Video Guide

[Jo and Rob]

During our past cruise onboard the Celebrity Eclipse to the Mediterranean my wife Jo posted a live from daily blog on Cruise Critic http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1454387 ; and each day I produced a short video to accompany the thread. I received several kind requests asking me how it was done. I am not a professional, so the tutorials have been made up from observation, trial and the many errors made during our cruises over the past two years!

 

The following tutorials will be split into sections

 

1 Choosing a suitable video camera for cruising

 

2 How to use a video camera

 

3 Sound

 

4 Editing

 

5 How to produce a Google Maps cruise destination video

 

6 How to send live video from a cruise ship

 

The pictures below show the video equipment that I carry with me whilst onboard all of which except the video light fits into the small Lowepro camera bag

 

 

The Canon HG-21 fitted with the wide angle lens adapter and the DM-100 microphone.

 

1 CHOOSING A SUITABLE VIDEO CAMERA FOR CRUISING

 

 

Standard Definition or High Definition?

 

Camcorders that aren’t labelled as high definition create and store movie clips as standard definition. Regardless of the means by which the movies are stored, a standard definition clip will conform to traditional TV and video specifications in either widescreen (16:9) or non-widescreen (4:3) screen aspect ratios.

 

With HD now accounting for such a large slice of the camcorder market, it doesn’t really make sense to acquire standard definition technology at all. When comparing like-for-like on a good HDTV display screen, the difference between standard definition and high definition camcorder movies is huge. In other words – go for high definition!

 

Which High Definition camcorder format?

 

If you’re looking at buying a relatively low-cost camcorder for home use that’s not only easy to use but produces very high quality that can be viewed on a large-screen TV or uploaded to YouTube, then choose a camcorder that employs the AVCHD recording and playback format.

 

The vast majority of camcorders now save their movies and images to flash memory in the form of built-in memory (that is, memory that’s embedded in the camera’s body at the manufacturing stage) or in the form of removable memory cards.

 

Rob's tip 1

Go Small- Pick a small lightweight camera, you are far more likely to carry it with you whilst onboard or on any shore excursion

 

Rob's tip 2

Go Wide!-Check that the lens is wide enough. Big mistake that I made was that the widest end of the zoom on my camera was not wide enough to use indoors so I had to buy an additional wide angle adapter that is now almost permanently screwed to the front of the camera.

 

Robs tip 3

Look for cameras that uses flash memory as opposed to a Hard Disk Drive. If you drop your camera with flash memory, the video you have already shot is likely to be safe. If you drop a camera with a Hard Disk Drive the video that you have shot is more than likely to have been lost!

 

Rob's tip 4

I have found that if you want to shoot video it is best to buy a dedicated camcorder rather than a hybrid video/stills model. Most camcorders have the capability of shooting still pictures but the quality is low so I do not bother with this feature.

 

Rob's tip 5

Buy a camera that can take an external microphone. What is the weak point on most consumer camcorders? SOUND! If you don't want your friends and family to think that you spent you entire cruise in hurricane force winds when you point your camera out to sea from your balcony, please make sure that the camera you buy can take an external microphone.

 

Rob's tip 6

Look for a camera that has a built in OPTICAL image stabiliser. This will keep camera shake to a minimum. Some cameras use other kinds of stabilisation which are not as good so look out for the word OPTICAL.

 

Rob's tip 7

Buy a long life battery. The battery that comes with the camera will only last about 30 minutes. Buy the longest life battery that you can afford, mine lasts about 3 hours with the camera on standby. Keep the battery that came with the camera charged as a backup.

 

Robs's tip 8

Two viewfinders are better than one. Some camcorders come with two types of viewfinder, all have the traditional pull out LCD screen but some have the pull out eye level viewfinder which I use in bright light conditions when the LCD screen is hard to see.

 

Rob's tip 9

When you have bought your new camcorder take a photocopy of the receipt and bring it with you on your cruise so customs don't clobber you for tax

 

Rob's tip 10

When you buy your new camcorder make sure that format is suitable for your region NTSC (USA) and PAL for the UK and some parts of Europe

 

Part 2 to follow

 

Cheerio for now Rob

[staygulf]

Aren't you a professional photographer, Rob ? I thought you were, and if so, I would imagine this has helped your excellent video skills in terms of composing the type of shots that you take.

[Member123]

Rob,

Thank you! So excited to read all the installments. So appreciate your time in doing this.

:D:D

[Chesneygirl]

Wow this is great information!

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!!

 

My regular camera is currently pulling double duty.

I have been doing some research for a decent video camera. I'm not going to buy it right away. I'm hoping to get a good deal on one over the holidays. For now I am just researching so I can be prepared when I am ready to buy one.

Your post has helped a lot! :)

[upwarduk]

Two viewfinders are better than one. Some camcorders come with two types of viewfinder, all have the traditional pull out LCD screen but some have the pull out eye level viewfinder which I use in bright light conditions when the LCD screen is hard to see.

 

Some excellent tips Rob, but I believe the above is the most important.

Living in UK, we do not always appreciate the light intensity when we are abroad.

Too many modern cameras, be they still or video, now only have an LCD screen.

In fact, when we were on our Oz/NZ Cruise in 2008, we found this out. Fortunately, my husband had 'older' cameras with him , so all was not lost.

Canon still markets a stills camera with 'eye' viewfinder, as well as LCD( Powershot)

[Mermen]

I appreciate you taking the time to share your insights with us, as this is your thread!

I have a Sony HD camcorder and like you, my wide angle is most always on my cam.

I do not yet have the light for my camera hotfoot, but will purchase one before our next sailing, glad to know what you use. Can I ask though about this? I seem to always have a problem with low-light. For example, if I'm taking footage in the cabin, it generally gets washed out. Do you always use the LED lights for indoor or do you also use the little cam switch for low-light? It's usually hard for me to tell when I need to switch over, and if I look at the pull-out LCD screen and switch the little button, don't really see a difference. My apologies if you had already planned on covering this issue, but would love to hear your opinion.

Second question: I know that you produced a 1 to 2-minute video every day for family, friends and the board here - but do you produce longer videos of your complete vacation? Another words, do you have a larger project of say 20-40 minutes of your vacations? Just curious.

Thanks again for your time and feedback, we really enjoyed watching your videos.

[Jo and Rob]

I appreciate you taking the time to share your insights with us, as this is your thread!

 

I have a Sony HD camcorder and like you, my wide angle is most always on my cam.

 

I do not yet have the light for my camera hotfoot, but will purchase one before our next sailing, glad to know what you use. Can I ask though about this? I seem to always have a problem with low-light. For example, if I'm taking footage in the cabin, it generally gets washed out. Do you always use the LED lights for indoor or do you also use the little cam switch for low-light? It's usually hard for me to tell when I need to switch over, and if I look at the pull-out LCD screen and switch the little button, don't really see a difference. My apologies if you had already planned on covering this issue, but would love to hear your opinion.

 

Second question: I know that you produced a 1 to 2-minute video every day for family, friends and the board here - but do you produce longer videos of your complete vacation? Another words, do you have a larger project of say 20-40 minutes of your vacations? Just curious.

 

Thanks again for your time and feedback, we really enjoyed watching your videos.

 

Hi Mermen,

 

My Canon camera like most camcorders suffers in low light indoors. I usually have the histogram scale on (in most camera's menu settings) and as soon as the marker drops off the underexposure scale the pictures become very noisy and grainy. This is when I use the Lite panels LED light which has an infinitely variable dimmer switch so I can see how well it is exposing the subject in the camera's LCD screen whilst using the dimmer switch. The light also gives a great fill in light to your subjects eyes which often are in shadows due to overhead lighting. I think being able to see you subjects eyes is key and if you subject is moving during the shot I find the LED light with a dimmer switch very useful.

 

The video's I produce onboard are all low quality. I compress them all at around 10-15 MB per video this is due to the slow upload speeds over the ship's satellite Wifi. When I return home I re-compress them all together at a much higher quality and send the video file to our downstairs Lacie High Definition 1TB Media player for playback on our HD TV. Next I produce a small imovie style trailer

and put this up on You tube for friends and family to see as a small taster and finally I will produce a longer video of around 15 mins.

 

PS. I loved your video and the quality was fantastic

 

Kind Regards

 

Rob

[Mermen]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. Will look forward to your final YouTube video, then.

 

Will order my LED light and mic through Amazon I believe.

 

Again, thanks so much for your time and feedback, it's greatly appreciated!

 

Best,

 

Gary

[sayvan]

So has this thread moved? Has Rob decided not to continue his mini educational?