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Shooting Awesome Video is the world’s best complete beginning course on shooting high quality video.

If your video footage looks like “Blair Witch” or “Cloverfield”, and you wish it looked more like “Amelie” or “Hero”, Shooting Awesome Video is the perfect learning experience. It is like a complete “consumer film school” for anyone who wants to dramatically improve the quality of the video footage they shoot.

Shooting Awesome Video is not meant for professionals. It was created for novices who wish to learn Hollywood secrets of camera operation, composition, lighting and location sound in a fun, family-friendly, fast-paced course. However, Shooting Awesome Video is such an excellent complete introduction to production it is the perfect prerequisite to more professional-level courses such as our DV Enlightenment lighting course.

Shooting Awesome Video was originally released on CD-ROM, and has already helped thousands of hobbyists, teachers, students, and budding filmmakers learn the essentials of shooting great-looking and great-sounding footage. The American Film Institute chose Shooting Awesome Video as the world’s best beginning production course for a program to teach Los Angeles District high school teachers about shooting digital video.

No one should learn alone. Each screen includes an ”Ask a Question” button that will post your question on our forums for us and thousands of other digital video creators to answer. You are always welcome to join us to ask questions, offer advice, and share tips with other students and your instructor.

Click here to ask a question about this course or production in general.

This case is good up to an amazing 130 feet! You can shoot video, or stills with the camcorder flash. This compact and light-weight housing hugs the camcorder like a wet suit, enabling easy on-camera operation and control.

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., February 18, 2009 – Canon announces an exciting first with its new WP-V1 Waterproof Case for the VIXIA HF20 and VIXIA HF200 Flash Memory Camcorders. Consumers can now dive up to depths of 130 feet and still be able to capture exciting underwater adventures. The ultimate accessory for divers who want to shoot video and photos while underwater, this compact and light-weight housing hugs the camcorder like a wet suit, enabling easy on-camera operation and control.

This is one thing I never liked about my huge underwater housing- it was way to big and unwieldy, and too hard to operate the camcorder controls.

I predict the HF20 will become the new standard for inexpensive underwater HD video.

About the Canon VIXIA HF20 and VIXIA HF200 Flash Memory Camcorders
The VIXIA HF20 and VIXIA HF200 are Canon’s most compact high-definition Flash Memory camcorders. The VIXIA HF20 offers the option of recording to a 32GB internal Flash drive or SDHC card slot and the VIXIA HF200 records to a SDHC memory card only. Additional features include a 3.89 Megapixel Full HD CMOS Image Sensor, newly designed Genuine Canon 15x HD Video Lens, Genuine Canon Face Detection, Video Snapshot and Dual Shot Modes, and an Advanced Auto Exposure system.

The WP-V1 Waterproof Case for the VIXIA HF20 and VIXIA HF200 Flash Memory Camcorders is scheduled to be available in May for an estimated retail price of $599.

I bought this combo (HF20+WP-V1) and took it to Bali last November, and shot these:

The Canon VIXIA HV40 HDV Camcorder, a replacement to the highly acclaimed VIXIA HV30 camcorder, shares the core components found within the VIXIA line, but also offers a Genuine Canon 10x HD Video Lens and 2.96 Megapixel Full HD CMOS Image Sensor. What’s more, the camcorder allows consumers to record in native 24p Mode, a feature previously found only on Canon’s professional camcorders. Native 24p allows consumer to capture and record 24 progressive frames per second to a HDV tape, a big advantage for the serious filmmaker. Another add-on feature, Custom Key Mode, enables consumers to assign commonly used functions to a single button on the camcorder for easy access.

See our HV20 article for more info:

http://www.dvcreators.net/canon-hv20/

Canon announced the VIXIA HF11 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder, and the VIXIA HG21 and VIXIA HG20 Hard Disk Drive camcorders.

The newest members to the VIXIA HD camcorder family incorporate 24Mbps bit rate recording – the highest possible bit rate in the AVCHD format.

The VIXIA HF11 Dual Flash Memory camcorder can record up to 12 hours of High-Definition video to a 32GB internal Flash drive, as well as record directly to a removable SDHC card for expanded recording time.

The VIXIA HG21 and VIXIA HG20 camcorders feature 120GB and 60GB Hard Disk Drives, respectively, for recording up to 45 or 22 hours of HD video, and also offer the ability to record directly to an SDHC card.

VIXIA Core Technologies
All VIXIA camcorders feature Canon core technologies to create HD video that possess the highest level of image quality – a Genuine Canon HD Video Lens incorporates over 70 years of optics experience in professional broadcast and photography; a Canon designed and manufactured HD CMOS Image Sensor for Full HD (1920 x 1080) image capture; the Canon-developed DIGIC DV II Image Processor for superior color and clarity; Instant AutoFocus for fast and accurate auto focusing, which is crucial for HD; and SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization, which corrects a wide range of camcorder vibration for virtually shake-free images.

The ability to shoot video directly to an internal drive or to a removable SDHC memory card allows Canon camcorders to deliver a new level of performance, style and flexibility. Internal memory enables consumers to record video to the camcorder’s built-in drive even if they do not have an SDHC card handy. When the internal drive becomes full, footage can be easily transferred to an SDHC memory card, and when it comes time to view their video, the card is simply inserted into a memory card reader in a computer or HDTV for instant viewing. Furthermore, having an SDHC memory card slot allows for expandability, since greater capacity can be added in the future by purchasing additional cards.

Availability and Pricing
Available in September, the Canon VIXIA HF11 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder, and VIXIA HG21 and VIXIA HG20 Hard Disk Drive camcorders will have a suggested selling price of $1199, $1299, and $949, respectively. All models come bundled with Pixela ImageMixer 3SE video editing software, which now supports Blu-Ray disk burning.

If you notice a loss of connectivity between Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express and your camcorder or deck after upgrading your versions of Mac OS X and QuickTime, here’s what you can do to resolve the issue.

1. Remove QuickTime receipts:
   1. Go to /Library/Receipts/
   2. Locate the QuickTime receipts files.
   3. Select all QuickTime receipts that have version numbers as part of their names (but don’t select the other QuickTime receipts). Here’s an example of what they look like (you may have different receipts on your computer):
      
   4. Drag the selected receipts to the Trash.
2. Download and install the latest version of QuickTime for Mac OS X.

After following these steps and restarting your computer, your device should interact with Final Cut as expected.

If not, try one or more of the following:

• disconnecting, then connecting the Firewire cable while the capture window is open
• start the tape playing before opening the capture window
• power the camera on first, then launch FCP
• power the camera off, then on again
• another Firewire cable
• another camcorder
• another computer

New 20x HD Video Lens, Enhanced Image Control and Other Refinements
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., April 10, 2008 – Building on the success of its acclaimed XL H1 High Definition (HD) camcorder, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging technology, has introduced the new shoulder mount XL H1S and XL H1A HD camcorders, which include new advanced features requested by professional users for improved operation and image control.