Technology Wanted

Back in October of 2011 I wrote a blog post about the technology setup I used to start my online presence. At the time it was truly a bare minimum of hardware that was already a bit dated with some nice software. Things haven't changed much. Same computer, same software, same audio...

My camera setup still consists of a smart phone but I do now have a 720p camcorder I got second hand from a pawn shop. The flip style cameras have all died. And my Nikon D70 (6mp camera from 2004) is still a wonderful device but isn't capable of capturing video.

This has been one of the biggest handicaps for me producing higher quality media on a timely manner. If you capture low quality then you can't make it better. And if it takes a minute to process every mouse click and a day to render a the final product editing slows to a crawl.

So one of the areas your donations will help support is upgrading the technology we use to make the quality better and allow for more timely production.

I'm completely happy with the software I use. Even though it's an older version the Creative Suite from Adobe still has more capabilities than I need or use. Our upgrades will strictly be hardware.

Our first upgrade will be a computer. To save money and get precisely what a video production system requires I'll likely build this. Slow production has been my biggest frustration and handicap.

Second we'd like to acquire a modern DSLR from Nikon (I'm wed to the brand due to lenses) that can capture HD video and will accept a wireless audio system to kill 2 birds with one stone. The key feature I'm looking at here is record time because I'd like to be able to shoot 20-30 minutes continuously. It seems this capability is eeking it's way down to the lower end models.

Lastly is probably the least expensive item. Lighting. It'd be nice to have enough shop lighting to not need but maybe one light box. My current setup is some fluorescent tubes duct taped to my scroll saw cart.

So when you support the school and see dramatic shifts in the quality of our output you'll know what your donation allowed us to acquire.