Video Camera Choices for Our Church Services

[JayinAtlantaGA]

Hey guys,

As chair of the A/V Committe at St. Mark UMC, we have decided to start up our video ministry. Are they any of you guys out there that record your church services onto DVD?
I'm looking to see what brand, and model of camera you use, and purchase a copy of your CD from one of your services so I can get a quality demo before making my choice on cameras that we can afford. LOL

Any information would be greatly appreciated!
Jay

[kbob]

we're right about where you are-for imag more than the dvd thing though.

size of congregation/distance from likely camera positions to where your speakers will normally be (matters because of differences in zoom on the cameras)

How much stage lighting do you have on the locations to be video'd? The less light, generally speaking, the better the camera needs to be.

Finally-budget?

[Ervin Farkas]

Hey Jay, I just bought a Sony HVR-Z1U and a DVD burner for my church - still have some things to sort out before we start filming, but if you would like, come over one Sabbath day and check it out. Reply here if interested, we can hook up via phone or e-mail and talk details. Down the road there is at least another camera and a switcher, but we're going to start with whatever we already have.

[remi]

We started around 2 year ago but i found out from my point of view is, that if you want quality you need to set aside something reasonable in terms of buget. Or have someone who is very committed and has passion for the ministry's vision

[JayinAtlantaGA]

Our church is seats about 475 and we usually have about that on Sunday.
Sanctuary is about about 125' long, 3 row's of pews wide, and baloncy.
There are about 40 stage lights total in 2 rows that light up the choir, pulpit area very well and front.

Sure,
Would love to hookup and see what you have planned Ervin.

[blwells45]

We're getting ready to go live in a couple of weeks with video in our new sanctuary.

We're running:
3 Sony robotic 3CCD cameras (Sony BRC-300) w/the RMBR300 joystick control running into a NewTek Tricaster Pro.

One of the things that I would stress to you is the importance of lighting. That is a battle we did not fight hard enough and consequently, our quality will suffer. It is easy to get caught up in cameras, and camera angles, and mixers etc. and forget about the lighting. But, proper lighting is just as imporant. Good lighting "usually" means good video. Bad lighting = poor video.

I too am in the market for entry level camera. At this time I'm not interested in taping the service. Just want to use the camera for nature shots, interviews, making our own "commercial", decent quality still shots. Are these cameras any good for entry level usage? Cannon GL2? Sony HandyCam HDR - SR1? Sony Handycam HDR-HC3 HDV? Sanyo's Xacti HD1a? Panasonic PV-GS400 or 500? JVC Everio GZ-MG 6505 (and other Everios)?

jda

[kbob]

but in general, most reviews I've read really pan the lower light image qualities of the everios. The newer 505 is better at the 60 lux level than prior models, but the 15 lux is still pretty bad. Not familiar at all with the sanyo.

www.camcorderinfo.com has lots of great info, reviews, and forums for many of the camcorders you mentioned. Let us know what you end up using!!!

We ended up going with three Panasonic AGDVC30's that a ear ago were priced near $1800 through full compass. Good zoom, decent low light (not as good as a Sony PD 170) and good color.

They've provided a fine image and we feed our switcher through an s-video balun. It was the cheap way to go, but provides an in-house image that's 80% as good as if we spent $10K or more on each camera. We'll upgrade to nicer cameras down the road. Maybe HD in a few years.

Sean
www.harborsidechurch.org

We have four JVC GY-DV550 cameras, one of which is used only once in a while as a handheld. The rest are stationary. Occasionally, we'll use a Panasonic DVX-100 as a handheld. All are reliable, fairly simple to learn, and lots of fun to operate. We do IMAG and DVD production.

[smtv]

We have been doing this since about last December. I'll be happy to send you a copy. Or you can visit our web page to view the sermon @ www.stmichaelperryhall.org We are useing just two cameras with a video mixer. If you want more info but what we do let me know
SMTV (St Mischael TV)

[Lee]

Originally Posted by blwells45

...We're running:
3 Sony robotic 3CCD cameras (Sony BRC-300) w/the RMBR300 joystick control running into a NewTek Tricaster Pro...

Tell me about the RMBR300 - how well do the cameras react to the joystick, smoothness, speed adjust, etc. (I just got that unit and am now trying to get it to work with the Sony SNC-RZ30N, and have also been eyeing the BRC-300)

Are you using SD composite, or the digital outputs (they're options, right?), of the cameras?

Also, these cameras don't have genlock, do they? So how are the cameras synced so that they can be switched?

Lee