Gear and Software I Use

Below is a list of equipment and software I use to shoot and edit stock video with, as well as a list of things I am looking to further my shooting abilities. Please feel free to use the comment section below to ask any question you have about anything you see here. I can only give you my personal opinion and experience though, there are people out there who are much more professional than I am who may utilize this or other equipment differently. But if you see something here you are interested in knowing more about, please feel free to ask. I'd love to have that conversation.


Gear I Shoot With
If you follow my blog you have probably read about my love affair with the Canon Rebel Series camera. The more you learn about me, the more you will see that I practice a more inconspicuous shooting style. Having a camera that can shoot video at this quality but looking just slightly more professional than a point-and-shoot has worked out great. I have paired with that 2 wonderful and fast (a more open f-stop) lenses to make my ability to shoot in low light that much better. This sometimes eliminates my need for a lighting kit. As you get to know me, you will see that one of my many goals will always be to keep my kit and gear highly portable. That also brings me to Zoom H4n which I use when I do sit down interviews. The ND filters come in handy when I drag the shutter for time lapse shoots, the Class 10 SD cards work well for both Video as well as rapid-burst photography. The Case Logic bag has also been great to keep everything together, and I have room for more (check out the gear I'm looking at getting towards the bottom of the page)





Gear I Edit With
Portability, again, is my goal. I use the Business Class Latitude E6410 with dedicated Nvidia NVS graphics as well as a slightly custom setup for editing. I use the Samsung 830 series drive as a primary OS and boot drive. I have the Wintec Filemate ExpressCard SSD in my expresscard slot as a scratch disk for temporary and media cache files for the OS and Adobe. I then have taken the CD drive out of the computer and replaced it with the 2nd Hard Drive Caddy with the Momentus XT Hybrid as my media drive. I use the Lite-On USB External drive to read/write any discs/DVDs I have. I am very happy with this set-up so far, and it has given me desktop power in portable form.





Software I Edit With
One of the best purchases I have ever made, is an investment in Adobe's Creative Suite. I will be a lifetime user. As far as portability goes, having the power of Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop etc. Optimized on a 64-bit OS as well as accelerated thanks to the Mercury Engine paired with my Nvidia dedicated card, it gives me a great advantage. I use Photomatix Pro for all of my HDR timelapse videos, and really with their option to batch process HDR images, it takes me virtually no time to create HDR time lapse videos. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! I hope to put together a tutorial on my own personal process, but you can find many How-To's online if you google "Photomatix Pro"




Gear/Software I Hope To Invest In
I will admit straight out of the gate the two things I'd love to update are the 2 things that I have been praising. The Canon T2i I use is due for an update. My hope is that when the next camera comes along (T4i?) there will be an upgrade to the frame rate so I can shoot and offer full HD clips at 60p. (Wishful thinking right?) I have skipped an upgrade generation with the Dell E6410 laptop as well. Even though the E6420 offers a Quad-Core Processor, them not including native USB 3.0 held me back from upgrading. I also hope that when Dell comes out with their next Latitude laptop (E6430?) it will have SATA III support as well as an m-SATA slot so I can use it as a scratch disk.

The rest of the equipment below is pretty standard in building a package. Upgrading the lenses is a priority, but whether or not I have the ability to is another story.  I would love to upgrade from the 50mm USM lens I have to the 50mm L series, to give myself that little extra boost in quality.  I have yet to get a longer focal length lens, and the Canon EF 70-300mm DO is interesting because it packs a longer focal length into a much smaller body. The battery grip and AC power will aide in time lapse shooting, and with the AC adapter, I hope to have really long time lapse sequences (Changing Seasons, Rotting Fruit, Moldy Bread anyone?). The Rosco LitePad is such a cool cool cool thing to see. I went to a demo where these were displayed and these look fun! My main purpose for having one (or a few) would be to punch up objects in a "Macro" setting. While these lights can run off of battery power, using them for a 3-point interview setup would be challenging. The Lilliput Monitor is one of the best reviewed-cost efficient monitors on the market. This is something I have really been lacking, and hope to invest in one very soon ... for focus sake.


52 comments:

  1. can I use this videos for sell it, in my church web.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you use the clip to create an original project, yes you can. If you take the clip and directly re-sell it (like offering it as stock footage as well), then no you can't.

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  2. your work is fantastic! thank you :)

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  3. Hey Guy! Thanks a lot for your nice footage! You´re the best!
    Joe from Brasil

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  4. You said that you use the adobe creative suite to edit footage with. Does that include any expensive plug-ins like Trapcode?

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    Replies
    1. Benjaminm1664,

      I have never had the pleasure of using the Trapcode Plug-ins. Usually it is just vanilla After Effects (which is still pretty powerful). The only plug-in I have for the Adobe CS is the NeatVideo plug-in which reduces image noise in high ISO'd shots. That plug-in was actually bought before I started this site. If you have a question on any clip in particular, feel free to comment on that page. I'll do my best to let you know how I created it.

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  5. Great Videos, and great idea for a website. Thanks

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  6. Amazing material here - many levels above all the stock footage sites and most of the stuff generally available. You're clearly a very talented guy, and very generous in making your footage available to use in projects. Many, many thanks. Ben.

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    Replies
    1. Ben's trying to be my new best friend! Thanks for such nice comments. I hope you find some stuff on here that is helpful to you.

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  7. I love your website. You do a great job with your shots. I am using several of your shots for my upcoming documentary for my church. I myself use a Sony A57 ( absolute beautiful video and you can shoot 60p too). You could easily charge folks for your work, it is that good and inspiring. Most do not realize what it takes to get a good shot for b reel footage. It is not as easy as it looks. I will post a link soon so you can have a look at it!

    Oh, and I have the same backpack too. I love it!!

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    Replies
    1. Chad,

      That backpack is a WORKHORSE! By far the best one I've ever owned. At one time I was seriously considering a jump to the Sony lines of DLSR. I've sat in the background watching Canon "Update" their line with very little interest. As far as I'm concerned without any type of significant improvement like changing recording codecs or other FPS options, I am comfortable sticking with my T2i. The RAW capturing ability of the Mark II and III's are enticing, but that's to the credit of the Magic Lantern crew for tapping in to the potential that Canon either did not see or was not willing to offer.

      Feel free to share whatever you create, either here or on the Facebook page.

      Thanks for the comment!

      Delete
  8. Hey, just wanted to say that the footage looks awesome. I might be using some for a dark political short film I'm doing for my last film at school. Speaking of upgrade, you ever thought about getting a Panasonic GH2?

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  9. Hello Jeffrey! I would appreciate to confirm that you´re the only owner of the video below and that we could use them for free in a film project (to be exploited commercially) as they are Creative Commons. https://archive.org/details/FireworksHd Thank you for your attention! (I have contacted you also via Facebook).

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  10. Hello! Thank you so much for providing these well-thought-out, wonderfully shot videos with everyone. I too have a T2i and the 50mm and LOVE my Bower 24mm 1.4 for video. It's so fast and it's manual everything which is just fine with me. I got the Blackmagic Pocket Cam a few months ago and have been LOVING grading all the high-bitrate footage in Davinci Resolve Lite (and in FCPX). But I find myself going back to the T2i again and again when I don't need ProRes or RAW footage...SO much data. Anyway, keep rocking and thanks again for your generosity.

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  11. Hi, first of all i think that this website is awesome and that you really do have a talent as a photographer, and second of all, it says at the top of the page that the videos can be used for any production purpose. Does this include using them for youtube videos as well, as i'm starting to create my own channel and i wanted to check that i could use them in some of my videos.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for checking. You can use the videos to help create your own videos. or what is considered "Remixing". People will take the footage and put it in music videos, their commercials, films, documentaries, etc. If you were to take the videos and simply upload them to YouTube without putting them in to some larger project, it would be considered redistribution and that is not covered under the Creative Commons License and ultimately that is a copyright violation. As long as your are doing something creative with it and not just using the footage to offer AS stock footage for the simple purpose of monetization or padding a YouTube channel with videos, you are fine and in the clear. Please share the work you make! I love seeing all of the fun stuff people create with the clips!!!

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    2. so could i put it in a video e.g. sped up a bit amongst other footage that i've taken myself but could i monetize it?

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    3. You are welcome to put it in videos and monetize it, as long as it is used for something larger (so anything but turning around and offering it AS stock footage).

      Delete
  12. Great. I used some of your shots for a clip of by band. Thank you. http://youtu.be/_IuZdsgc9R8

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  13. I really loved finding your blog, you´ll help me a lot at my church! We will use all of them, can I??

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    Replies
    1. Amanda,

      You are welcome to use as many as you want for your church.

      Glad they helped!

      Delete
  14. Wow, your video was so helpful in my project! Just terrific quality, and hey — you can't beat the price! ;-)

    I used several of your clips in a trailer I just created (for an audiobook which I narrated and produced late last year). Here's the link:
    http://youtu.be/X-EKRKqdS_w

    I put a link back to this site in the video's description, but please let me know if you'd like any additional (or amended) credit(s).

    Thanks so much for providing all of this stock footage — I hope you've gotten some great paying gigs from it!

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    Replies
    1. Great Video! No additional attribution is needed. I appreciate what you have already done.

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  15. Very generous of you to offer such wonderful footage, Merci ! :) I used some of it in a live music-video show in France this past March and you can see some excerpts of it in this video report: http://vimeo.com/91926823 (I gave the appropriate credits at end of video and in text description below video, also with a link to your website). PS: Who are you ?! :)

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  16. Very generous of you to offer such wonderful footage, Merci ! :) I used some of it in a live music-video show in France this past March and you can see some excerpts of it in this video report: http://vimeo.com/91926823 (I gave the appropriate credits at end of video and in text description below video, also with a link to your website). PS: Who are you ?! :)

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  17. Nice to meet you. I found your site through archive.org and just mentioned you in my blog: radioface.wordpress.com.

    I can't shoot worth a darn (though sometimes I get lucky), but I can edit like a madman. I also use the Adobe Creative Suite on an HP Pavilion dv7. Best laptop I've ever owned.

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  18. Beach

    I want to thank you for your beautiful footage! I used the seagull in one of my songs; not yet released (the party with friends & musicians is next month) but already on youtube:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYEZdpY4_Ic
    I will put a link for the credits on my side to you, again:
    THANKS !!!
    Roberto - The Man And His Music

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  19. Hello, and a pre-emptive thank you for providing some beautiful HD stock! I'd like to use a few clips in a project, and was wondering how you'd like to be credited/attributed (name, company name, which links, etc.)?

    Thanks again!

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    Replies
    1. Jack, You are welcome to credit www.beachfrontbroll.com or Beachfront B-Roll if you wish to. Thanks for the kind words!!!!

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  20. May you have all the good karma in the world for this unbelievably incredible work and for sharing it with the world for free. A true ARTIST and talented person owning recognition through his work. Thank you for the inspiration and for sharing your talent with the world.

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  21. Please, i can to use your videos to do a videoclip -announce (teaser of album pop music, very independent & limited edition...)?

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    Replies
    1. Of course! They are free to use in your work. Hope they help! Feel free to share when you are done. I love to see what people do with my random clips.

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    2. thanks! i will send you very soon! but your email address to send it?

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  22. Agree with everybody - this is how I used it

    https://youtu.be/16Wllye63OU

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  23. Hi!
    beautifull work! can i use some of your footage free to insert in a composite after effect integration with my materials that i shoot (no full size raw usage of the footage). It's for a musicvideo that will have a commercial exploitation, so hard to insert credit in it.

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    Replies
    1. you're more than welcome to use the footage. That's exactly what it was meant for. Good luck with your project, feel free to share it when you're done!

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  24. Hello!

    first of all thanks for the great videos!! Can I use one of your videos into a website template that gonna sold on a marketplace like envato (themeforest) or wrapbootstrap? The video will included into the downloaded files of the website template. Of course there will be credits to your website in the description of the template and also in the documentation of the template.

    Many Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Yes you can! Because it is being included along with your original work (the template), it falls under the "derivative work" category, meaning you can redistribute/sell the template with the video included. Credit helps because you are acknowledging to your buyer that you received free footage. Thanks for checking, great question. Best of luck!

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  25. Thank you very much for making all of your work under a CC License. I'm making a music video for an original song and most of your videos work well with a theme I'm going for. I'll post it here so you can take a look and give you credit. Are you ok with me doing this? My Video won't be sold for profit. Just for a promo to get fans into my music.

    Thanks
    LS

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  26. Hello, I am using iMovie and was wondering if you have longer clips. I have an hour presentation audio file, but the clip I like is 30 seconds. Thats a ton of cut and paste lol.....or is there an easier way?

    Thank you

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  27. Hello,

    Can I use your clips in a music video for my internship with an MTV music producer? If yes, the clips would be featured on the artist's MTV profile page: http://www.mtv.com/artists/kaos777/

    Thank you

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  28. Thank you for providing your clips as CC. It is great to have for projects I am working on personally and for the Non-profit I work for. I would like to ask if your pictures on the Gear I Use post were taken down because you use different equipment or is this a technical issue?

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  29. Hello again (a few years later),

    I used some of your clips for my video mapping projection show on Voltaire's theater for the Fête de Voltaire in Ferney-Voltaire, France this June (I was one of the an artist in residence there).

    If interested, clicking on the link below explains about my project and has links to pictures and the video:
    http://julie.meitz.free.fr/my_exhibits/multimedia_shows/articles/pdfs/Explain-Voltaire-Video_Julie-Meitz_06-2016.pdf

    I included a link reference to your website in video at end and in text below video.

    Thank you very much!! :-)
    Julie

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  30. Hi, im looking for the scratches effect, where can i find it?

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    Replies
    1. You should be able to find it in the General Footage page: http://www.beachfrontbroll.com/p/general-stock-video.html

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  31. Please come back, upload more content, dont let this down, its too good!

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  32. Hi Beachfront B-Roll,

    Thank you very much for your work! I used your footages and compile the videos for a classical concert. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJMc0K4Tl4A&list=PLJleQZyETtx7w0bxD2j6hD3pgntPHmJvd&index=2

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  33. I do healing work and would love to use your pictures/videos of animals and nature and use them in my healing work. Behind that will be me speaking and a drumming CD. I will sell these healing clips for a nominal price. Is this ok to use for this purpose?

    I studied copyright back in college a long time ago. Just don't want to be copyright infringing. :)

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  34. My business is healing work and I am looking for clips of animals and other things of nature that I can use in talking about the spirit of the animal and have a drumming CD in the background.

    Could I have permission to use these clips for that reason?

    ReplyDelete