We wrapped Day 2 of NAB shooting and I thought I’d share some lessons already learned from the experience. These are presented in no particular order.
- Redundancy is your friend. Always assume some important part of your kit will fail. Have a back up ready to go. We did not experience any major problems that prompted this lesson. It just seems to be a core principle of the PXC ethos and it lines up with my own POV well.
- Three things your kit must include:
- A small toolkit with a flathead & phillips screwdriver, needlenose pliers and a quarter.
- Extra batteries of all shapes and sizes.
- A knife of some sort.
- Gaffer’s tape is an amazingly useful tool; even better than duct tape.
- When storing gear for a long time between uses, remove all batteries. A corroded battery probably cost me a good set of Bose headphones.
- Speaking of headphones, always keep at least three sets of iPod earbuds on hand. Don’t use the iPhone earbuds with the mic as an audio monitor.
- My Beachtek needs a slightly longer screw to connect to the Canon HF10.
- The Zoom R16 is one sexy little mixer.
- When you have a wide shot of a group, do not pan between the speakers. It causes artifacts when streaming and is visually distracting. Cutting from speaker to speaker is really the job of a 2- camera shoot with a producer calling the camera changes to be managed by a video switcher.
- There is no such thing as having too many SD cards on hand.
- Tapeless workflow is where it at!
- The iPad is going to be a really big deal. I already knew that, but NAB has only confirmed this for me.
- I learned how to properly wrangle cable.
- Always have and use a pre-roll checklist.
- While I have a few minor quibbles, the LiveU unit is a pretty amazing piece of gear.
- Even at a show filled with broadcast and film pros, some people don’t recognize the camera and walk through your shots … no matter how hard you try to stop them.
- 3D is really here … if we do not kill it with ill-concieved conversions.
- Always have a spare tape/SD card in your pocket.
- My wife is a saint.
- The iPhone is an invaluable note-taking tool, especially with the video camera.
- Learning how something works needn’t stifle one’s sense of wonder about the fact that it does.
- There is no such thing as “too old”; so long as your mind remains open to new knowledge.
- I am woefully out of shape, but the aches and pains tell me I am making progress on that front.
- Running a camera is hard work, particularly when moving all around the show floor.
- Thanks goodness for comfortable shoes. Think of good shoes as an investment in your mental and physical health.
So, that is it for now. I’ll have more cogent thoughts when I have more time to write.
Peace,
Doug