The basics of digital video

Here is a list of the basics of digital video. As you start exploring the world of digital video, you tend to hear all kinds of new words, jargon and terminology. With this in mind, it is important to learn as much as you can about the basics.

These basics will help you to decipher through all the information, and get to what you need. That way you can get to take the videos your family wants.

Start with the knowledge that you can record in either digital or analog. However digital is going to be what we talk about. When you use digital video, you work with a USB or parallel port, and fire wire.

Fire wire is a high-speed serial data connection. The fire wire is used with most all of DV camcorders. DV is captured in a AVI file form. The normal size of AVI files is 4 GB however; there are maximum workable sizes of 2 GB. File sizes are limited to the disk format of the operating system.

After you have recorded a video with the digital camera, and it is saved on the Internet, you can edit a copy of that file as much as you want without causing any degradation to the file.

Here are some tips to make digital video recording successful and fun.

As you are planning your digital video, it is important to limit your light source. Even though our brain and eyes can adjust to light changes quickly, your digital recorder will likely have a much harder time recording well, with light changes.

Next it is a good idea to shade your lens. The most irritating and intrusive picture issue is that of light coming in and hitting your lens. A lens flare can help to shade your lens and create a better picture.

Battle backlighting is the next thing to look at. There are three things you can do, in order to accomplish this. Avoiding back lighting is a good idea. Use a reflector or video lights. Lock your exposure on your subjects.

Limit or reduce the use of the built in microphone all-together. The reason is that even if your picture is not perfect, it is more important that you can hear what is being said, and happening. Therefore it is worth spending a little extra to get a good microphone for good sound.

Use a monopod when you can. This will help with the motion sickness feeling that happens all to often with home videos. The problem that people do not realize is that the video should not move, just the subject you are capturing.

Use low cost illumination. Lighting makes all the difference. You can use video lights, light spaces, etc to help to provide a clear and crisp lighting for your video.

Take a little time to watch a few different types of movies. This will help to learn what to look at when you are recording. It is a good idea to watch older movies and newer movies. This way you can see how movies were made at different times of technological growth.

Learn about your digital recorder, the accessories, and remember the great part about a digital recorder is that you have a great deal of room to learn with. This is the basic of digital video. Now it is up to you, to find the right recorder, and system that will work for you and your family.