We have new digital camcorders in school
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008We have bought 4 new video camcorders for school use, with help from Andy Preston from Edujam.
The product - the roving Director Kit - is shown on their website here http://www.edujam.org/cic/jam-shop/roving-director-kit.php and a detailed spec here: http://www.edujam.org/cic/jam-shop/DVCam2-Kit.pdf
Our criteria, in order of importance, for the final choice were as follows:
- great image quality with mpeg 4 / large objective lens and optical zoom. I was concerned that 720×480 would be little better than the canon ixus 640×480 that we currently use across the school. Using files sent by Andy, the quality is v v good on interactive whiteboards, but as importantly, on our huge assembly hall screen. Very sharp.
- mpeg 4 means very good file size for length of video clip. The supplied 2Gb card records nearly 70mins.
- SD cards are ideal (for those who fondly remember the sony mavica + floppy disc) as different staff/students can use the camera then carry off their booty via their card for editing away from the camera
- mpeg 4 is directly useable on the school network via USB 2 or a card reader and editable in moviemaker, or for us, logotron’s Revelation Sight and Sound for which we have already trained staff
Videos planned in the next week and a half are IB at LLS; Assessment for Learning at LLS; a new sixth form video; a day out doing the sponsored walk… …etc
I hope this helps,
Chris