Tips for the Sony HDR-HC3? Im New!

[Jaycen2001]

Hello!

Im just starting to get into doing some video. I am going to Oahu in a week and i just bought my first video camera. Its a Sony HDR-HC3 w/ a Seatool Professional Underwater Housing and a wide angle lense. I Know nothing so far. I was kinda into pics and had a camera but i really want to film our diving/spearing/surfing adventures. So any tips on how to get started/settings that are generally best for clear water/dirty water, upclose/far away would be much appriciated. Also, is there any Cheap lighting systems that i might could consider.

I got it all for 600$ (it seems like the prices i find makes this setup look like around the 3000-4000$ range)

But anyways, treat me like a newbie as Im just getting into this and i am SOOOO excited about my future adventures and being able to share them with yall.

Thanks!

 

[Jaycen2001]

Also, is there any cheaper (or free) editing programs that you like to use for this. Im not looking for much.

 

[NAIBdiver1]

I have been using a Sony HDR-HC3 for the past few years and I really like the camera and from reviews and articles that I have read, it may be the best of the series. I actually have 2. One for U/W and the other for topside and backup just in case.

My Camera is in a Ikelite housing and I have grown accustomed to that as well. I had a Canon SD camera in an Ikelite housing before that.

Lights - I have 2 Ikelite ProVideo II lights. Now there is a newer generation to ProVideo III. There are many light choices out there. I am thinking of changing to Ikelite Pro-Video LED only because they are lighter for traveling.

Editing - the cheapest is Windows Movie Maker (Free), but you cannot edit in HD. To use WMM you will probably need to change the settings in your camera to SD. But there are many good editing programs out there. I edit in Avid Liquid Pro, not easy and not cheap, but I started with Pinnacle 5 and it's what I know and like. Editing program choices can be very personal.

NAIBDiver1

 

[diversteve]

Next week:

Use the red filter anytime you're shooting below 15'. With your housing play with the White Balance Shift also. Try to shoot mostly wide-angle and get closer if needed. I don't know the port on your housing but some will get "soft" if zoomed in over about 50-70%.

If possible start the camera before your subject and either hold on it or pan off it before stopping the camera - you'll need the extra footage to make smooth transitions during editing. I also hold my hand over the lens and shoot about 5-10 secs. of darkness between dives - it makes for easier editing review later when you know when one dive stopped and the next started.

For the basics in U/W shooting, I recommend Annie's DVD - she's the Camera Coach in this forum: http://www.diveintoyourimagination....cturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,103/

You probably don't want to splash with your housing either, have it handed down off the boat. And I'd suggest a Cetacea lanyard or similar. Here's mine: http://forum.scubatoys.com/gallery/files/9/2/cetacea.jpg I replaced the "O" ring with the locking carabiner.

Your housing new was probably in the $2500-3000 range new depending on the model and I think the HC3 was around $1200 new when first sold. So you made a great deal IMO. Reef Photo/Video is the U.S. distributor for Seatool. Also there's a U.S. website for Seatool HC3 in case you haven't already seen it.

Editing program choices can be very personal.

Agreed. NLE's that can edit HDV are well under $100 new. What you may want to do is download the demo versions and see if they work for you before purchasing one. Most of the mfr's I've listed below offer a trial version on their website.

You also may find that you need a faster, more powerful computer to do HDV capture. And a lot of hard drive space, IIRC HDV stores at about 13GB per hour of imported footage. Capture will go more smoothly if you exceed the minimum recommended requirements also. With any of these, save your work frequently, NLE's have the potential to crash at the most inopportune moments.

Here are links to some of the more commonly used NLE's:

Pinnacle Studio version 14. The downloadable basic HD version is $49 at the Avid Store: Avid | Pinnacle Studio HD 14.
Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD/Platinum Sony Creative Software - Vegas Pro, Vegas Movie Studio, and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition Starts at $39, I use/recommend VSMP. You can often find it for around $60-70 online - check Amazon.
Adobe Premiere Elements 8 - create video, movie editing, movie software | Adobe Premiere Elements 8
Corel Video Studio Pro VX3 - Video Editing Software ? Corel VideoStudio Pro X3

If there's a free HD NLE, I've not found it. I can't help with lights, I don't use them.

 

[Jaycen2001]

Wow thanks for the info both of you, you have probly made my dive videos 10x better and i havent even made one yet!

Ill post the vidoes when I get home.

 

[willkiml]

The above suggestions are excellent. A few smaller ideas:

Shoot HDV. You can down-convert to SD as you download if needed (at least my HC7 can) although I strongly recommend editing in HDV with one of the programs listed above.

"Stripe" your tapes before going diving. This involves recording the entire tape with your lens cap on. This puts an indelible sequential time code on the tape. Why? It prevents the camera from restarting the time code at 00:00:00 each time you stop shooting underwater. It is easier to edit the tape if each clip starts at a unique time code. If you want to edit a clip starting at 12:32:03, you will be sure to get the right clip.

Disable the digital zoom feature. Keep the camera in wide angle almost all of the time. To fill the frame- get closer! Zoom in with your fins.

Stay low. Try to film fish swimming toward and slightly above you. Footage of fish tails is rarely interesting.

Take at least 10 seconds of interesting critter behavior so that you have enough footage to edit.

But mostly, get wet (you, not the camera) and see what works.

 

[bfisher]

Theer is some pretty good advice above. I, too, use and HC7 and it's inside a Seatool housing.

I would caution you on one thing (from experience). Each and every time you open the housing to remove the camcorder, battery or tape, be sure and remove the o-ring and clean the groove with a Q-Tip and clean the O-Ring itself.

I use a tissue to wipe the O-Ring and then put a dab of silicon grease between my thumb and index finger and then slide the O-ring through this several times to spread the grease along the ring. Just a little bit does a nice job.

Reason I'm telling you this is that I've gotten water in my housing several times. Fortunately, It never got flooded. Came awful close a couple times with maybe a shot-glass full of water before I got it back out of the water.

Be sure to thoroughly rinse the housing in fresh water after each use in salt water. Immerse it and let it soak a minute or two and then start pushing all the buttons. If you have the rotating grip then unlock it and work it back and forth (all this underwater). What this does is dissolves and helps clean off any residual salt from the ocen dip. This is one of the things that causes housings to leak. This is especially important with the rotating handle O-rings.

You can do your own homework on this, but depending on where you are located dealer for Seatool are Reef Photo/Video, H2O Pros, and Backscatter.

Try several trial versions of editors. Pinnacle, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premeire Elements, to name a couple. I'm using Corel U-Lead 11.5 Plus and although it leaves a lot to be desired it's a decent one to start out with. Fairly easy to navigate and one feature it has is "Auto White Balance". AWB is located in the color correction area. Click on this and you'll pretty much take care of 80% of any color correction needed. It's a big time saver. Cut's out a lot of frustration when you're new to editing.

 

[drbill]

I use the HC-7 so this may not apply. I've found that with subjects in depths above 30 ft, outdoor white balance seems to work better than auto WB (my housing can't do manual... a serious problem).

I use HID lights and get a split pea green cast in my shadows and backgrounds which I absolutely hate. I've been told this may be due to the HID lights and some have suggested going back to halogen. I used halogen lights for years with my Sony TRV-17 and always had good results. I shoot mostly closeups.

 

[MikeMeagher]

I shoot with a HC7, very similiar to a HC3 I believe.. some of my thoughts:

Work on holding the cam as still as possible.. it takes time to master this. Your viewers will appeciate it.

As mentioned earlier.. shoot at least 10 seconds or more of any subject. It will seem to take a long time underwater, but when you are editing it will never seem to be enough.

Get some video lights, any light is better than none.

I use the free program HDVSplit to import my video to the computer. It will automatically create a separate M2T file for each start and stop of the camera and will stamp the name with a year month day hour minute timestamp in the file names. Its way easier to edit using many smaller files than a few huge files. Its handy and free.

I shoot always in HDV, and edit in HDV using Sony Vegas Pro. Using a decent computer and Vegas Pro.. you will have no problems and room to grow. You can always downcovert to a SD DVD or later make a Blu-ray later when your budget allows.

Get the best optics for your housing that you can afford. Be it wide port or closeup diopters. You get what you pay for.

If your camera allows it, learn to set White Balance manually to a white slate, your palm, or a white subject.

 

[RedStang]

Thanks for the tips all. I just bought a basic enclosure for my HC3. We're heading to the Turks in May and I've wanted something basic to take some videos. No controls for the enclosure but for $130 I can't complain.

Anyone used a mac for importing and editing? Just curious how it stacks up to some of the other products mentioned.

In any case, thanks again for the free advice!

Jason