Capture Cam?

Grant Schofield

Grant Schofield

Silver Member
Well, i thinking about buying a Cannon GL 1 (opinions please) but im also wondering what a captue cam is/ is it neccacary? from what i read they are because if you dont use one (i dont even know what it does btw) it makes your head dirty which causes it to glitch. (im not really sure what a head is eithier.) so if you could help me thanks. i did look on skate perception but i couldn't find what i wanted.
 
Joe Riley

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
It won't make your heads dirty, but it will wear them down faster, especially watching footy. Heads are the things that make the film in the tapes roll, capture the pictures, etc.. They're important, put it that way. Just go on eBay and find the cheapest minidv camcorder you can find. Like $20. and it'll save you hundreds.

GL1s aren't very good, most people dislike them, but if you can find a cheap one, go for it. That's what Hep Greg used for his first like four mini vids. I THINK he has a GL2 now.
 
Grant Schofield

Grant Schofield

Silver Member
No i want to deal with tapes (kind of). I'm not in to HD, I really and like SD footy. and Joe thank you so much. So are capture cams the square things that you put the tapes into that puts it on the computer or is that somthing else. For the GL is there another cam you would recomend I've mainly look into vx's and just recently started looking into GL's becasue someone at my park offered to sell me one for 500 Which isn't a good deal. On Ebay most of them where like 250 so i am just looking for a decent Cam that i wont regret buying.
 
Joe Riley

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
First question is always, what's your price range? How much are you looking to spend? Are you looking for a whole setup, or just a camera for now?

A cap cam is actually another SD camera. Usually like Sony DCR-HCs or something because they're so cheap. You capture footage through a capture program, which most editing programs have integrated.

You'll also NEED a firewire cable. Not firewire-usb, nothing else. A legit firewire cable with a firewire port on your computer. If you have a laptop you can get a PCMCIA card or install a firewire port on a desktop if you have one.
 
D

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Basic Bunch
ok. so when you film on your newly purchased gl-1(a camera with a tendency to produce green tinted footage, also has a bad mic fyi), you will put your tape in your camera, and turn on recording mode. each time you hit the record button, the heads are going write on the tape film to produce the image on the tape. When you put your camera into vcr mode, you can playback and watch your clips, and capture them when plugged into your computer via firewire. Doing this with your main setup is illogical for the reasons joe stated above.A capture camera, also a mini dv camera, is usually a lot less expensive then your main camera, thats sole purpose is to take the beatings for your main camera, so your main can stay in the best condition possible and won't need expensive repairs down the road. if you have any questions, just pm me and illl try to explain better.
 
Joe Riley

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
davidcappetta said:
if you care to know i capture with an hv30, just because its what i have to use
Click to expand...

If it can film in SD and it takes tapes, it can capture in SD. haha.

Just because I filmed with an HV40 and the firewire port was broken, so I was fucked. I wasn't buying an HV20 to capture with haha.
 
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Basic Bunch
but Grant make sure to contact your seller and ask him what brand of tape he had , used on the camera, and be sure to stick to that same brand of tape. sorry mods i thought that advice was needed.

and joe, i didn't buy it, a kid who quit filming gave it to me in return for me filming him.
 
Grant Schofield

Grant Schofield

Silver Member
Thank you so much both of you. I'm confused on what a FireWire cable and port are. Is the port a program or a legit physical port ( because you said you download on a desktop)


And just so I can get this straight, I would put a brand new tape in my camera, film footage for the most time I can, take it out put in a cheap sd camera that I bought ( and I would have a cable that uploads the footage from the cheaper sd cam to computer (the wire is the FireWire cable?) and the import the video into files. But I heard playing back you footage is bad for heads too so would I only play it on the capture cam (if it had a screen?)


A and the reason I'm wanting a camera is well Ive always been interested and wanted one but I'm making a crew full length kinda like you David, but I feel like I'm the only one without a decent camera out of my crew friends. So we'll see.

Joe, I would love to get a full setup. That's cam + fish right? And price I have like 700 bit if I could only spend a in the ball park range of 500 I would be stoked. Because I'm saving up For a car when I get my license.
 
Joe Riley

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
Grant Schofield said:
Thank you so much both of you. I'm confused on what a FireWire cable and port are. Is the port a program or a legit physical port ( because you said you download on a desktop)


And just so I can get this straight, I would put a brand new tape in my camera, film footage for the most time I can, take it out put in a cheap sd camera that I bought ( and I would have a cable that uploads the footage from the cheaper sd cam to computer (the wire is the FireWire cable?) and the import the video into files. But I heard playing back you footage is bad for heads too so would I only play it on the capture cam (if it had a screen?)


A and the reason I'm wanting a camera is well Ive always been interested and wanted one but I'm making a crew full length kinda like you David, but I feel like I'm the only one without a decent camera out of my crew friends. So we'll see.

Joe, I would love to get a full setup. That's cam + fish right? And price I have like 700 bit if I could only spend a in the ball park range of 500 I would be stoked. Because I'm saving up For a car when I get my license.
Click to expand...

1. Wrong, I said install. Physical port, not a program.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
4. Yes.

As for a camera, I'll get back to this later with a little list because I have to go out haha.
 
R

Riley Hughes

Steel Member
make sure you and all your friends are filming with the same aspect ratio and everything. like if your friends have HD and you wanna use SD, just make them separate edits, because nobody wants to see a video with a bunch of mixed up footy. for 500 i would see if you could get a gl2, i found one on my local craigslist for like 350. fisheye, case, batteries, cap cam, ect will get you up to 500 i would imagine.

with SD cameras the quality is alot about how you make it. it's mostly manual settings. for example, look at pro skating videos or even erik feenstra videos in some cases... the colors on those vx's are awesome. but then go look at ben jelinek's last video (NO HATE<3) where the colors are dark and whatnot. it takes some getting used to and some practice before you can get it right.
 
Joe Riley

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
Just saying, I wouldn't pay over 300 for a GL1.. If I'd even be willing to spend that much for one.
 
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Basic Bunch
Riley Hughes said:
with SD cameras the quality is alot about how you make it. it's mostly manual settings. for example, look at pro skating videos or even erik feenstra videos in some cases... the colors on those vx's are awesome. but then go look at ben jelinek's last video (NO HATE<3) where the colors are dark and whatnot. it takes some getting used to and some practice before you can get it right.
Click to expand...


that can be debated because the quality itself is in the resolution the colors are another subject, but the two go hand in hand in a good video. but if you ever have a question on what settings to use when just pm me and i can help you out.

and what joe said. my friend sold his gl1 with opteka setup for 300. if you're looking for something nicer you should look at vx21 ray mod or so if you are going to use all 700. but if you're going to use the remains for your car id go for the gl1 as the difference isn't mind blowing.
 
Joe Riley

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
If you aren't in a rush and look hard enough, you can find good condition vx2ks for under 425.. Also, vx1ks have price dropped a LOT lately. I hardly see any going over 400 on SP. If that's what you're looking for, head over there.

Also, I plan on switching to SD before the beginning of summer.. Maybe. I'm supposed to be filming a split-edit(HD) with a good friend but it's going nowhere right now.
 
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