At the beginning of the summer I promised a good comparison between what I think the two front running video flash memory cameras for education are. Almost exactly two months ago, I shared some general thoughts about the Flip line and Kodak’s Zi6. Nothing’s changed in that time; I still like them both. While you can import both camera’s video files easily into Mac programs, MovieMaker will only take the Flip’s files without conversion. However, the only higher level PC video editing software I use, Adobe Premiere Elements, accepts the Kodak’s files effortlessly, but needs the Flip’s converted first. Go figure!
In a completely unscientific comparison test this summer, we used both cameras on our trip with the grandbabies to Disney World. I preferred the Zi6 but my Flip Ultra isn’t an HD model so that’s apples and oranges. Still, both cameras’ videos turned out just fine on the DVD I put together. Now here’s the newest wrinkle. On Tony Vincent’s blog today I see that Kodak’s next generation, the Zi8, will have the ability to take an external microphone and still come in under $200 (but you’ll need an SDHC card). Now that’s a dealmaker!
Some of you Mac users may find yourself FireWireless this fall when your new computers arrive. And some may find themselves with the “wrong” connectors. While I can’t do anything to help if your new computer has no FireWire at all, I can offer a couple of solutions if all you have to do is switch from the newer Firewire 800 to the “classic” FireWire 400. One of my favorite vendors offers a variety of reasonably priced cable solutions at MacSales.com.
Reflecting on this last school, it has become quite obvious to me that schools are moving away from mini-DV tape camcorders and towards less expensive, flash memory cameras like the Flip and Kodak’s Zi6 or Zx1. I think there may have been some brief flirting with DVD and hard drive camcorders, but they have their own management problems and don’t represent any significant cost savings. I had been planning to write a comparison of the two right at the end of school. What stopped me was importing video into Windows computers. (I am holding my Mac-biased tongue here, all my Apple video editing programs seem to be just fine importing video from either camera.) MovieMaker can handle the Flip’s video files after installing the right codec and Adobe Premiere Elements is happy with the Zi6. However, the converse is not true and I haven’t been able to find any online solutions. So, one of my main goals at NECC week after next will be to try and get some face time with the camera and software people to see what they know. I would also like to hear from you. Do you use one of these cameras or another flash memory brand with PC software? Would you please share your story here via comment or email me at jbtv(at)mac.com?
I just finished “grading” the first assignment from my Wilkes U. digital storytelling students and it got me thinking (along with an iChat I had with Hall Davidson and his daughter last week). I needed to know what equipment my students have at their disposal to make the videos that will be the bulk of our assignments over the next 7 weeks. My reasons were ulterior, of course. I want to spot potential obstacles and head them off if I can. So here is my reflection on the class inventory. I welcome your thoughts on what you have access to, and what you would like to have.
FireWire (1394 or iLinc) ports: These aren’t necessarily standard on PC’s, especially the low bidder models that schools tend to buy. We Mac folk are spoiled; they’ve been standard since the original iMac. PC people need to buy a card for their desktop or laptop OR get video from a USB device like a still camera that can take movies, flash memory cameras like the Flip, or DVD and hard drive camcorders which also all seem to be USB.
Speaking of USB, I think all scanners are USB now because only the oldest computers have serial and SCSI ports. But do they get used like they used to? Helping an 8th grade class with their DVD yearbook last spring, I found they were very focused on video and digital stills. The few paper photos they had caused a temporary back up at the only scanner in the classroom. Sharing my senior citizen disdain for lines, they quickly figured out that the built-in camera could get a passable image with a lot less hassle and the scanner was soon completely abandoned. Does anyone import from a document camera?
Back to camcorders, the new DVD and hard drive models have been a pain in my workshops when people don’t bring along a laptop with the propietary software loaded. One of the few improvements I like in iMovie ‘08 is that it can import a hard drive camcorder effortlessly. I am thinking that flash camcorders will cause schools to leapfrog that technology all together, not to mention the Dembo/Davidson revolution of cell phone cameras in class.
Memory is another thing that suffers with low bidder computers (and age!) I have only one student with less than a gigabyte of RAM. I hope our modest assignments don’t bring her computer to the brink. I have to think a lot of the MovieMaker crashing complaints I hear are because of minimal RAM. We really just take for granted all the processing that goes on internally when editing video, but it is REALLY memory intensive. Pros used to regularly spend as much or more on RAM and expanded storage as they did on the actual computer. Now that both are so inexpensive, the ratio has fallen.
So, to paraphrase that recent TV commercial campaign, “What’s in your (digital storytelling) wallet?”
I know many of you are struggling with finding enough hardware to support the media projects you’d like to engage your students with. So here are a couple of quick tips on funding sources:
Best Buy’s Teach Awards will be distributing up to $2 million in $1-5,000 increments. Apply by October 12th. I got to spend a day with a district that won their $250,000 grant last year.
Tech&Learning magazine has a site with links to grants in addition to a few articles on funding opportunities.
Donors Choose lets you post your proposal and benefactors contribute to make it a reality. And speaking of that style of funding, you can be a venture capitalist yourself by investing in third world small businesses at kiva.org.
A little over a year ago the local FOX outlet sent the general manager, some tech staff and two on-air sports anchors out to our local Chicagoland television educators meeting to introduce us to their student video upload program. As an afterthought, the manager showed us an iPod sized camcorder they were considering for on the spot interviews and breaking news when they couldn’t get a whole crew into the field. It looked interesting enough, but nothing that would replace my 3 chip camcorder. By this year’s NECC the buzz had grown and rumors I had heard about import problems for the PC and Mac were dispelled, so I took the plunge and bought a Flip Mino. In order to give the best overview possible, I thought I’d do some serious field testing in Disney World. I got the grandbabies along with their parents and convinced two younger brothers to bring their families along for some serious comparison and field testing (and if you REALLY believe that was the reason we all went down to WDW, I can get you a good deal on a couple of bridges in the NY area).
It was no contest. The Flip was so convenient from the moment we got on the plane in Chicago that the mini-DV camcorder never even made it out of its case during the trip. There is no doubt that my 3 chip camcorder gets a much better, near broadcast quality image, records good stereo sound with its built in mic, and can gather hours of footage depending on the number of tapes I have and how long my two batteries hold their charge. That said, the Flip’s quality is more than adequate (surprisingly even) for my home movies and just about any school use.
With great convenience comes some trade-offs. The Mino model I have can store up to 60 minutes in its 2G of flash memory. You can erase clips to make space just like you can dump any photo at any time from a digital still camera. And like a digital still camera, you can watch what you’ve recorded immediately. That was a great feature for keeping my granddaughter occupied in line a couple of times. It has a built in rechargeable battery that, like an iPod, can only be charged through its flip out USB plug connected either to a computer or an iPod charger. In full days of park visits the battery never went below half and the only time I filled up the memory was when I forgot to delete the previous day’s footage after saving it to my laptop. The two original models take AA batteries, but still need access to a computer for saving video.
There are three models to choose from. All have a 60 minute video capacity, but the Flip Video (MSRP $129) saves it to 1G of memory while the Ultra (MSRP $149) and Mino (MSRP $179) have 2G internal memory. I found my Flip Mino for less than $150.
Educators can get a $15/unit rebate when buying at least three Ultras or Minos at a time by September 30th.
I have to think this would be a great, economical way to equip a school for basic movie making without the hassle of tape or mini-DVD disks. Keep in mind too that the Video model can’t be mounted on a tripod and none of the models can take an external mic. But other than that, it’s basically point, shoot and plug into any computer to import into your editing software or the software supplied (Mac and PC) right on the camera. Here are a few examples. The quality suffered a bit converting to Flash for YouTube. Outdoors Indoors
Help! Mostly on PC’s. I was down in Kankakee, IL this Saturday for a Day of Discovery and the team of teachers I was working with had all recently been equipped with new Sony hard drive camcorders along with some still cameras. Everything was going along just fine. I was even enjoying just popping one camera after another into the docking station to show each team’s preliminary door scenes from the AFI’s “Lights! Camera! Education!” training program. When we got to the final project only one lady was able to coax Windows Media Maker to import her video files. All the other laptops were lacking a codec. As it turns out she was working on her own personal laptop and everyone else was on a district machine. We couldn’t figure out what her computer had that the others didn’t, so I thought I’d throw it out to you readers. What’s needed to get WMM to work with HD camcorders? And while we’re at it, how about importing video from a DVD camcorder? When asked, I’ve steered people away from both formats, they are not going away though and not dealing with a lot of tapes at school is appealing. There has to be some simple (sic free) solution. Adobe Premiere Elements solved the problem for one team. But as much as I like that program, it seems impractical for a whole lab.
Anyhow, it’s a good thing they seemed to have gotten it from the start judging by their introductory videos which were imaginative and very funny. Those final edits will just have to wait for a good codec solution.
And iMovie isn’t totally above all this either. The newest release will read an HD camcorder, but I’ve had to pull some import and conversion end runs with previous versions.
N.B. NEVER let your students slip a mini-DVD (or mini-CD for that matter) into a slot (rather than tray) reader in a laptop or computer.
I’m really embarrassed I almost missed Jennifer Gingerich’s Makin’ Movies Made Simple webinar last night and doubly embarrassed that I hadn’t picked up on it in time to plug it here. So let me try to make amends with this post.
Jennifer shared some great project ideas with practical tips for keeping it simple, keeping everyone together, and making the most of your “techsperts.” She showed some very creative projects from poetry to riddles and shares the how-to’s on this page of her site.
A few things that were discussed and sites to go with them…
Software:
iMovie on the Mac (free)
PhotoStory and MovieMaker for PC’s (free). You’ll have to search and download PhotoStory from the Microsoft site - XP and above.
PowerPoint, KidSpiration, HyperStudio (coming soon!), etc. are also good for visual storytelling.
Adobe Premiere Elements (very affordable), ULead, Pinnacle Studio, Final Cut Pro or Express, etc. are big steps up in price and power.
M-Audio has bundled a PC software program called Session with some of their music peripherals. It seems a lot like Garage Band: with keyboard or as a separate package
Cameras:
You can do a lot with digital still pictures and the movies that they make. FlipCam doesn’t use tape and is very affordable (~$100).
Thoughts:
Use external and headset mics for the best sound when narrating. Usually in the $15-20 range. Mac users can’t just plug into the line in jack. Mics on a Mac need to go through USB to have enough power.
Keep it simple and focused - limit special effects and transitions
Preparation, research, writing, storyboards are key. The technology is secondary and can’t rescue a poor foundation.
Here is the DEN’s webinar schedule for the whole rest of the school year.
A couple of good questions surfaced yesterday during Kay Teehan’s (soon to be archived) EdTechConnect webinar: What camera should I buy? How do I connect my camera to a computer? I will offer a few answers below, but I hope some of you will also add your thoughts and experiences. Though this might not be very high in the order of thinking skills, it is a fundamental link in the chain for many types of digital stories. Let’s split the camera question in two and answer the connection question with each type of camera.
Digital still cameras have some sort of little flash memory card that acts as the “film.” You can usually access these through a USB cable to the computer. The card then may show up like a thumb drive or even trigger a program on the computer that will offer to download and store the pictures. Since camera cables can be proprietary and easily forgotten or lost, I carry a card reader in my camera bag and invested in multi card readers for the media labs in my former schools in order to be able to turn any of the many styles of memory cards into thumb drives and easily download their contents. Still cameras can also take passable movies, though usually limited to thirty seconds. These can be downloaded and imported into your editing software just like the stills. I find that I am more likely to have the still camera handy than the DV camcorder when my granddaughter is performing. Download AddieCounts.MOV
I don’t know if there are analog camcorders (8 millimeter, VHS, Compact VHS) on the store shelves anymore, but avoid them if there are. Stick with digital and mini-DV tape. You will have to decide on what balance to strike between quality and price.
I feel that any DV camcorder with a digital out port is good enough for digital storytelling in a school. Three chip cameras are only worth the investment if your work will end up on the cable channel or you can really notice the difference. In addition to a variety of brands and models that we bought for our media labs in my former district, I saw a vast array of family camcorders come through the door. I can’t say I ever saw one whose quality I would label as inferior. DV camcorders now come in basically two “flavors,” going on three: tape, DVD, and hard drive. Almost every Digital 8 and mini-DV tape camcorder sold in the last five years or so have a tiny FireWire/iLink/IEEE 1394 port hiding behind a one of the little trap doors tucked here and there around the camera body.
You may have to look hard to find it. Some cameras come with the connecting cable and some don’t. PC users need a cable with the same small four pin connector at both ends. Mac users need one with four pins on the camera side and six on the computer side. These may look a little like USB cables, but they are not, so never force a cable into a port. Keep in mind that many DV camcorders also have still photo capability and have a USB port to export photos from its memory stick. A bit newer on the scene are camcorders that write to a mini-DVD. My limited experience with them had us putting the DVD into the computer (slot loading DVD owners should NOT unless it’s a full size DVD) and importing the video files from disk. The third and newest “flavor” on the scene actually has a hard drive built into the camera. I have absolutely no experience with these, but I am sure that they must connect via cable and just show up like any external hard drive. Not to forget non-digital media, you can still scan any piece of paper or photograph. I encourage doing that at high resolutions for better video quality (see “Scanning Basics and Beyond” in the December archive). You can import VHS tape a couple of different ways. Many newer DV camcorders have “pass through” capability. You can connect the output from a VCR or laser disc player to the camera’s input jack and run the signal through the camera and out the FireWire/IEEE 1394 cable into a computer. Check your DV camcorder’s manual and/or menu screen to see if it has this capability. We also invested in media converters in my former labs more so for exporting the final project to VHS than importing original footage. All of our classrooms have VHS players and the export could be done in real time. This is a perfect opportunity for many of you to share your experience with cameras and importing. Please leave a comment and let us know what you use and how.
Using a scanner to digitize primary sources like photographs, documents and original artwork for your stories is the rock solid foundation of digital storytelling. But choosing and using a scanner can be a challenge. My own research this week, visiting local stores and poking around on the internet, turned up incredible combinations of scanner/printer/copier/fax/microwave oven devices. OK, maybe not microwave ovens, but you see how closely related scanning technology is to the others. I’m going to avoid discussing these multifunction machines (though I did help three friends set them up with their new systems this fall) and concentrate on the basics. You can get a very nice USB scanner for about $49. You may still have parallel and SCSI scanners around in your school and they should work just fine as long as there is a computer port to connect them to. I am going to sidestep the various software that is included with scanners and sold separately, possibly even downloadable from the manufacturers’ websites, and just generically discuss the process of getting a real tangible piece of paper into the 0’s and 1’s that your storytelling program of choice can manipulate and display. I will say that once your scanner’s drivers are loaded and recognized, programs like PhotoShop and FireWorks will let you scan with them. I will also take this opportunity to endorse a shareware program that seems to be the Swiss Army knife of getting the most out of any brand of scanner (especially older ones) on both Macs and PC’s: VueScan is $49.95 for the basic version. And Ed Hamrick is probably the international poster boy of support and updates. As far as bells and whistles go, I urge you to consider having at least one film scanner or photo scanner that can specifically handle slides and negatives. A lot of my wife’s family pictures are slides so I invested in both a film scanner and later a photo scanner with slide/film capability to let me archive those images from the middle of the last century. The film scanner also came in very handy when we did storytelling workshops with senior citizens in my former district. I talked a bit about picture formats (“A Picture by any other Name”) and the advantages of scanning at a higher dpi (dots per inch) when you are going to use the “Ken Burns” effect to move around a photograph (“Pixel Perfect”). You can get an idea of the quality this gives you by comparing these three versions of this same 3×4 inch photograph. Though the ruler size is exactly the same, the larger dpi versions will spread their pixels wider and wider on your computer screen depending on what your resolution is set to. That’s me in my great-grandmother’s lap: four generations of O’Briens! I’m going to “Ken Burns” this photo and make a quick story from it in the next couple of days in order to highlight yet another program. In the meantime consider the size and quality of these pictures. The first was scanned at 72 dpi is 287×213 pixels and takes up 60 kb. The second was scanned at 150 dpi is 597×444 pixels and takes up 259 kb. Finally, I scanned the highest quality picture at 300 dpi and it weighs in at 1194×888 and 1 mb. This last one just about fills my laptop monitor that is set to a resolution of 1440×852. If your monitor is set to a more conventional 800×600 or 1024×768, you will have to scroll around to see the whole picture.
P.S. I forgot to mention that you should save your scanned images in an uncompressed format such as BMP, PICT or TIFF for the best quality.
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At the beginning of the summer I promised a good comparison between what I think the two front running video flash memory cameras for education are. Almost exactly two months ago, I shared some general thoughts about the Flip line and Kodak’s Zi6. Nothing’s changed in that time; I still like them both. While you can import both camera’s video files easily into Mac programs, MovieMaker will only take the Flip’s files without conversion. However, the only higher level PC video editing software I use, Adobe Premiere Elements, accepts the Kodak’s files effortlessly, but needs the Flip’s converted first. Go figure!
In a completely unscientific comparison test this summer, we used both cameras on our trip with the grandbabies to Disney World. I preferred the Zi6 but my Flip Ultra isn’t an HD model so that’s apples and oranges. Still, both cameras’ videos turned out just fine on the DVD I put together. Now here’s the newest wrinkle. On Tony Vincent’s blog today I see that Kodak’s next generation, the Zi8, will have the ability to take an external microphone and still come in under $200 (but you’ll need an SDHC card). Now that’s a dealmaker!
