Video Editing and Vlogging

Anyone here vlog on a semi-regular basis? I'm thinking of starting vlogging about skating.

I'm looking for recommendations on video editing software. Nothing fancy, just something better than the GoPro studio I'm currently using. This would be for putting together videos of me vlogging about skating. Want software the works on PC, but would be cool if it is available for PC and Mac. Free, ideally. But I'm fine paying modestly if that's what it takes to get something good.

Any experiences or suggestions on starting vlogging?

I don't vlog, but I do make youtube videos on my projects.

Windows movie maker is a good starting point for learning and doing simple videos. If your PC doesn't already have it you can download it from the mothership for free. There are tons of videos on youtube on how to edit with movie maker.

Once you have mastered Movie Maker, the next step up is Wondershare/Filmora. I believe It cost something like $70.00 for a lifetime license and upgrades are generally free. Without the license you can still use Wondershare on a trial basis. I really like Wondershare/Filmora and it was recently upgraded to do chroma key (green screen).

Chroma key is an awesome but not necessary for the beginner, however at some point you may want to look into it.

Here is a shot of my green screen studio. I sourced everything from ebay and the total cost was less than $200.00... including lighting.

Here is a screen shot of a test video that was done on green screen. Yeah, this was shot in a spare bedroom...

Anyway, movie maker is a good starting point for practice and simple videos Wondershare/Filmora is the next level for cheap.

We've been using Pinnacle Studio for video editing. IIRC it wasn't that expensive. We chose the middle of the road features for about $80.

see I can't help you. I was a professional video editor for years.. but we used Avid and Final Cut Pro. I am completely unaware of the stuff on the cheap end

Back in the day, I used Fraps and Windows Movie Maker to capture PC gaming video and make "movies" for Youtube, worked just fine for simple stuff. I eventually needed something with more tools/options, and SWMBO still had Adobe Premiere Elements from making educational and training videos in grad school.

I learned Premiere Elements pretty quick, it was intuitive, and simple enough, but gives you tons more control than WMM.

Premiere Elements 15 is $99 direct from Adobe's website, but if you've got a .edu address I know they used to offer a student/teacher version for a significant discount.

IMHO Premiere Elements is a good suggestion. If you want to bring a Howitzer to a knife fight you can also look at Da Vinci Resolve, that one is free for personal use. Takes a while to learn, though.

I make videos a bunch. Generally the best editing software is the one you can learn. I prefer Sonys programs, and they can do a lot. Basically any of the programs will work for most anything the normal person wants to do. Some of my friends who use Adobe premier do exactly what I do with Sony Vegas. It's just preference IMO.

The thing that I would add is mic quality. A good pin mic Is MILES ahead of the mic in any camera I've tried. I plug it into a very old recording device and it sounds soooo much better. Integrated mics pick up everything, you want to pic up your voice. You can even run the file through a free program called Audacity and clean it up. In fact, recording your voice seprate from video cam be very helpful for mixing, as long as you can match it up. A clap or two at the beginning can help as a locating point.

Pin mics aren't as pricy as you think, either. My pin mic was 1/5 the price of my desktop mic and sounds almost as good.

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