Project 52 - Week Thirteen
David & Katie
NOTE - The clients WERE NOT charged for this product. They didn't even know we were doing anything like this. I wouldn't dare sell a new product/service without months of testing first.
Using the D300s that we rented we were able to capture the video you see below. We had tons of footage that had to be ditched due to various issues. It continues to be a big learning curve as we enter into the video world but I wanted to test the camera and workflow under real world conditions. The workflow didn't present any problems. Capturing great video proved to be a challenge but nothing that we can't overcome. The camera is great except for the auto focus in video mode. If you are use to working with DSLR as a still camera and then switch to video, be prepared for painfully slow auto focus. The camera uses a different type of auto focus for video. This forced us back to manual focus which took me a bit. I grew up on manual focus cameras but it had been a while since I used it. There is some add on gear to make life easier but I am still concerned about overloading the rig. It needs to function as both a still and video camera and be able to swap easily between the two to work for us at a wedding. The adventure continues....
Using the D300s that we rented we were able to capture the video you see below. We had tons of footage that had to be ditched due to various issues. It continues to be a big learning curve as we enter into the video world but I wanted to test the camera and workflow under real world conditions. The workflow didn't present any problems. Capturing great video proved to be a challenge but nothing that we can't overcome. The camera is great except for the auto focus in video mode. If you are use to working with DSLR as a still camera and then switch to video, be prepared for painfully slow auto focus. The camera uses a different type of auto focus for video. This forced us back to manual focus which took me a bit. I grew up on manual focus cameras but it had been a while since I used it. There is some add on gear to make life easier but I am still concerned about overloading the rig. It needs to function as both a still and video camera and be able to swap easily between the two to work for us at a wedding. The adventure continues....
Rental Gear
Ok. So I decided to try a little more video at a recent event. Didn't want to purchase a camera without a chance to play with it first. I also didn't know anyone that owned a D300s. So I researched online and found BorrowLenses Talk about making life easy. I had a few questions on the insurance and reservations but a quick call to their customer service took care of that. I opted not to purchase the insurance because there is a 10% of camera retail price deductible if something goes astray even if you get the insurance. I took my chances and didn't have any issues. Reservations can be made up to 30 days in advance. Their website walked me through the rest. The camera arrived exactly when it was suppose to. I chose the three day rental since I only needed it for last Saturday. I scheduled it to arrive on Thursday. This gave me Thursday afternoon and all of Friday to become familiar and get the camera setup the way I wanted it. It also meant I had an extra day in case something went wrong with FedEx. With the three day rental delivered on Thursday, I almost got four days with it. Since FedEx doesn't run on Sunday, they expected me to return ship on Monday.
The only complaint that I have was the battery. With a full charge, I was only able to shoot 13 minutes of HD video before the one they gave me died. Fortunately, the D300s takes the same battery as my older D200. I dropped one of my batteries in and was able to get over an hour of HD video and still had half of the battery left. Not sure what the problem was with the battery they sent but if you don't have extras for the camera, I would recommend getting at least one extra.
I tracked the package back to them and knew that it was delivered. That same day I got an email saying it was returned in great shape and thanks for taking care of the gear.
All in all, a pleasant experience. Just get extra batteries if you don't have them.
By the way, I loved the D300s. Enough so, that I went ahead and purchased one to have on hand.
The only complaint that I have was the battery. With a full charge, I was only able to shoot 13 minutes of HD video before the one they gave me died. Fortunately, the D300s takes the same battery as my older D200. I dropped one of my batteries in and was able to get over an hour of HD video and still had half of the battery left. Not sure what the problem was with the battery they sent but if you don't have extras for the camera, I would recommend getting at least one extra.
I tracked the package back to them and knew that it was delivered. That same day I got an email saying it was returned in great shape and thanks for taking care of the gear.
All in all, a pleasant experience. Just get extra batteries if you don't have them.
By the way, I loved the D300s. Enough so, that I went ahead and purchased one to have on hand.
Quick Update
I have been furiously researching the video on new HDDSLR cameras. This has kept me from posting for the last week or so. We have rented one camera that we will be testing later this week and through the weekend. If all goes well, we will pull the trigger and purchase next week. I am really excited about the ability to shoot video with the lenses we already have for our still cameras. I think this will open up some great opportunities for us. It is also producing some challenges for us. I have not shot video in the past, so we are having to rethink the way we do most everything at an event. We look forward to working through these challenges and I will get some updates posted here over the next week or so. We are coming into our busiest time of the year. Our work starts ramping up around the 22nd of March and we already have the first three weeks of April booked solid. This is really going to limit the time...but I can already smell the midnight oil burning. Hopefully, we will have some great footage posted before the work overload begins. Till then......
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