Video Hardware/Software Response

The camera that I received in my production kit was one of the older Olympus models, and it was VERY slow. I would press the power button and it would take about 4 or 5 seconds for the camera to turn on. I had a hard time taking pictures that didn't look blurry. I did not have the patience to use this camera. I own an Olympus camera of my own, the SP-560UZ, so I used that instead. I had a much easier time taking pictures and video with this than with the one in my kit. I was already familiar with the controls and knew how to get the results I wanted without fiddling around. I still had a few problems here and there, but for the most part, I got what I wanted. My perfect camera would have unlimited battery life and storage, with an incredibly fast lens with a powerful optical zoom, an awesome image stabilizer, manual focus and settings, a large glare-proof pivoting screen, a great viewfinder with an eyecup, be waterproof, be nearly unbreakable, and it would also be lightweight.

I tried to download a few different free video editing programs, but none of them worked very well. The free program that pleased me the most was the trial of AVITricks Pro, but it still didn't do everything I needed or wanted. I ended up downloading Quicktime Pro. I wish I had some prior editing experience with this program. I still don't have a complete understanding of all the features, but I've gotten a good start. Just like any other program, I spent a large amount of time experimenting with it to get a better understanding of its functions. The only disappointment I had was how long it took me to figure out what I was doing and get what I wanted. I will definitely be using it in the future for editing schoolwork and for my own personal videos. I used Ulead Gif Animator to animate my still photos. I have 6+ years of experience with this program, so I found it very easy to get the results I wanted with it. I learned about many features that I had not known how to use before, and I feel like I have a much better understanding of it as a whole. I am very pleased with the results I got using this program.