Getting more interested in video, rather than photos.

jonbeeza

jonbeeza

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Been getting more interested in taking video, not that interested in photos at the moment. I am really wanting to capture video of the family, and various things and events that I do.
Most of the time I used to spend so much time reading up on reviews, of cameras and lenses etc. But at the moment, I am reading up on reviews of video cameras / camcorders.

I really am pretty keen to add a camcorder, or some form of dedicated video recording device, to my little collection. Been counting up the pennies and looking at what other important bills we have coming up, and I think I can add an affordable camcorder to the shopping list bill.

There is not much talk on the subject of video cameras on this forum, but I suppose that is reasonable, seeing as though it is more of a photography forum.
I used to get all the info for video cameras from simply DV forum, a place that I used to be a member of. But that forum has long since gone.

Might have to get out, and visit a few camera shops. Are their any left? :thinking:
 
gremlin16 said:
Have you considered a dji osmo pocket 2? Very portable and handy for those impromptu moments.
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Yes, some have mentioned that as a good option. I do like the Gimbal tech that comes with it, just the dinky little sensor that puts me off. I think it a 1/2.3 sized sensor, so much smaller than my current cameras, so not the best in low light recording. But thanks anyway.
 
jonbeeza said:
Yes, some have mentioned that as a good option. I do like the Gimbal tech that comes with it, just the dinky little sensor that puts me off. I think it a 1/2.3 sized sensor, so much smaller than my current cameras, so not the best in low light recording. But thanks anyway.
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My brother-in-law uses 2 of these on his Youtube channel. They're so easy to use.
View: https://youtu.be/dO071LQ88KM
 
I would avoid any interest in mechanical gimbals if possible as stabilising plus steady hand is much more practical option.
Aided by improving stabilisation of most cameras.
Could consider the Osmo Action it's wide angle only but good for quick and easy on the go (stabilised) footage.
GoPro are good but I won't recommend them as they are over priced with poor battery life and notorious for unexplained crashes.
Traditional camcorders are a dying breed but can still get good results, it's just a range of still cameras are good at video too nowadays e.g. Sony Zv-1 or any mirrorless for that matter.
 
4wd said:
I would avoid any interest in mechanical gimbals if possible as stabilising plus steady hand is much more practical option.
Aided by improving stabilisation of most cameras.
Could consider the Osmo Action it's wide angle only but good for quick and easy on the go (stabilised) footage.
GoPro are good but I won't recommend them as they are over priced with poor battery life and notorious for unexplained crashes.
Traditional camcorders are a dying breed but can still get good results, it's just a range of still cameras are good at video too nowadays e.g. Sony Zv-1 or any mirrorless for that matter.
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I have been out over the last day or so, and this was practicing my videoing techniques, while walking. It is doable, but it is just so much hard work, concentrating on keeping things still and stable, while trying to concentrate on the action. I have been watching heel and toe walking and practicing it, again doable but I draw attention to myself, something I don't really want.
 
jonbeeza said:
I have been out over the last day or so, and this was practicing my videoing techniques, while walking. It is doable, but it is just so much hard work, concentrating on keeping things still and stable, while trying to concentrate on the action. I have been watching heel and toe walking and practicing it, again doable but I draw attention to myself, something I don't really want.
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Like everything it gets easier with practice. Smartphones take great video, maybe that which a gimbal is enough? If filming family events and things you’re involved i would want to keep gear and distraction to a minimum.
 
TimHughes said:
Like everything it gets easier with practice. Smartphones take great video, maybe that which a gimbal is enough? If filming family events and things you’re involved i would want to keep gear and distraction to a minimum.
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I am going to see how I get on with my Canon G7X for video, did a few video clips yesterday. Just trying to master the heel to toe walking, without looking like an idiot.
 
I’ve been practising taking video with a GoPro Hero 8 black recently, and have been very pleased with the results. The in-built stabilisation is fantastic. I’ve also become a lot more interested in video in recent times and have a rough ‘plan’ in my head to use this along side my Sony A7R3.
 
Nikon_Nick said:
I’ve been practising taking video with a GoPro Hero 8 black recently, and have been very pleased with the results. The in-built stabilisation is fantastic. I’ve also become a lot more interested in video in recent times and have a rough ‘plan’ in my head to use this along side my Sony A7R3.
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I have been reading up on the Hero 8 and yes it does look good, watched a couple of YouTube videos, were they have recorded video with it. Can see just a slight bobbing action, as they are walking.
 
Slight niggle with the Hero 8, you can't replace the front lens, should it get scratched.
 
Maybe I can help . Having had a Panasonic camcorder for 9 years until it eventually started giving me problems i part exchanged it for a Sony FDR-AX53 what they call a handycam, wow what a difference. 4K recording as well as AVC which is Jpeg so can go straght onto youtube. it has a built in gimbal which is fantastic best on the market in my opinion. to get the best is to use the heel tgoe way of walking ,takes a bit of practise but soon get used to it. The video and stills quality is amazing and you can't ask more re zoom capabilities.


Does it have and drawbacks ?yes . Open the flip screen and it automatically switches on as does the eyepiece when used, the screen is hard to see ,like most, in bright sunlight and reflects so I tend to used the eyepiece instead. the sensor and shutter cover are close to the front so I added a 55mm UV filter to protect. the eyepiece doesn't have and not available a rubber around it for the eye but I found the Nikon DK-19 can be streatched which does the job.

What do I like? the top hotshoe has contact pins for a mcrophone, I bought the Sony stereo one (£99) which is amazing and no leads to mess about or come out. Also bought a lens cap spare batteries - 128GB SD card- step up ring 55mm to 77mm and a 77mm lens hood fcor one good reason . A smaller lens hood if panning may show up on the video edge .

How about using a remote wireless control? I found the JJC SR-F2W transmitter and reciever allows on/off- zoom - picture on it or else an Ipad or similar. I also purchased a Gutmann deadcat which is better than the one supplied with the microphone

So is it worth around the £700+ extras? definately no doubt about it. Easy to use -great video and picture quality- amazing zoom range- being able to keep steady while walking. What more could you ask for?

not the best video due to windy conditions taken yesterday from 10 ft away hand held

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuLRuOHnWJk
 
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realspeed said:
Maybe I can help . Having had a Panasonic camcorder for 9 years until it eventually started giving me problems i part exchanged it for a Sony FDR-AX53 what they call a handycam, wow what a difference. 4K recording as well as AVC which is Jpeg so can go straght onto youtube. it has a built in gimbal which is fantastic best on the market in my opinion. to get the best is to use the heel tgoe way of walking ,takes a bit of practise but soon get used to it. The video and stills quality is amazing and you can't ask more re zoom capabilities.


Does it have and drawbacks ?yes . Open the flip screen and it automatically switches on as does the eyepiece when used, the screen is hard to see ,like most, in bright sunlight and reflects so I tend to used the eyepiece instead. the sensor and shutter cover are close to the front so I added a 55mm UV filter to protect. the eyepiece doesn't have and not available a rubber around it for the eye but I found the Nikon DK-19 can be streatched which does the job.

What do I like? the top hotshoe has contact pins for a mcrophone, I bought the Sony stereo one (£99) which is amazing and no leads to mess about or come out. Also bought a lens cap spare batteries - 128GB SD card- step up ring 55mm to 77mm and a 77mm lens hood fcor one good reason . A smaller lens hood if panning may show up on the video edge .

How about using a remote wireless control? I found the JJC SR-F2W transmitter and reciever allows on/off- zoom - picture on it or else an Ipad or similar. I also purchased a Gutmann deadcat which is better than the one supplied with the microphone

So is it worth around the £700+ extras? definately no doubt about it. Easy to use -great video and picture quality- amazing zoom range- being able to keep steady while walking. What more could you ask for?
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Thanks for taking the time to post all that. I will have a read up on your suggestions. Although I don't think I want to be spending £700 or so.
I was thinking of something small and discreet, for about £350 max, as I have already got too many cameras that can already do video, just not stabalised.

I know many have suggested the OSMO pocket, but with the dinky little sensor, it would struggle in low light. Still reading up on things.

For the time being I am going to use the Canon G7X, for walk about videos.
 
I took this today but didn't know if I could even make video of it as it kept going behind the flower heads. So this is the sequence of how.

I took 2 videos and put them one at at time into Adobe premier Elements 2020 which is a video editing suite.

The first video I had to cut out so many sections it was unbelievable to get anytjhing at all. next was to do the same with the second video .

So now I had something to work with

Next was to join the two videos together. Then I thought what about freeze framing one frame to actually show the butterfly with wings spread.

After that was adding a heading within the video itself. I was going to do a scrolling one but forgot how I did it before, still never mind

Last was to get rid of terrible background noise and add a bit of music
So this is the final result what do you think? honest opinions please

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrYbEFWHiLA
 
droj said:
Hollywood comes to the home counties ...
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The point is after all this time the same questions keep comming up about stills photography-equipment used etc etc.
Isn't it time videography ,which is another form of taking photos, was given a chance to show what members can do?
Just a thought to make the site more interesting
 
I agree as I speed an increasing proportion of time on video rather than stills. Still aim to apply all I’ve learned taking stills and build from there.

The butterfly video is an achievement. I’d have liked it more with less brick in the background.
 
Tim thank you. Made me smile a bit me trying to get the butterfly in a position to show less brickwork. Think I need to have a word with it ;)

Good point, the problem actually is I was about 10 ft away and hand holding trying to video close up a smallish moving subject. By getting a closer shot it would have gone more out of frame. So the choice is a video with the butterfly constanly going out of shot, or a wide one showing more background.
get too physically close and one can scare it away

with a stills shot one can enlarge the photo and crop out most of the surroundings, with a video you can't do that at least with my Adobe Premier Elements 2020 video editing suite

hope this explains why
 
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Would a tripod have helped in this situation? Also filming in 4K to allow cropping to HD?
 
Tim
A tripod prevents being able to move the camcorder around to get the best position so no not really any help . This was shot in 4K and also XAVCS as I have the camcorder set to duel record. As for cropping the editing suite I use doesn't have that only candid moments for up to 5 seconds.
I guess where your coming from but making a video without extremely expensive equipment does limit what one can do.

As a breakdown of costs
Sony FDR-AX53 handycam = £700 approx
Sony microphone ECM-XYST1M =£100
Sony pistol grip GP-VPT1 = £92
UV 55mm filter =£20
stepup ring and lens hood £50
Gutmann deadcat = £20
lens cap= £5
Nikon DK-19 eyecup=£10 (Sony don't make one for this camcorder but the nikon will stretch and does the job)
Adobe premier Elements Disc £80
I did get a wireless remote as well JJC SR-F2W

with a good SD card your looking at around £1100 which is cheap compared with some cameras. But what a lot more one can do with this,well worth a consideration

pjf1zb7.jpg


Why such a big lens hood? well if the camcorder is moved sideways or up and down to quickly the internal floating Gimbal with a smaller hood will catch the hood edges in the video
 
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Sony camcorder sold a couple of days ago only had it for a short time. like many others have said, if to alter one setting that camcorder automatically alters everthing else. So very little manual control apart from that a great little camera.

So what have I ordered instead and waiting to arrive.

It is a Panasonic HC-X1500 withVW-HU1 handle and another 128 GB sd card. the whole lot new for just over £1500 in a winter special offer
What attracted me to it was the duel memory card slots- the huge choice of functions and the handle not only with its built in LED light and mike holder ,but being able to also mount a mike in the cold shoe well away from the camcorder. The actual spec it too big to post on here.

Had a panasonic before for about 9 years but wear and tear eventually caught up so that went
 
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So how does this compare with what I had before?
I suppose the first thing is image stablisation, I actually find it better that the Sony strangely enough as that is the Sony big selling point. Being able to have more control over what it can do is so much better although auto mode is still an option . In the past I have had SD cards fall apart mainly due to age and usage so having the duel card slots is handy in whatever way one sets them up Having a handle is a great addition not only for the light but also to control the stereo output from each mike via the XLR ports.
On the subject of sound I made a big error I discovered. I plugged in the microphone which was on the handle straight into the camcorder, well you would wouldn't you? NO sound "Sh*t"
Actually what I didn't do was to alter the handle dial settings I found out later. live and learn.
Still on the subject of sound what a pain in the arse finding a stereo microphone that uses XLR leads. Most are hard wired into the mike and use crossover heads let alone how they are powered. so extra connectin leads needed, not the ideal
I wanted one that have movable heads sideways as well as straight ahead and used AA or AAA batteries. Only found on make that suited as the connection lead is detachable. Now it is so easy to balance each channel without having to dive into the menu to set up.

back to the camcorder.
Not only does it do 4K or 1080p it also has a choice of not only formats but also a choice of "style" outputs . I am not interested in the live broadscast setup which it also does for live streaming without any more attachments.
To go into what it has in the menu is impossible as there are so many options let alone how you set up the extrnl buttons. It took me about 9 hours to start to understand the thinking behind it on what it is capable of and still finding out more. Certainly it is not for the casual videographer but if seriously interested on an amature level then yes a great bit of kit

As for drawbacks? yes the main one is not having a wireless remote contol apart from using a Pad or what ever. On can fit other filters but I found the hood oes not lock into position with the filters I have. . Being the size and weight I would say having a handle is a must although totally usable without.
 
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UPDATE

Update on using sennheiser MKE400 directional mike on Panasonic HC-X1500 camcorder. Somewhere else I mentioned this microphone would not work on the camcorder handle as it has a fixed lead to it. Issue solved today as a female to female connector arrived.
P1050522.JPG

So now the XLR cable from the camcorder handle via the connector direct to the microphone lead.
The handle actually cut out the microphone socket on the camcorder so I could not go down that route.

also now keeps the deadcat well away from the sensor The deadcat is by GUTMANN
P1050525.JPG

much reduced wind rumble across microphone
Hand held video
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htoMD8vNiLc


so well happy with that but did not have it in auto focus. Ss tghis will be my main setup and F3 "spark" file setting

Had a thought about better onboard lighting as well

8NE6rUP.jpg

I had an extending straight arm in my kit so put a stud I cut down from a screw thread and put that in one end and the stereo microphone on the other. Now the CN-160 LED light wont be blocked. Bit Heath Robinson but it works

The clamp which fixes onto the camcorder body all I could find that fitted were directional microphones

One annoying thing now is putting videos onto youtube. the MOV and MP4 files basically don't work ,so have to record in AVCHD
 
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Having had this Panasonic HC-X1500 for a reasonable time to test try out (at home only) I can well understand why it is not for anyone. Getting ones head around it and solving issues that arise may well put people off. Above showed what I came up with to suit me. Yes one could used auto mode but really that defeats the reason for buying it.
Going into manual mode all options are there. it is just a question which to use and set up . Having the four user buttons on the camcorder body does make things easier and of course the two SD card slots are useful. Such as in AVCHD mode the 128mb cards will give around 24 hours record time in relay mode with the supplied battery of about 6 hrs, amazing.
So what about hand held? here again even walking the camcorder does a very good job of keeping the picture steady, infact I would go as far as to say better that the Sony one I had before , this even has three settings in the menu. .

To sum up, if getting seriously into video work then for what this costs is well worth considering. for the price. For the casual /hobby may be a bit more to it than needed. Would I recommed it ?yes if considering doing a lot of videoing, even for paid work
 
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