Okay, as we start the course now we're going to talk about some of your equipment. And we're going to break this into three sections, cameras, tripod and accessories. Now you may have all three. But I do want to take a moment to talk about some of the pros and cons of the different types of cameras, tripods and accessories because your equipment actually helps you be a better shooter. So I'm not going to suggest what you should be using or what you should be buying. But I want to bring to your attention a little bit about each camera in this section that you can understand what you might be dealing with what challenges you might have to overcome with each type of camera that you might be using.

One of the more economical cameras that you might be using is your basic camcorder. Now this is the kind of camera that you can buy in any consumer electronics store. You can see it's small and compact, with a flip out viewfinder. Now this is a great camera because it does shoot in high definition but the problem that I find with this camera is your telephoto and wide servo is what it's called it allows you to zoom in and out is really tiny and has to be monitored with your finger. It tends to accelerate a little bit too much when you're zooming in and out. So you have to be careful, you might be thinking of zooming in slowly on a player zooming out, and all of a sudden, it'll accelerate and back out or zoom in really quickly.

But other than that, it's a nice camera, you do have to kind of get real close to it and have your fingers on it, which might not be comfortable for you then one of the cameras you'll see here in a moment, but this is an affordable camera, it's a great option. You just have to learn to use your zoom well and be comfortable with the tight space. This is what's known as a prosumer camera and the word prosumer is a combination between professional and consumer. You can't necessarily run to a store and get these you mostly order them online. But they are top of the line cameras that are used for people like you and me to shoot more professional things. Now there are different versions of these there are smaller ones, there are larger ones, there's all sorts of models and brands.

But what I like about this and if you have access to one of these, this is a great camera to use for several reasons. Number one, you have your shotgun mic right here, shotgun mic is something that we're not going to see in any of the other cameras. And it allows for better audio pickup when you're shooting a game that's far away. But also, in my opinion has the best servo control servo is the zoom in and out. And you can see that right there. I find this to be the smoothest, most accurate use that is sensitive to the touch and most of your prosumer cameras are going to have that.

It also has other features that allow you to control the light. If you're filming a game in the bright sun, or other factors, you can make quick adjustments with this camera that you can always make on some of the other cameras are going to see. So if you have one of these and if you have access to one of these, this is a great camera to use for the reasons I mentioned. But if not any of the other cameras I'm going to talk about would also be fine. One of the big trends in the industry now is DSLRs like this one or cameras known as mirrorless cameras which are similar. Now we're not going to talk about the difference between those two, but I do want to point out a few things about these kinds of cameras.

Which many probes are starting to use. And the point here I want to make is that these cameras are not really used. And they're not designed for sports videography, they're more for still photography and still video. If you're comfortable with it, it'll work. But one of the problems compared to other cameras is you actually have to zoom in and out using the ring, which is a little harder to do than the servo zoom with your finger on other cameras. Plus, I've heard that sometimes when you're zooming in and out with these cameras, you pick up the sound of the ring moving on the audio, which is going to be a major negative when you're shooting a game to hear constantly zooming in and out.

Some of these cameras have autofocus capabilities, and some don't, the ones that don't, you have to zoom in manually and focus manually. And from my point of view, it's going to be hard to move a camera left and right and follow the action while simultaneously zooming in and simultaneously focusing. So these cameras, although great for other areas of the industry, in my opinion are not the best for sports. But again, if this is what you have, and this is what you're using, you're going to want to be comfortable with it enough that you can Shoot a game without worry about some of the issues like zoom and focus. I've been to a lot of games where I see parents in the stands trying to shoot the game with their tablet or their smartphone, and they're constantly looking this way using handheld footage, and I can't imagine that the footage comes out very good.

Now I understand that these kinds of products are popular, and they do take great video, and you certainly can shoot your games with them. However, there are a couple of big drawbacks with them, which I want to address briefly here. Number one is most people end up using them handheld and as you'll see in the next section, we're going to talk about tripods there are mounts that holds smartphones and tablets in place so you can treat it like a regular camera. So we're going to talk about that in the next section. The other big hindrance that I find with these devices is the zoom capability. You've heard me say that in each of the last four parts with the cameras, it's really hard to pinch and zoom with your fingers and get an accurate image.

It's certainly not as good as a servo where you use your finger. And it's even harder than using the dial that we talked about with the DSLRs and the mirrorless cameras. So if you're going to shoot with one of these, you have to be aware of the fact that it's going to be difficult to use your fingers to pinch, zoom and stay following action, while also moving left and right, it's really tough, especially if you're using a smartphone, which is of course, much smaller. A possible fix to that is to download an app that gives your device more professional control. I use Filmic Pro and you can see here how my zoom control is now a one finger lever on the side, which is much easier to use. The other issue with these is you might have limited storage space, the game is going to end up in the same place as all your other videos.

So taking it off might be a bit of a problem. But again, if you're okay using these, you might as well and that is my big point here as I sum up the section on cameras and that is it really doesn't matter what you use, whether it's camcorders prosumer, cameras, DSLRs, or tablets and phones. The bottom line is you need to be comfortable With your device, and that means practice with it. Okay? understand where the features are. Use it enough so that you have a comfort level with it and you can predict exactly what the cameras going to do in response to your actions.

Be comfortable with your device know its features, and as long as you have the ability to zoom in and out properly, and as we'll see in the next section, as long as you can pan left and white properly, you're halfway home. So Best of luck with your camera no matter what you're using, but make sure that you're good with it, because that's a major step to doing this properly.