Journalism Training Blog

After having so much fun making videos at the Maynard Institute’s 2009 Multimedia Editing Program in Reno, I told myself I wanted to get a camera and keep practicing. Finally, more than a year later, I bought a camera. I decided to go with a cheap digital HD camera, the Kodak PlaySport.

I went to Best Buy yesterday armed with a $100 gift card. I was planning to buy a Flip video camera. After talking to a sales guy, I was convinced to go with the Kodak. It was cheaper (yeah, even cheaper than the Flip!), waterproof and able to shoot underwater, and it takes stills in addition to video. The $149.99 price tag was just too tempting.

I looked at some reviews of the camera when I got home. They were largely positive. The negatives: the still photos aren’t super high quality (no problem for me, because usually I’m shooting with a smartphone and posting on Facebook) and the videos aren’t as high-quality if shot with less light. It turns out the first video I shot was in a very low light room, and it wasn’t too bad.

I haven’t had much time to fool around with this camera yet, but it was easy enough to figure out right out of the box and start shooting immediately. Anyway, here’s my first video — nothing fancy and totally unedited. Enjoy!