Videography on the Road

Recording video of our trip was a high priority as we wanted to capture the adventure so we could better share them on the internet with others while we were on the road. We’ll also use the clips when the trip is over to produce a DVD of the entire ordeal.

We started out with the Flip video camera and used it for the first 4,000 miles of the trip. It worked well for our intended purposes as it was small, easy to use, and always accessible either in one of our pockets or a handlebar bag.

As the trip progressed we saw a greater and greater need for better quality video. First and foremost we wanted to produce a high quality DVD which captured the spirit of the entire trip, something we could use to relive our adventures for years after we returned home. We needed a camera which captured higher quality footage than the Flip could. At the same time we needed an optical zoom lens. Secondly we wanted a widescreen format which seems to be the direction the world is heading. It seems standard 4:3 NTSC is becoming a thing of the past. Widescreen format is also supposed to be (and I agree) much more pleasing to watch.

After much, much discussion I went out and bought a Canon video camera. It’s been both a curse and a blessing. It’s been a curse because we jumped up a quantum level in complexity. We no longer have a camera we can put rechargeable AA batteries in – we now have to carry around another charger specifically for this one. The Canon, being so much larger than the Flip, makes it harder to protect from moisture, theft, and dust - never mind not being able to stuff it in something like a shirt pocket to make it easily accessible and ready to use at a moment’s notice. I also have to carry a special USB cable to connect our new camera to the laptop. I loved the built-in USB connector in the Flip.

The MOV files the video is stored in on our new Canon wasn’t compatible with Windows Movie Maker so I bought Pinnacle Studio. That program worked fine except our 10-year-old HP laptop couldn’t handle the high resolution video and would bog down so much I could no longer edit video on it. So we bought another laptop so we could do video editing on the road.

When I finally produced our first video I found out that YouTube doesn’t truly support widescreen format as they hinted to on their site. My first video was squished from a 16:9 format to 4:3. I then learned how to letterbox a video. Letterboxing is the process of forcing the 16:9 format to a 4:3 format by putting black borders on the top and bottom of the video. In essence you are embedding a 16:9 video on a 4:3 black background. That worked pretty well but, being the perfectionist I am, I didn’t like the black borders on the movie. That’s when I discovered there were other free video hosting sites that do support true 16:9 widescreen format. I signed up for Vimeo and finally uploaded a descent looking movie that I was very happy with. Check them out here.

The blessing part of the equation is that we now have much better quality video – video we will be delighted with years from now.

In conclusion – stick with a simple camera which records in a standard format (4:3 AVI’s in the case of the Flip) if quality isn’t an issue and simplicity is. Go with a more sophisticated camera only when quality is of paramount importance and you are able to cope with the extra gear.