Been wondering about this for a while and I think I might already know part of the answer but wanted to hear what you guys/gals think about it.
I have been considering spending the money to get an ok camera and accessories to film myself. I figure it will cost around a grand canadian(camera(650)+warrenty(180)+firewire card+tripod+tax+ect...) and I am starting to wonder if it is really worth it. I dont really have a shred partner that can point out what I am doing wrong with my game and I think not seeing my shred might be holding me back from fixing my game/style. What experiences have modified members found from taping themselves? Does it make a big differnce in terms of improvement and how so? Most of all, is it worth the money?
If you value style and cleanliness of moves I think you should get it.
I taped myself a bit, and watched it and found out that I pulled my butterflies and had slurry stepping sets. I wouldn't have known without footage of myself.
itsanother wrote:warrenty???theres a warrenty? for what?
i think you shouldnt do it. just get to be really good friend with jorden or ellis or all those guys in your candian footbag club.
The Canadian Footbag Club is a tight knit group of eight or so players from accross canada, which as you remember is about the size of Maine, who gather three times a week for crazy shred sessions in my Shred Igloo.
ooh, there's a session in canada? I'm kinda close... hold on, I'll warm up my moose for the ride
I think taping yourself can make you aware of stylistic elements of your game that you might not have picked up on before. It can help you improve on the bad stuff, you can be more aware of elements lacking in your game, etc etc. Plus you can make awesome videos and put them on the internet so everyone knows who you are, and you add a few points to your footbag celebrity status.
a grand would be better spend torwards worlds or a big competition where people can help you in real life. i doubt that its worth 1000 dollars. i film myself on an old crappy camera my dad has, and althought it made me aware of some stuff, it didnt make me insane or anything. do you have one you could borrow from somewhere maybe
I think taping yourself is really good. After putting in all that hard work you should be able to see it anyway. I don't get taped often but when i did I made a lot of changes to my game for the good. It's better than having someone else tell you. You're your best/worst critic depending on how you look at it. You'll notice more wrong than others and you won't be afraid to offend yourself.
dude, i think you should totally buy a camera and tape yourself, but don't go crazy! a grand is WAAAAAY too much to be starting off with. buy yourself a tv tuner card for 40 dollars this one sould do it, and buy an old camera for a hundred dollars from a pawn shop. sure, it's analog, but fuck digital, right?
no, seriously. you don't need a firewire enhanced super camera to make sweet videos, and if you're just doing it to improve your game, you can get lots of milage out of an analog system for 1/10th the price.
I was thinking about purchasing a camera too. Pat willie and i have the crappiest camera, it can only hold like a minute of video space because its a camera, not a video camera.
Does anyone know of a certain decently quality digital video camera?
Its 3.0mpix and videos at 24.5fps (great for footbag, much better than normal framerate of digicams) and the resolution is 320x240 which is good enough.
Then the memory stick cost him like 30$NZ for a 256mb?
Then you just sit it on something (dont need a tripod) and shred at the other end of the room.
It is great for examining ones own game.
Here in Dunedin I dont have anyone really who knows enough to critique my game, so its really handy!!
You forget that all the rivers in Canada are pure ice -- a canoe wouldn't help you out there.
My camcorder was the best purchase I ever made. I bought my computer FOR my camcorder, to make videos. I use my camcorder every single day, for eitehr filming footbag, filming every day thnigs, taking a million still pictures because i don't have a digital still camera, taking reference photos of stuff for my drawings -- everything! My camera cost my $1200 after the warranty -- the $650 one you are thinking of buying is probably much better than mine, as I got mine many years ago. If you are buying a camera just to clean up your style, it's a ahrd decision. If cleaning up your style is something REALLY important to you, I think it will help a lot (I don't consciously film myself to see what I'm doing wrong, but i will often notice things I don't like about my game, because I film myself all the time.)
You can definately survive with an analog camera and tv tuner/analog capture device. You will get the same quality of video if you are making online videos. I don't think I would notice if you made a DVD with an analog camcorder. Of course for myself I like the teeny little pretty things, so I wouldn't be able to live with myself if my camcorder wasn't cute. But that's just me. (Johnny Suderman's camera is super cute!!)