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Current Students

Technology Guide

Greetings from the technology staff at the Journalism School. Our department will be working closely with you during your time here.

Our mission is to help you use various forms of technology in ways that are integrated with our academic courses and best suited to the curriculum and your assignments. We are not primarily a technology school, so everything we provide is in the service of journalism.

In conjunction with the faculty, we teach some technical skills while expecting you to be fast learners willing to, as they say, practice, practice, practice. Any technical skills (using digital cameras, image editing, web production, etc) that you can acquire before you arrive here will be useful - but not mandatory. Depending on the courses you take, you will learn these and other skills.

The school's equipment room keeps, for student use, dozens of video and still cameras, radio recording kits, etc. – enough to service many classes and projects simultaneously. However, given the way the news business is changing and how many students and faculty use technologies, we are unable to stock the vast amounts of cameras, audio recorders and portable storage media that would be needed to cover every contingency or more than 300 students’ personal interests. The equipment we have is earmarked for use within each class, which means there may not be gear available for students pursuing their own projects or looking for equipment outside of class sessions.

Therefore, we recommend that you look through the attached equipment guidelines and bring with you the items that fit your budget. While none of these are mandatory, owning your own gear will make your year a lot smoother.

Please note: One thing we do NOT do is serve as a repair shop. You will be responsible for the maintenance and servicing of your own equipment.

We welcome your comments and feedback on this guide at equipment@lists.jrn.columbia.edu and look forward to seeing you in August.

Laptop Computer

The Journalism School is equipped with seven computer labs and various other computer terminals. Having your own computer is by no means required, but we recommend that you bring your own laptop so you can work in the field, at home, in spaces that don’t have computers inside the School, or on the sunny steps of the Journalism building.

Laptop computers should meet the following minimal specifications:

  • Operating System: Mac 10.4 or 10.5 or Windows XP/Vista
  • Microsoft Office
  • Wi-Fi Connectivity
  • USB 2.0 or FireWire Connectivity
  • 512MB RAM (we recommend 1GB for Print and 2GB for Broadcast/ New Media)

For most print students, a laptop (Mac or Windows) with wireless connectivity and Microsoft Office should meet your needs. For students involved in multimedia applications, we recommend using a Mac. Macs come with a variety of basic video, audio and photo editing tools. Intel Macs are also capable of running Windows through either Boot Camp or virtualization software like Parallels or VMWare’s Fusion.

If you plan to purchase a new Mac, the Apple MacBook will be sufficient for most students. The Apple MacBook Pro is recommended for students interested in editing professional video on their laptops. Professional industry editing applications like Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer require an independent video card that is included in the MacBook Pro. Please note that the School has extensive video editing capabilities with a Final Cut Pro lab, 2 Avid labs, and individual Avid edit suites, so the purchasing of video editing software is not required.

Photo

During the school year, students will use digital cameras to capture stills for their print and web stories. There are also photo skills classes where students learn advanced photojournalism skills and work with our Canon Digital SLR cameras. These are advanced cameras with full manual controls and removable lenses. These cameras are available in the Journalism School’s equipment room for students enrolled in photo skills courses.

For most assignments, students can get by with a small point-and-shoot camera, if not their cell phone cameras. We recommend using a point-and-shoot with the following features:

  • Records in standard formats (.jpg, .tiff, RAW) (no proprietary software required)
  • At least 5 mega pixels
  • Can connect to a computer via USB
  • Offers full manual and auto controls
  • Records to removable flash media

There is a long list of cameras that meet the specifications above and many students may already own one. As long as the cameras records in standard formats and can upload via USB to a computer, it should be compatible with the School’s computers and software.

For those who don’t own a digital camera, the School maintains a stock of Canon point-and-shoot cameras. For students wishing to purchase a camera. We recommend the Canon Powershot A470. The A470 offers great functionality and a low cost.

The advanced photojournalism skills curriculum requires students to file photographs every day of the week throughout the duration of the class. They must carry their cameras with them at all times. Canon 10/20/30D cameras are provided by the school's equipment room and are checked out to students for the duration of the course. These cameras are adequate from a training perspective and allow the School to balance the cost/quantity ratio for the number of cameras required.

The number of camera kits available to students is more than adequate to fulfill the curriculum needs of the school. That said, because of the limited quantity of SLR cameras available to students during peak times, students not enrolled in photojournalism course might have difficulty gaining access to SLR cameras for other classes.

The following information is provided below for students who are committed to pursuing a career in photojournalism and have decided to purchase their own equipment. The technology department does not recommend students purchase their own Digital SLR equipment to complete the coursework at the school.

A student looking to begin a career in photojournalism might begin with a minimum package of gear that includes:

  • Canon 5D camera or comparable model*
  • Canon 16-35mm f2.8 II IS lens
  • Canon 24-70mm f2.8 lens
  • 2 x Canon NP-E3 batteries
  • 3 x 2GB High Speed Flash cards

These minimum requirements for an aspiring photojournalist represent a portion of the standard package of equipment a professional news photographer would carry for a daily assignment.

* While the Canon 10/20/30D produce images that are more than acceptable for publication, they are not considered professional standards for photojournalism reporting.

Audio

Audio recorders are used by students for recording sound for Radio broadcast and New Media web stories and as a general reference for interviews.

All students will be required to capture audio in their RW1 class. The School provides a variety of audio recorders, many of which are reserved for Broadcast and New Media students.

Since the School cannot guarantee access to audio recorders to all students at any given point in time, it is recommended that students consider acquiring their own recorder. Recorders should meet the following specifications:

  • Records digitally preferably to removable media (flash/Hi-MD)
  • Able to transfer audio files to the computer via USB and/or FireWire
  • Has external Mic input for plugging in a professional microphone either XLR, 1/4” or 1/8” adaptable to XLR
  • Records or converts to standard audio format (.wav) without third-party software (exception for some professional Sony Hi-MD recorders: MZ-M10, MZ-M100, MZ-M200, MZ-RH1)

One solution for students who have an iPod is a microphone accessory, such as the Belkin TuneTalk voice recorder for iPod. Before purchasing an iPod accessory, please make sure your iPod model is compatible with it.

For students who do not own an iPod or want a dedicated audio recorder, the Zoom H2 recorder has become the School’s standard for non-broadcast applications. It comes with 512MB SD flash card. A more expensive alternative, the Zoom H4, is also available. It features professional XLR mic inputs.

For students in a broadcast concentration, the school’s primary audio recorders are the Marantz PMD 660 recorder and the Sony MZ-M100/MZ-M200 Hi-MD recorders.

Because of advances in flash recorder technology, the School will begin a slow transition from a base of Sony HiMD recorders for broadcast students to flash recorders. Broadcast students wishing to purchase their own recorder should consider a flash-based model. We are still testing a variety of models on the market but feel comfortable recommending the following for broadcast applications:

  • Olympus LS-10 (at the low end)
  • Sony PCM-D50 (at the high end)

These are just two of a growing number of flash recorders hitting the market. We like these because they get tremendous battery life via AA batteries and come with built-in storage in addition to their ability to work with memory cards.

As long as the audio records to a broadcast format (WAV) and can easily be transferred to a computer via USB, there are a large number of audio recorders that will be compatible with the School’s audio editing facilities.

What to avoid: Be wary of recorders that only record in WMA or other proprietary formats that require software conversion before being imported into Pro Tools and other NLE Audio editors.

A good source of information on audio recorders for journalists is at http://www.transom.org/tools.

Hard Drive

Students create many text and media files during their time at the School. While the Journalism School provides network and local storage for student data, students are ultimately responsible for securing their personal data. Because of this, we recommend that all students bring a portable, external hard drive.

The drives should meet the following specifications:

  • USB/FireWire 400/800 ports
  • Minimum of 80GB (250GB or more recommended for New Media/Broadcast)
  • 5400 or 7200 RPM

We recommend the Lacie Rugged Triple Interface drives. They offer a good value for the price, durability and do not require a power supply. The drives come in a variety of sizes and prices. Before you make a purchase you should consider what type of work you plan on doing. Students producing a lot of video may want to purchase a larger drive. For students working on minimal amount of multimedia projects, a smaller capacity will be adequate.

Having a portable hard drive is a sound practice. Not only does it allow you to transfer files among computers, it also provides a means of backup.

Video

The School provides video cameras in its equipment room for the students enrolled in courses and projects that require them. The School’s standard format for Broadcast is Sony DVCAM. The video editing systems at the School will also support video shot on consumer and professional Mini-DV tape cameras.

New Media Students use Sony HDV/DV Camcorders.

The School’s broadcast computers do not support most video cameras that record to hard drives, flash media and/or Mini DVDs.

For non-broadcast students, the department evaluated several simple point-and-shoot video cameras for capturing short clips that can be posted to the web with little to no post-production. A couple of models evaluated were:

  • Flip Ultra (at the low end)
  • Canon FS100 (at the not so low end)

There are tremendous drawbacks to all low-end hard drive and flash-based cameras. Battery life, file format, file transfer and upload are some of the many concerns. The two models above represent two opposite philosophies in video capture.

The Flip Ultra is point and shoot, records to an internal flash drive, and has no advanced features. When recording is done, a flip-out USB port plugs into the computer and the files can be transferred.

The Canon FS-100 records to a format that requires software transcoding and a trickier workflow, but it offers an excellent zoom, works with SD flash cards and has a mic input for better audio quality.

Both will work to some degree at the School. The School has decided to purchase the Flip Ultras for use by print students. Students interested in buying a video camera are encouraged to consider the features and price points of each before making a purchasing decision.

From Larry Fried, Asst. Dean for Technology