set at slightly (ever so slightly!) lower than it should be, and then playing with levels or colour curves afterwards, you capture more stuff and you don't get any overexposure which is far too common with DV (we were still learning as you can see in the trailer)

The most important thing I think is grading. If you play with the colour balance and give things a hint of orange then it makes people and shots look so much healthier. Play with different colours for different moods. It stops your DV looking grey and washed out.

Oh, and deinterlace if you're doing anything 'filmy' (i.e. I wouldn't use it on a holiday video) so it looks more like film on TV

Hope that helps! Don't be worried about the camera you use, there's soooo much you can do with DV.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loFABl-1Zcw]THE SALESMAN - YouTube[/url]
SE7
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RE: Improving quality of camcorder??

Post by SE7 »

Thanks for the advice, I was going to do one last big movie with that camera before i get my XL2!! yeah!
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