View from the Bleachers

Far right (among the buttons at the bottom)

The Zi8 has image stabilization, although in my limited experience so far it doesn’t stabilize a huge amount. So I do have to really concentrate on holding the camera still and to pan slowly.

A little info on the videos, since you’re in the market for these little cams: The videos were taken from one row from the top of the stadium (Later, I’ll be posting one taken from the lower section). I used Pinnacle Studio for editing, using pan and zoom (at about 170%) for second two clips. I’ve found the digital zoom on the camera can add noise.

A couple of notes about the camera itself: Occasionally it records a bit of a whine in the videos – I fixed that by using a cheap plug-in mic. The camera has frozen up on me a few times when starting a recording, requiring disconnecting and reconnecting the battery to get it working again. I’m theorizing that it may be due a flaky memory card, but I am not sure. Annoying…but I do like the camera overall.

Good luck with your selection.

What kind of cam do you have?

Positive: you’re closer to the field than me. Negative (probably for you): I stand in front of the stair access to the press box the entire game and so have a mostly unobstructed view and a lot of flexibility without bugging my neighbors.

I would just say: Hold the camera as still as possible. When panning, go slow. Use zoom with discretion and avoid digital zoom as much as possible, especially at the far end. Bring extra batteries and memory cards. Hardest thing is controlling your emotions so you can “get the shot.” I learned this from many years of filming my daughter’s club basketball games.

Good luck!

It reminded me of what it was like to watch the game from the Rose Bowl stands.

Thanks again Tele.