There's HD, and then There is ....

Well bother. As I was messing with my camera at the football practice yesterday, I noticed multiple settings for HD recording. I have HD-FH, HD-FX, and HD-HQ. I've been recording in HQ, so I switched it in the middle of practice to FX. The difference in my still captures is noticeable, with more clarity and absolutely no blur when I pause the video to capture a photo. There is one setting that evidently is higher (FH). It warns that it can't take stills while videotaping, however.
Does this mean I also can't do captures from the video once I put it on computer?
Is the detail so high that my computer won't handle it?
Most importantly, am I better off with higher definition at night, or will that make everything worse?
I don't have the answers to those questions, yet. I wonder if I can convince my son to run around the yard this evening, or even up on the football field with lights? It might be time to call in some favors with the athletic director at the high school. Maybe I can trade some video footage for a short session on the football field in the evening.
One bad side to changing the HD settings is that I can't fit as much footage onto my card, and it pulls a little more battery to record in the higher settings. The translation? I'm going to have to pick up another battery, and another card, if I'm planning on getting an entire football game recorded.

On a separate note, my teaching mentor uses Corel Video Editor pro for his work, so I'm going to try that program and see if I like it as well as Pinnacle. Corel is less expensive to purchase. He was able to open up the HD videos from my camera on it, so it's worth trying, especially since he is pretty knowledgeable about video editing and recording.

Video Editing Software, or The Quest for Success

I can't begin to cover what happened in the last couple of days. I took my new Camcorder to the football game, and then struggled to get captures. Once again, the difference in quality between my Thursday practice pictures and my Friday night game pictures was literally 'night and day'. I had a lot more success in getting detailed clean footage in video, but less success with video capture and stills. It was rather odd-- some pictures looked pretty clear, while others were smudged and blurred. I will need to spend a lot more time adjusting settings, and figuring out what works for this camera.

I now have to find out if there is video editing software that handles HD formatted video clips. My Sony's default file is AVCHD, which isn't truly supported by Adobe Elements 8. It can be imported into the program, but it is jerky and impossible to edit or work with on that program. According to RealSO http://www.reelseo.com/how-to-edit-avchd The best editing software for HD files on the consumer/amateur market is Pinnacle Studio. I am in the process of downloading a trial version, in order to see if indeed it will easily handle the files from my Sony. I'm also eager to see if I can get video captures that way, instead of trying to time them as I'm taking video footage.

In an effort to try some new things, I videotaped my friend riding her horse this evening, taking stills then. I also took several pictures and some video footage at my niece's volleyball game. Both my Sony videocam and my Cannon Sureshot have an odd sort of feel when I take still photos or captures. The button seems to be designed to let me take photos in different ways. What I don't understand is why or what that means. Perhaps this is why some of my pictures are blurry and others clear? It might be time to try to read the directions....

Oh my. I picked up a digital HD video camera from Walmart. It's a Sony Handycam, with the ability to take still pictures as well as captures and video. I did several comparisons in Walmart, going so far as to force the very kind salesman to provide me with a data card so I could actually record and play back. I was still rather nervous with my choice. I knew what it was supposed to do, but taking pictures and videos of clothing racks and lettering at the front of the store (Vision Center, anyone?) wasn't really giving me a clear idea of whether the cam would work for action shots, or in the evening or low light situations.

I took the camera to a football practice, and got at least one of my answers (action shots).

I am in love. Captures are instantaneous, and crystal clear. Video has slight blurring if I get really insanely fast with my zoom or pan, but as long as I keep a steady hand, I can safely capture nice video, even of something as small and fast as a ball during kick off. Now for the real question: Can I get the same results on the football field at night? I have enough zoom (up to 25x optical zoom) to record from one end zone to the other, in detail. I just don't know if it will pixellate in low light situations. Below is a sample video from the new camera, rendered from High Definition into an AVI file. I apologize for the wind-- it was pretty strong, and effected the sound. You will notice that you hear me saying "capture" as I'm filming. I did that because I really wasn't sure that it was actually capturing photos, and what they were like if it was. Turns out they are fairly nice; I included one after the video. by the way, I'm posting a seasick warning with this video-- I am intentionally testing out the camera, so it's much more 'bobby' and I move the camera pretty fast at times.

Time to Learn about Cameras!

I've been trying to put together a system for recording live action video, as well as snapping camera shots in action. I suppose many different amateurs enjoy getting the lighting perfect on a still shot, or getting the perfect angle on a rosebud. I seem to be addicted to watching action. I love trying to catch just the right action shot with my horses, and now my interest has expanded to include recording moments from our students' high school football games.

So far, I've used a Cannon Sureshot 'point and shoot' camera with video capabilities. I went through a long period of bliss, before my expectations for performance outran the performance of my little camera. I made some changes, switched away from having every single setting on auto, and am now entering the world of manual settings. Now I'm contemplating a video recorder, with the idea that it might actually allow me to do a frame capture and have detailed photographs from the recorder itself.

What do you think? What is your favorite camera currently? Do you have any experience with video cameras?

My camera on automatic at football games:

















My camera once I took it off automatic and manually started setting the shutter speed and focus: