Random questions in the form of a questionnaire

[Michael Clark]

Ok, it's time for another questionnaire! As always, I'll compile them after a few days into translated results.

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter?
2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony?
3) Do you only wear one outfit all day (I've often seen photographers wear casual clothes for pre-ceremony then change for the ceremony/reception)?
4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)?
5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern?
6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay?
7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage?
8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc?
9) Do you offer Blu-ray?
10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)?

I will submit my answers in a separate post soon...gotta head out for a wedding!

[Aaron Mayberry]

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter?

Every wedding. So many things can go wrong on a day, and you only get one chance :)

2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony?

3, one is unmanned

3) Do you only wear one outfit all day (I've often seen photographers wear casual clothes for pre-ceremony then change for the ceremony/reception)?

One outfit

4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)?

Memory cards

5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern?

On my t2i, love it

6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay?

Yes

7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage?

I try to take my own when I can, but we have great relationships with most of our photographers

8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc?

We print right to the disc, Epson Artisan 710

9) Do you offer Blu-ray?

Yes, only 5-10% of our clients get it though.

10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)?

The ONLY plugin we use is neatvideo to fix up noisy images

[Chris Harding]

Hey Michael

(1) I use a second shooter only when I do B&G prep shoots and they are close together..my 2nd shooter leaves after the ceremony.
(2) I shoot with 2 cameras during the ceremony, bridal entrance and speeches..one on tripod and the other on my shoulder...otherwise it's just one camera
(3) Summer here gets to 42 degrees Celcius or higher (maybe your 120F!!!) so I change into a white polo shirt during the photoshoot on stedicam ....wring it out afterwards, and throw it back in the car!!! I do use the same shirt for ceremony and reception unless I sweat a lot then I change the shirt only!!
(4) SDHC cards only
(5) I use real video cameras (just toying with you as I know you are very passionate about your DSLR's!!!)
(6) My contract/package details says "up to XX hours" so if I'm done early. yes I don't have to stay!!
(7) I shoot around 10 stills before I clip on the stedicam with my trusty little Panasonic Lumix ...8 megapixels is plenty good enough for DVD covers!!! Photogs have offered me copies many times but I yet to see one actually email me a shot!!!
(8) Covers go to Epson Photo Inkjet paper and I print directly onto DVD's ..Epson Artisan 720
(9) Nope...never yet had a request for BD but I'm thinking about offering 1280x720 clips on a USB stick as an extra
(10) Probably either Mercalli 2 stabilizer or ProDad Heroglyph but I seldom use either... Vegas has all I really need!!

Chris

[David Schuurman]

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter?
Every wedding that I shoot my feature package. I have a highlight only package that I shoot alone.

2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony?
2 DSLR's manned and a rear hv30 unmanned/adjusted as needed +usually a gopro hidden high somewhere for a superwide. Doesnt always work because of the low light but its there sometimes.

3) Do you only wear one outfit all day (I've often seen photographers wear casual clothes for pre-ceremony then change for the ceremony/reception)?
One outfit. I get sweaty but I ALWAYS wear a white shirt under my dress shirt and i apply deoderant liberally throughout the day.
4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)?
Memory cards.
5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern?
No
6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay?
yes, I have yet to stick to that time frame this season though. I've either stayed late or shown up early. own my own accord.

7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage?
I take screengrabs from video.

8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc?
I print direct to disk at home.

9) Do you offer Blu-ray?
No, Im going to, but honestly I dont much believe in the medium...its better to offer a USB drive with the DVD IMO

10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)?
I use neatvideo and pluraleyes. Pluraleyes is a must.

[Michael Clark]

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter? Maybe 20% of the time. I'm starting to see that it may be inevitable. Or at least having an assistant!
2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony? Two Canon T2i and one T3i
3) Do you only wear one outfit all day? One outfit. Things are usually busy to where there's not much time to change. I suppose I could find the time, it's just not that important.
4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)? All SDHC
5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern? Yes
6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay? No, although after a couple 14 hour days, I'm rethinking that for next year.
7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage? I take probably 10 or so. I usually try to coordinate with the photographer, but if that doesn't work out, I have a back-up. Some photographers always end up getting me some pictures, but I don't like my workflow being bound by how long that can take sometimes.
8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc? Right now I print both inserts and labels through a print service, and they come out great. But I've been considering printing straight to disc, and think I'll head that direction.
9) Do you offer Blu-ray? I offer it as a standard right now, but there's been so little interest, I may take that option out.
10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)? I echo both PluralEyes and NeatVideo noise, but definitely PluralEyes if I had to chose one.

[Michael Clark]

One more question I thought of (that may not get picked up by the responders, but I'll give it a try): for steadicam users, do you use an arm/vest? I film with DSLR, so I'm not sure if a arm/vest would help or just get in the way. Plus cost is a factor.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Michael

With Ti cameras you could comfortably get away with something like the Blackbird ...I do use an arm and vest as my cameras alone are pretty close to 8lbs and I'd have to go to gym 8 hours a day to build up enough arm muscle to hand hold that on a Blackbird or Merlin!!

Chris

[Jim Schuchmann]

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter? Always, usually three.
2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony? 3-5.
3) Do you only wear one outfit all day (I've often seen photographers wear casual clothes for pre-ceremony then change for the ceremony/reception)? One outfit - dress shirt and tie.
4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)? tapes and cards
5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern? Yes
6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay? Yes, but I always exceed it.
7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage? Screen grab.
8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc? Epson 800 direct to disc.
9) Do you offer Blu-ray? 1 included in every package.
10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)? Neatvideo.
11) For steadicam users, do you use an arm/vest? Yes, Indicam Pilot with A1. Too heavy to carry.

[Kelly Langerak]

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter? Always have two plus an assistant. An assistant is a huge plus. They hall all gear, setup audio lights, tear down audio/lights while I can focus just on filming. Best $150 bucks I spend.

2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony? 2 minimum up to 3

3) Do you only wear one outfit all day (I've often seen photographers wear casual clothes for pre-ceremony then change for the ceremony/reception)? Sometimes I wear just my under shirt for the preps. Depends on the heat, but I always try to look professional the whole day.

4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)? 32gb 60mb Compact Flash. I love the 32 gig option.


5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern? No. I feel it's not really needed.


6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay? Yes, and NEVER do unlimited hours. We are also strict about charging any overtime. It's a business, not a charity or wedding gift.


7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage? We take stills from the video or coordinate with the couple or photographer to get at least the photo for the front cover.


8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc? We use WHCC to print our DVD cases at $30 a piece and they are BEAUTIFUL!!! Your bride will scream when she sees it! CD & DVD Cases | WHCC Or we print our own on the Artisan 50 and print directly on disc. Stickers on disc are very cheap looking.


9) Do you offer Blu-ray? Yes, at $175 extra. 2-10 brides buy it.


10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)? Pluraleyes

[Greg Fiske]

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter?
With everything but our basic package, so most of the time.
2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony?
Three. Two manned, one backup.
3) Do you only wear one outfit all day (I've often seen photographers wear casual clothes for pre-ceremony then change for the ceremony/reception)?
Yes.
4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)?
Memory cards.
5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern?
Yes. Rather not tape up the lcd screen for anamorphic ratio, using older mics so agc disable is a plus, and continuous record, are the features we use it for.
6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay?
No, I like to tell the whole story and it makes it easier when editing to have everything.
7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage?
Use screen grabs.
8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc?
Print directly onto dvd with home printer.
9) Do you offer Blu-ray?
Yes.
10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)?
denoiser and mercalli.
11)arm or vest.
I think the vest looks silly. One of our business differentiators is that we are unobtrusive, we want to stand out from the guy that brings a big videocamera and lights.

[Corey Graham]

1) I never shoot with a 2nd shooter.
2) I use 3 or 4 cameras for the ceremony, 1 for the reception.
3) I only wear one outfit the entire day.
4) My cameras all record to SDHC.
5) I don't use Canon DSLR's.
6) I don't restrict the number of hours. Reason: everybody else does.
7) I try to remember to take my own stills for the DVD cover, but if I forget, I'll contact the photographer. I never use video grabs.
8) I print everything in-house, including printing directly to the DVD. Labels are a very bad idea, I avoid them at all costs.
9) I offer Blu-ray standard with every package.
10) My favorite plugin is Red Giant Denoiser, although it crashes every two seconds. But the results are great.

[Bobby Burns]

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter?
- Always, but I run the company together with my wife so I have I always have a second shooter :)

2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony?
- At least 2, ideally 3

3) Do you only wear one outfit all day (I've often seen photographers wear casual clothes for pre-ceremony then change for the ceremony/reception)?
- Same clothes all day but it depends on the couple and where it is. I've had cowboy casual dress code and went in nice jeans and a polo, but usually am in dress slacks and a button up.

4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)?
- DSLR so SD cards

5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern?
- Not at the moment. I have shot for about 2.5 years without it and though I do really want to use it, I fear that I may run into a problem that I might not know how to get around. It is probably just me being paranoid though

6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay?
- We have packages at 8 and 10 hours. They can keep me there all day if they want, but outside of the packages, extra hours = extra cost. We specifically DO NOT have an all day / unlimited package because that means many different things to different brides

7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage?
- Usually multiple smaller grabs as they aren't as blown up then. Though I never have really thought about using the photographers work, might be something I look into.

8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc?
- Still figuring out what works best for us
9) Do you offer Blu-ray?
- No
10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)?
- I would like to say pluraleyes but I can't quite get the hang of it. It would certainly save a bit of time though.

[Kren Barnes]

I'll bite...

1) How often do you film with a 2nd shooter?
Always, 3 during the ceremony

2) How many cameras do you use for the ceremony?
3 manned Canon DSLRs and 1 unmanned Vixia HG10

3) Do you only wear one outfit all day (I've often seen photographers wear casual clothes for pre-ceremony then change for the ceremony/reception? Yes, we always wear ties to all our weddings..we want to project a very professional and stylish image ...actually we just like being stylish :)

4) Do you film to memory cards, hard drives, tape based media, or other (primarily)?
SDHC

5) For Canon DSLR users, do you use Magic Lantern?
My colleague has one in his 60D. For me I don't see the need for it given the risks associated with its use.

6) In your contract, do you stipulate how many hours you will stay?
No, all day means we are there from prep to the garter and bouquet toss although we might start charging extra if they want us to be there for the entire photoshoot.

7) Do you take your own photographs for the DVD menu screen and case, do you coordinate with the photographer, or do you use screen grabs from your footage? No, when we meet with the B&G i advise them that it is their responsibility to provide them to us.

8) Do you print your DVD inserts on a home printer, have a printing service print them? Side question: do you print directly on the DVD, or to a label that you press on the disc? home printer and direct print

9) Do you offer Blu-ray? Yes however very few takers

10) What is your favorite software plug-in (or I guess what I mean is anything that doesn't come standard with your editing software suite)? Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks

Kren

[Michael Clark]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. I'll work up a little excel graph later. The main thing I learned (or confirmed) is that I need to move away from label printing. Seems as though Epson was the most mentioned brand. Any specific models you are happy to recommend?

[Katie Fasel]

We use the Epson Artisan 810 and really like it.