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Old 01-09-2007, 08:21 PM
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Marc Peters Marc Peters is offline
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They're not easy, are they?

I would suggest that you used too many unmanned camers on the day. Without going into too much detail, I'll briely explain why I would say this:
  • Given that you borrow the cameras from friends, it's unlikly that they were the same and they were the not of the same quality of your camera. This therefore suggests the following
    a) There is a risk therefore that you'll be unfamiliar with the cameras and the manual settings may be out of reach. Certainly you will not have time to make the necessary final adjustmenst for each camera and the resulting pictures could well be dramatically different in terms. This will be both due to the image quality, and the settings used.
    b) Mixing quality of video results in a lot more post production work. You will have to adjust the balance and contrast, together with the white balance to ensure the images match. It would be advisable to colour grade all of the video once you've got a similar match to give the final impression that all angles are actually shot in the same building! This would be mitigated by using the same cameras throughout, although you will no doubt find that adjustments will still be necessary to compensate for the differing 'ambient' lights.
    c) If you damage a mate's camera they won't be a mate any longer. Did you have insurance (more on that).
  • Having an unmanned multicam setup is begging for your gear to be nicked. Yes, this does happend and you'll need insurance. It's reasonably cheap, but you will need to factor this into your pricing. It WILL affect your pricing though, and may impinge on your bottom line of you don't do many weddings. Don't even think of doing a wedding without as you may well find yourself personally liable for thousands of pounds worth of damages, without even contemplating getting your expensive gear stolen. You'll easily have between 6-10k worth of equipment on the day and this will grow with time.
  • Locking off cameras is fine for a few cutaways, but what happens when someone stands up infront of it? You'll need someone there to discreetly move it (or them), or you may well find that another manned camera picks up the perfect shot you missed. You need eyes like hawks to catch the moments ordinary people miss. And you're not there to be ordinary, you're there to be PERFECT. You'll know what I mean when you catch these moments. It's also good to get close ups of the guests now and again, which you can't do with an unmanned camera.
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