Gear and Equipment
Here is some of the gear we use to make the magic happen:
Camcorders
Canon GL1
Currently the primary camera in the RedOctagon arsenal. A classic miniDV prosumer camcorder that was the king of it's day but is considered a little dated now, and as such was acquired cheap off of ebay. Records 4:3 standard definition video. While it technically has a 16:9 mode, it is not a true 16:9 image and some quality is lost while shooting in that mode. Sports an awesome fluorite lens and 3CCD image capture chips, it takes some very nice standard definition footage.
Canon ZR930
Served as the primary camera for ROTV season one and part of season two, it is now serving active duty as the backup camcorder and tape deck for importing miniDV footage into the computer. A praised midrange consumer camcorder, it sports a standard consumer canon video lens, a single CCD image chip, and an external mic port which is a godsend on consumer camcorders. Records an anamorphic 16:9 image.
Panasonic PV-GS85
Second backup camcorder and sometimes used as a field camcorder where the GL1 is too impractical. This MiniDV camcorder has slightly inferior video to the ZR930, however it has superior low light performance and as such is preferred for uncontrolled lighting circumstances. Used to film the 'hitmen' short series (as much of the footage was filmed in fairly low light.) Sports a single CCD and the Panasonic consumer video lens, it also supports an SD card for still captures (although the quality is low) and a on camera video light. However lacks an external microphone port, which is a shame because this camcorder is a winner is almost every other way.
Digitron SD card Camcorder (retired)
Originally used as a backup camera, this camcorder was replaced by the PV-GS85 and retired entirely with the purchase of the Canon GL1. This was in actuality my first camcorder, but nothing notable was shot on it before the purchase of the ZR930. Which is a good thing because this camcorder kinda sucks. Records 640x480 video at 30fps, which is slightly lower than standard 4:3 video but good enough for web release. This camera has digital zoom only, and as such zooming in caused the video to be largely pixellated. The microphone on it was also quite poor and the audio was unusable if recorded from more than 3 feet away. The video was decent quality as long as there was a great deal of light, low light performance was terrible. Used primarily as a test subject for power adaptor and battery modifications, it has since been given away.
Audio
HTDZ HT-81 Shotgun Microphone
This microphone is a fairly cheap directional microphone from Hong Kong. Captures surprisingly good audio considering the price, outperforms any consumer grade audio product, and can stand up in the lower end of professional grade video shotgun mics. The only major issue is that it is over 14 inches long, which makes it a little awkward when mounted to a camera. Runs on a single AA battery, which is ideal when using it with cameras that do not provide phantom power.
DIY Boom Pole w/ Shock Mount
This boom pole and shock mount was built and assembled in ROTV Season two Episode six. Yes, we actually use it. Made of a painters pole, pvc pipe, elastic bands and paracord. Rock on.
Other
Canon EOS Rebel XS (still photography)
This 10.1 MP DSLR camera can take some stunning photographs. Pretty much any still you see taken by ROStudios is with this camera (or our cameraphones) while starting to pale in comparison to the new modern high end DSLR's, this camera will very likely see many more years of service.
[technical specs]
The Uber Editing Rig
This is not one, but three separate computers linked together via Gigabit ethernet and controlled with one keyboard and mouse through a program called synergy. The main machine sports two monitors: one LG Flatron 19” widescreen LCD (centre top,) and one 12” Wacom cintiq 12wx graphics tablet (centre bottom.) The main machine is a hackintosh, running Mac OS 10.5, a Intel quadcore CPU at 2.33ghz, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, a nvidia 8800gs, and 2 TB of disk space. It is used for the bulk of the work, from video to photoshop to web design, you name it. The computer on the right is a powermac 'yikes' g4 400mhz with 1 GB of ram and 1 TB disk space. It is used primarily for network storage, some video capture, bittorrent, as well as providing valuable extra screen real estate for websurfing. The computer on the left is an original model 1.83ghz macbook with 2GB ram and 100GB hard disk. It is used for video capture, sound editing, and recording the live “I Have Nothing” radio show. Also used for editing video in the field on occasion.