Outdoor Video Gear + Audio Recorder Showdown: Zoom H4n vs. Tascam DR-40

Griffin reports on a studio specializing in super slow motion, Zach King's green screen tutorial for Final Cut Pro X, Sam & Niko's DIY air cannon, the best SD card for videographers, outdoor gear—neutral density (ND) filter and "dead cat" windscreen—and a portable audio recorder comparison: Zoom H4n vs. Tascam DR-40

VIDEO LINKS

Griffin's Warrior Dash video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2FB-NG86cU&list=PL7C0FAD204C8952A8&index=1&feature=plpp_video

The Marmalade Slow Motion Studio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKC6j7pW6T0&list=PL7C0FAD204C8952A8&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Zach King's FPCX Chroma Key tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObQLzAoXr-o&list=PL7C0FAD204C8952A8&index=2&feature=plpp_video

Sam & Niko's DIY air cannon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c_7ShJT0lQ&list=PL7C0FAD204C8952A8&index=3&feature=plpp_video

OTHER LINKS

Devout Sinners (band): http://www.reverbnation.com/devoutsinners

Griffin's video gear list: http://griffinhammond.com/gear

Friday 101: Royalty-free music guide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ToFhW-DSNM

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Closed Caption:

yeah
no goal this week on indie news an
amazing robot for perfect slow-motion
shots
how to green screen with Final Cut Pro
10 a DIY air cannon the best as she card
for videographers helpful gear for
shooting outdoors and I compared to
popular audio reporters the zoom h4n
versus the tascam be our board and
molars
you know I always love a good super slow
motion video but this German studio
takes it to the next level called the
marmalade
they specialize in incredible
slow-motion shots their team includes
cinematographers digital effects artists
and engineers even going so far as to
build a high-speed robot to add precise
movement a lot of molars ask what
editing software I use and today is my
one year anniversary of editing with
Final Cut Pro 10 but I realize I still
haven't tried chroma key or green
screening with this new software
fortunately last week former awesome
directors at King posted a simple
tutorial for keying out a green screen
in Final Cut Pro 10 on Friday salmon eco
posted their latest sink behind the
scenes episode featuring their handyman
Spencer building a DIY air cannon
perfect for simulating an explosion with
flying debris
last week i purchased some new gear
including a couple extra SD cards
I've always really liked these transcend
16 gigabyte SD cards they are class 10
which means they transfer data fast
enough to record HD video
they always seemed to work pretty well
and I really like the price but this
month the wire cutter reviewed several
SD card options and determine the best
choice maybe the sandisk extreme
16-gigabyte for only five dollars more
than my SD cards you can get double the
transfer speed
let me show you the other gear that I
got this week that helps me capture
better video outside
I've said before that sunlight is great
for amateur videographers the Sun is way
more powerful than most indoor lighting
so usually video quality looks a lot
better but shooting outdoors can be
challenging in part because the Sun can
be
too bright my camera has three ways to
correct an overexposed image like this
I can lower the iso or gain or i can
stop down the aperture or shutter speed
but aperture controls depth of field and
shutter speed controls motion blur so i
can only adjust iso when I want shallow
depth of field and normal motion blur
but even at my lowest ISO it's still too
bright
that's where an ND filter comes in and
II it's like sunglasses for your camera
and I just got this cool
Hader Andy which instantly drops my
exposure by one stop
but it's also adjustable I can turn it
to block up to 10 more stops of light
so now i have a lot more control over my
camera in direct sunlight
one of the biggest problems was shooting
outside is the wind a basic wind screen
helps reduce breathing noise like but
not windy conditions
that's why I got this fuzzy wind screen
often called a dead cat because of what
it looks like
sorry Andy the artificial fur helps
diffuse wind noise and I even got one to
protect the stereo onboard mic on my
portable audio recorder
here's how they compare
and here's how they handle 30 mile per
hour winds
this fuzzy wind screen can't entirely
eliminate wind noise but it muffles it
quite a bit in that last segment you may
have noticed my new task am dr 40
portable audio recorder
I got it recently because my zoom h4n
has been acting up
even when i put fresh batteries in it
thinks they're running low and it shuts
itself off it still works perfectly fine
on AC power and i hope to get it fixed
soon but i thought this would be a
perfect time to compare the tascam dr 40
with the zoom h4n these similar products
are both pretty good they each record
for channels simultaneously an onboard
stereo mic + 2 combo Jack's XLR or
quarter inch my dr 40 shipped with
firmware version 1.02 so i upgraded it
to 1.20 and now both recorders can set
independent volume levels for each input
here's a tip always double check that
your recording audio pushing the record
button once activates ready mode and
when your cameras rolling it's easy to
forget they are not yet capturing audio
push it a second time to really start
rolling out of hundreds of shoots three
times i forgot enroll audio
unfortunately one of those was an
interview with US secretary of education
arne duncan
here's where the tascam dr 40 shines I
picked it up for only a hundred and
fifty dollars right now that's eighty
five dollars cheaper than the zoom h4n I
also like the metal guards around the
stereo mic on my first shoot with the
h4n my mic stand fell over and I bent
one of the mics the dr 40 also has a
dual recording mode which is cool you
can capture the same input at different
audio levels
it also uses three double a batteries
instead of two and includes a 2 gigabyte
SD card downsides
it feels cheap the h4n has more heft
with a metal body covered with plastic
but the dr 40 is all plastic
I thought I'd prefer the locking XLR
connectors but they feel loose compared
to the h4 ends snug ports
they each have piqued indicators but
unlike the h4n the dr 40 doesn't let me
know at the end of recording if I
clipped audio wise they sound about the
same right now you're hearing my shotgun
mic
plugged into my h4n and now the mic is
plugged into my dr 40 the only weird
thing is when the input level is high
I hear this helicopter noise strangely
enough if i navigate away from the home
screen I just push the menu button it
goes away
really weird and annoying but I'm glad
there's some workaround for it
so here's what the extra cost gets you
with the h4n and included AC adapter and
hardcase an extra external mic input
that replaces the onboard stereo mic and
no weird helicopter noise but for the
money
the tascam dr 40 may be the better
option on indy moguls friday 101 last
week Russell shared an excellent
tutorial for finding royalty free music
for your videos and i actually use a lot
of his recommended sources in my
personal videos but this last week I was
working on a highlight video from the
warrior dash that Iran and I had a very
specific song in mind by a local artist
so I simply asked them and they gave me
permission to use their song in my video
so i want to give a big thank you to the
devout centers
you'll hear they're awesome bluegrass
music in my warrior dash video right now
if there's a yellow box around the video
that's because it's not done yet and you
can subscribe to my channel but if you
see a green box
it's ready to go you should watch it but
if you don't see any box that's because
your annotations are turned off or
you're watching this on a mobile device
and that's why I always include links in
the description as well
also on today's playlist i have the
slow-motion professionals at the
marmalade
Zach Kings chromakey tutorial for Final
Cut Pro 10 and salmon Niko's DIY air
cannon
thanks for watching indymogul where we
feature original programming every
monday wednesday and friday we feature
your videos
tuesdays and thursdays I'll see you
later