What Image Capture Equipment Must You Use In Computer Film Editing?
If you are new to computer film editing, then the whole situation might seem a bit fearsome at the outset. Amateurs are generally worried about what equipment they will need if they want to do editing at home, and how will they connect the image capturing equipment to the computer. Of course, there are more issues later on, such as the actual procedural and creative part of editing, but the decision about the equipment is one of the primary problems amateurs editors face.
Here we try to simplify the process by telling how to go about the image capture process. The image capture process is the process where you actually shoot the film. Since you cannot use your PC to shoot a film, you will need some other hardware to do it. Generally, people use digital cameras or camcorders to shoot their videos. Now, if you want video quality, it is better to have a video camcorder than a digital camera, with an option to convert the film into digital format while editing. This way you will have more true tone colors when you are shooting. The editing is best done in the digital format, but for the actual picture capture, video format is good.
With a camcorder, there can be two options:-
ü Either you will have to buy a new camcorder
ü Or, you will be using an existing camcorder lying around in your house.
Sounds stupid, but that's the way it is. And a lot of your final film production will depend on where you have procured your camcorder from. If you do not have a camcorder at home, then you will most certainly buying one. That allows you to buy a camcorder that is compatible with your PC. If you are getting a digital video camcorder you must make sure that your PC has the compatibility to receive the image input. You will need a special card known as the firewire card for this purpose. This card is also called as the IEE1394. If you have Adobe Premiere, then you will already have the card, because it is sold bundled with the software. Most new computer inlays also have this card bundled onto them. However, if you do not have this card, you will have to buy it specially, because without it your PC will not be able to read the images from the camcorder. If you are using a camcorder that is lying around in the house, then you will need to check whether it supports digital format or not. Computer film editing needs the digital conversion, but most old camcorders have only an analog option. This problem can be solved by getting an analog to digital conversion card, which is also called as a PCI capture card. There is an additional advantage of using this card. The card will take over itself most of the conversion process, and hence the PC will be freed up from this burden. When you are computer film editing, you must certainly choose your camcorder carefully, but do not neglect the card. If your camcorder is not properly compatible with the PC, you will end up with a very shoddy finished product.
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