I had a major lesson re-learned this week. A timely reminder if you will that tends to trap many.

I have just moved house to a place I call "The Shed in the Field", mainly because that is where it is, literally. There is no ADSL, no landline, digital TV is limited to ABC and SBS, water comes from a tank when it rains, there is no rubbish removal service - you get the idea. The reasons why I have made this move are not important.

I have decided to document the move and how with minimal access to technology, I can still live fairly well; decent FM radio, movies and TV shows being accessed that I cannot get free to air and so on. This has taken the form of the "Shed in the Field" project over at Auscam Online. And of course includes video. It is not intended to be perfectly shot and lit video, complete with scripts, but fly-on-the-wall stuff as I feel fit.

I intended to use my Canon XHA1 to at least get decent HD footage, and on the first morning, as the day dawned very cold and foggy, the view straight down the valley was breathtaking! I shot around 10 minutes of the scenery,and The Shed, but when I went to capture it, the computer and the camera (via Firewire) simply would not talk. It appears the Firewire port in the Canon has burned out.

For a good ten minutes I was down in the dumps; I like my 'big' camera and know it backwards. Anything but would never be as good. The nearest Canon service centre is 3 1/2 hours away, and this could take weeks!

Eventually, sanity prevailed and I picked up my backup camera, an old Sony and a loaner I had for review which is a Panasonic SDR-S50. The Panny is tiny, shoots to SD card and MPEG2. I have been using it for the last few days now, and am suitably impressed with it and especially low light abilities.

Now this is a basic, basic camcorder that sells for $299, and as such, forces you to think about the shots and not rely on automatic gizmos to get it all right. I accept that the stuff I have done is no Spielberg masterpiece, and wouldn't even rate as a Spielberg mega-disaster, but it has done the job I am asking it to.

So here is the lesson - again - a top shelf piece of equipment does not make you a top shelf videographer.