hey everybody

i film surfing from the beach, pretty far away from my subject and find myself zooming out to find the surfer in the water and then zooming all the way into 20x after ive found the surfer. after the wave is over, i zoom back out and repeat... i cant say for sure how many times i do this in a single filming session but its definately alot.
my question is: can you use your zoom too much? what, if any, problems could result in doing so?

thanks
jerry

ps i searched the forums for this topic and didnt find any conclusive answers

Basically the answer is no. Ofcourse with anything that moves
it acn break down in the long run.

It won't do any damage to the cam, if that's what you're asking.

If you're going to edit the footage down to smaller clips to produce a surfing film, then zooming is no problem. Just make sure you don't include a lot of zooms in the final product. Too many zooms looks like a family vacation video. Use some wide shots for establishing shots. The close ups can be edited together from surfer to surfer.

And, of course, liberal zooming eats your battery.

ya, im totally aware of zooimng and battery life and i would never ever use any zoom clips in a video, i only zoom out to find a point of reference and then zoom back in on it.

thanks for your help guys.