MIVA Meeting Recap 10.01.2008

It was another great meeting for MIVA.

We were able to handle an Archival Century Disc which is manufactured to last 100 years. The laser etches onto a layer of 24K gold, and we saw how even a scratched up disc would still play– it was seriously scratched up. For more information or how to purchase these discs, contact Joe Bauer at:
yesmem@comcast.net.

Ryan Koral gave an overview of the annual WEVA meeting in Florida this past August. He described the opportunity to be a part of the Battle of the Editors competition. He also was impressed with Brett Culp’s presentation about video storytelling…

Some gold nuggets he passed on were:
You are a story- there are stories in everyone. But, how do you draw out the story and craft it together?
Three things to focus on in meshing the story out:
* Focus on people not on things.
* Focus on experiences – not events – for example, what was the experience for the bride’s mom and dad?
* Focus on growth, not milestones.

One way to capture these people sharing about their experiences is to keep the lens cap on and just record the audio. The participants will be more comfortable if they don’t have the camera pointed at them. Later, you can overlay the audio on portions of their wedding story.

Ryan received several great ideas at the WEVA Expo, you can contact him at: ryan@epicmotion.com or see what’s happening at Epic Motion.

An overview of Canon HDV cameras was the main event of the evening. Our special guests were Shawn Watts, again from ROSCOR, and Bob Morrisson, the Canon Sales Rep for the Midwest. Actually, they treated us like guests since they paid for the food and our meeting space. Thanks Canon!

Paul McAniff, a Canon Technical Specialist who has also shot weddings, went through the major features of the 1/3 inch 3CCD camera line: XH-A1(XH-G1), and XL-H1 series. There is a $3000 price difference between the XH-A1 and the XH-G1 due to the HD-SDI broadcast connections which allow for uncompressed HD output on the G1. Without the SDI connections, the image is compressed to Mini-DV tape in the HDV format. There is also a $3000 price difference on the XL-H1 and the XL-H1a for the same reason. Also, another major difference between the XL and XH camera lines is the XH series do not have interchangeable lenses whereas the XL line does. An improvement that came with the XL-H1a cameras is the availability of an iris ring on the lens. A definite help for exposure settings compared to the previous knob adjustment on the body of the original XL-H1.

The HD lenses on the Canon products have always been admired, and the lenses on the entire HDV line are high quality boasting a 20X zoom. For the XL series, you can also obtain a 6X wide Zoom and there is a wide adapter made by Canon for XH series.

It was an informative evening complete with Canon door prizes. For more information about Canon products, visit CanonUSA. Also, for information about how ROSCOR can help your business through equipment purchasing or leasing, go to: ROSCOR.

See you at the next meeting where we will be able to experience Panasonic cameras with ROSCOR once again.