A question to people who use cameras, like to film, know stuff about videos

Hi everyone!

I've got a question for those who create videos, know about filming, about picture quality about lens, heck! to anyone who knows about cameras

I have to do a film project (no this is no homework thread) and basically I gotta interview the chief of a building project ask him questions about the building costs, whatever. Anyway he is available next month so I decided to test out my camera for the interview and the quality is not that great. The most obvious choice here would be, get a better camera right? Well I did, a friend of mine lent me his fliming camera and I get the same video quality. Have a look at these two videos. Don't watch them all just enough so you can see the quality

First one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtNB3j38kZg&feature=related

Second one

http://www.youtube.com/user/swoozie06#p/u/7/uHXx_SkpkjY

Right now, doesn't matter how I film I get the same quality of the first video, and I'd like to have the quality of the second video.

My question is, how do I achieve that? Is it a camera thing? An editing thing? A lighting thing? Is it something that a software can fix?

The only thing I've noticed is a slight depth of field (I think that's the name?) in the second video but that's about it.

If there's anyone that can help me out there I'd greatly appreciate it

Thanks!

Well, if the quality of your video is as good as that first one, it's still not pretty bad! But I understand why you would want a better quality one. Personally for my videos, a lot of the quality depends on the lighting and what's happening around me (Like if the TV is on in the background it can be blurry, like the first video). If you say that it isn't your camera's issue then you should talk to your friend who lent it to you on how he makes the quality better! Also, throwing it into a program to clear it up a bit wouldn't be a bad idea, a quick google search should give you just what you need Kevin.

Well, if the quality of your video is as good as that first one, it's still not pretty bad! But I understand why you would want a better quality one. Personally for my videos, a lot of the quality depends on the lighting and what's happening around me (Like if the TV is on in the background it can be blurry, like the first video). If you say that it isn't your camera's issue then you should talk to your friend who lent it to you on how he makes the quality better! Also, throwing it into a program to clear it up a bit wouldn't be a bad idea, a quick google search should give you just what you need Kevin.

Well it depends on your camera. Cameras used by youtube celebrities such as RWJ, Sxephil (so forth) are usually 1080p dslr cameras with a lens with a big aperture (1.8,2-2.28)

A dslr with great 1080p capabilities would be the Nikon D7000, Canon T3i, and Canon 7d.

If you want the background to be blurry and your face/body to be in focus, the 35mm 1.8 is great.

The differences in the first video and the second video could be as simple as using different cameras. The first could have been a web cam while the other a DSLR or a true HD video cam. It could also be as simple as a setting inside the camera. Most digital cameras allow for saving pictures or videos at different resolutions. A lower resolution results in images similar to the first. The first video can be due to light settings also. By looking closer at the first video, it appears that they used a lower resolution, you can see the jaggies in the pic (it is played at 240p).

Make sure you use a tripod too.