Cameras for media classes

[mrbios]

I need some recommendations for cameras....

 

They use Adobe premiere elements 7 or 9 (i forget which version) and currently we're using horrible DV tape cameras which are ancient and more trouble than they're worth, so we're after buying some new ones.

 

Now we're thinking cameras that record to SD card would be the least troublesome but the big issue there comes down to what file format the cameras record to, ideally we'd like to be able to pull the files straight off the SD card and put them straight into adobe without having to worry about converting etc. Can anyone suggest anything like that? OR if I'm unlikely to have much luck on that front can you suggest a good program for converting that the kids would understand? I've always used "Any video converter" but I'm never really certain of what file type adobe likes and what it doesn't so maybe someone can advise me there too

[john]

Our Media Studies use Sony Handycams as well as Sony HD Broadcast quality camcorders, for day to day stuff its using the handycams so its USB connect and drag the files off and it works well, however there are a lot of fussy bits with Premier Pro and Elements with these types of camcorder that I read online, we use Premier Pro CS5 and that works fine but I know our ye-olde version of Elements just said invalid file type despite it being an mpg file.

 

We've had ours 2 years or so now so will be well discontinued so even given you the model number won't be much use but maybe buy one and try it before buying a set?

[round2it]

yes sony handycams work very well with premier...plus side is they work on mac and pc so you get the best of both worlds.

plug and play

 

using cs5 so you might want to check elements

Edited November 9, 2012 by round2it

[mrbios]

So you're able to take the video files direct from the sony handycams straight into premier pro without any converting required in the middle?

[Oaktech]

what kind of budget?

[mrbios]

The teacher in charge of the media classes has said he has £1k to replace their current junk. He's currently scraping the barrel with a bunch of semi broken mini DV cameras, of which i think there's about 4 in total.

 

Considering the video quality of some of the videos the 6th formers submit for marking i don't think we need anything of any spectacular quality, I'd be more concerned about keeping file sizes down i guess and ensuring that the cameras are as easy to use as possible (sometimes i feel like i should be paid this teachers wages for the amount i have to do over there!)

 

EDIT: we're also looking at the possibility of upgrading to Adobe premiere pro CS6 from premiere elements...makes sense really.

[john]

So you're able to take the video files direct from the sony handycams straight into premier pro without any converting required in the middle?

 

Yep that is exactly how it is, so they go running around making videos, and then takes a few minutes to download 40mins footage (not 40 mins realtime like the Firewire Mini-DV cams do) and they import the clip in and start editing. Works very well and infact so well that it features in a new case study on our Network System that will be launched in the very very near future

[mrbios]

Yep that is exactly how it is, so they go running around making videos, and then takes a few minutes to download 40mins footage (not 40 mins realtime like the Firewire Mini-DV cams do) and they import the clip in and start editing. Works very well and infact so well that it features in a new case study on our Network System that will be launched in the very very near future

 

Perfect, that's exactly what we want, thanks john

 

Getting in quotes to upgrade from premiere elements to premiere pro now as to be honest it's so much better than elements i don't know why we didn't do it long ago, and getting some quotes for some sony handycams too

[john]

Perfect, that's exactly what we want, thanks john

 

Getting in quotes to upgrade from premiere elements to premiere pro now as to be honest it's so much better than elements i don't know why we didn't do it long ago, and getting some quotes for some sony handycams too

 

That is exactly what we did and started. They had a few mini-dv camcorders and Premier Pro on a few machines, did well at it and we moved onto the full Adobe Premier Pro as part of the upgrade of Macromedia Studio MX to Adobe CS stuff and never looked back at all Our media students do really well and have made some excellent movies.

 

Ours are now at the point of, and have been for about a year now, editing HD Video directly off the SAN over the Network and still achieving great results

[mrbios]

John have you ever had this problem with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6....

 

Turn on PC, login as a student, run APPCS6 and everything goes fine, close the application and try running it again and it crashes when opening or creating a new project. Log off and back on, same thing. Restart the PC and login again and it works fine again until the programs closed.

 

Any ideas? My students are running mandatory profiles if that matters, if i login as administrator it loads fine over and over.

[laserblazer]

I use Premiere Elements 8 in school and Pro CS4 at home. They both have a habit of crashing for no apparent reason, usually at 95% of a rendering or export that has been going all night. I think it's something to do with being Adobe product but to be fair, video processing is very software and hardware intensive. Before doing any processing, I always save the project, close down any other applications and once running, I avoid touching anything until it has finished. I've also found exporting to an iso is more reliable than going straight to disk and doesn't create another coffee coaster if it does fail.

[mrbios]

Found out it's my mandatory profile causing the issue, exactly the same user with a local login, still using all the same group policies, and it works fine. Just in the process of taking the Adobe section from the local user profile and plonking it into my mandatory profile..see if that works

 

EDIT: Yep that did the trick, after loading in a local user profile and exporting the Software>Adobe section then importing it into my mandatory profile it worked, loads every time without fail now.......Also had to edit the default media cache path in the part for "common CS6" too.

Edited December 18, 2012 by mrbios