You’ve got a video camera. Maybe it’s a HandiCam, or maybe you have a ‘prosumer’ model of some sort. Do you shoot family gatherings? Kitty antics? ‘Just stuff’? Narrative ‘films’? ‘Eyewitness News’?
How often do you have your camera with you?
I shoot these, or most of them.
The still cam is with me at all times (in the car or cycle), an emergency pocket video is always in the car, and the good prosumer video cam is with me anytime I am on a shoot or going to/by a likely spot for background shots or other events.
Musicat: Do you do this as a business?
I got a video camera recently. I’m waiting for summer.
So far my shooting has been to play with the camera. I’ve shot kitty antics, slow motion water, part of the obama acceptance speech that was playing on my phone.
I have this idea to rig up my camera on a tripod in the passenger seat of my car, and then just film the view out of the windscreen as I drive around.
I’ll be filming at the Manx TT.
I probably won’t do any youtube blogging as most of the youtube bloggers are wannabes who have jumped on the bandwagon. And besides I hate my appearance and recorded voice.
Short horror, at the moment.
Still hanging on to the Canon XL2. It’s just a workhorse, and looks great. For narrative, I just prefer it to HD, but I’m sure we’ll make the leap eventually. HD is also so much easier to do effect work on.
The camera actually belongs to one of my producing/directing/writing partners, so it’s only actually with me when we’re shooting something. Like, tonight, for instance!
I use my little miniDV at work mostly–I’m a teacher. I shoot performances of a student group I sponsor, and I also shoot my students presenting their class projects. Makes it easier to grade since I can go back and review their presentations as many times as necessary.
Primarily I shoot live MMA fights. Mostly pro but a lot on in-school stuff, local clubs etc.
I use them as a teaching tool for fighters.
Those are great. I still like the bunny.
My deal is that I ‘make a production’ out of everything. So I haven’t been shooting on my own, but I shoot on other people’s projects.
Actually, I’m developing my own idea now. Just got off the phone with a cohort since I need some ideas. I’m hoping I can start shooting this summer. In the meantime, he’s asked my to grab some B-roll for something he’s working on. He’ll send me a list and I can shoot it on the Panasonic, and I may as well burn up some of that surplus 16mm at the same time.
A small part of the list I posted represented paid jobs (mostly government meetings). Some are re-posted from public sources, but most are ones I do myself (producing, camera, sound, ideas, editing, whatever) just in the hopes I am enriching the community, training others to do more of what I do, and for the enjoyment of friends and neighbors.
I assist in administering some of our local cable access channels, so that makes it easy to put those videos on the air (in higher quality, of course!).
I get a tiny amount of support from the government (some equipment) and sometimes local businesses sponsor events. Not enough to pay for really high-end equipment, but one step above a hand-held camcorder. Plus I have some background in professional audio, semi-prof video, and 30 years of experience in computers, all of which comes in handy. In my neighborhood, video production of the level of simple YouTube posting is about 20 years in the future for the average citizen, and being able to turn on a computer is still a challenging task for most, so I’m pretty hi-tech!
Once used a Canon XL2 as Anamorphic mentioned, but found that there are other cams, one-third the weight and one-fourth the cost, that seem to provide as good or better video using the same DV tape. No way I want to lug the monster around, and I feel sorry for the TV stations who use even bigger ones. Technology has passed you by, dudes.
I like to think that mostly because of my efforts, our local cable channel is probably the best one anywhere for a community with a population of only 2700.
I sure ain’t gettin’ rich off of it.
I shoot music. That’s why I have a Canon XH-A1, for the XLR audio inputs and the proper zoom control. Many of the musicians and bands I’m into are not famous, and are happy that someone wants to give them the publicity - some have videos I’ve shot up on their web sites and MySpace pages. And my brother’s two daughters are both sopranos, so I shoot their school musicals and stuff. And even get drafted as an “adopted uncle” and shoot a friend’s kids school concert, even going to the extent of borrowing a second camera and doing a multiple camera shoot.
And of course, I’m Equipoise’s Official Happy Rhodes Videographer.
I have a digital camera with Okish video function. The vast majority of the videos I’ve recorded have been short clips of local musicians playing live in venues around the city.
Like An Gadaí, I use a still camera (Sony) with a video function. A bit of family stuff; my 2 yo niece and 1 yo nephew, but they’ve not done anything cute enough to show. The other thing I shoot is ag contracting, mainly tractors. I posted a thread with a link a few weeks ago and got zero interest, so to the majority of the world it’s a bit too boring 
My BIL does free-lance video, mainly news with some huge expensive shoulder thing. Xmas day he missed the big story as his phone was off. It was a bit embarrassing as the plane crashed in the ocean only a few hundred metres from his place :smack:
I have a regular video camera that I’ve used about once.
OTOH I also have a Panasonic digital camera with a 10x zoom that will shoot 848 x 480 video. I tend to take photos at family events and short 1 to 2 minute clips. My goal is to capture a little of people and the event in sound and motion in addition to still images, without going too overboard like people that video every second of an hour long event.
Basically I use the Panasonic because it’s small, portable, and digital (no tapes.)
Picked up a Canon HV30 with a Raynox hd-6600 wide angle before the new year… been having fun with it so far. Mostly shooting my dogs and such. Picked up a Hauge mini stabilizer too, trickier than it looks to use.
I just gots myself one of these. It’s actually pretty nice for $99.00 No it’s by far not what I’d like to have, but I’m only a poor (and unemployed) videographer.