Video and kit advice

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Alexjbassist

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Alex
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Hi all, first post here, and looking for some guidance.

I'm a professional musician, and have recently been recording tutorial play along videos for my students. Initially, I was just using my phone ( video and audio), but, I want to up the quality so have started using my studio to record the audio, and then just matching up the video from my phone with recorded audio.

So - quality of the audio is now great, but, I'm not happy with the video, and the syncing of the 2 is a pain!

Am looking for guidance on a suitable camera/video camera to record my video - just want it to look professional on YouTube. And easy software to use to edit the 2 together (PC).

Thanks - Alex.
 
It all depends on the resolution your looking at really to start.

I’d look at one of the Panasonic mirrorless with an fixed 17mm - 25mm prime (35-50mm). Make sure the body does 4K, get a tripod to keep it all stable and your golden.

Use Davinci Resolve 14 to throw it all together.

Other bodies that will do the same job but may cost a little more would be the Sony A6300 or the Fuji XT20. Lenses for those would be 23 and 35mm (35-50mm).

All of these bodies will need some form of mix input so have a look for a 2.5 or 3.5mm jack and use something in the £50 budget area by Rode
 
Thanks for the input - re resolution - I'm not sure - whatever is necessary to get pro quality looking video for YouTube/web.

With the Panasonic bodies - any models to checkout?
 
The Panasonic G7 will do the job, assuming t has a mic input. It’s 4k, can be found for about £350 and with a lens and mic comes in at around £530. Not bad really and the quality will be superb compared to using a phone.
 
My thoughts, for what they are worth, if you want to do video work then get the right bit of kit like a camcorder. If you want to do still then get a camera that is designed for stills.. You wont go far wrong with a Panasonic camcorder the video and sound reproduction are very good.


Just to say youtube does deteriorate videos to a degree so don't expect the same quality as you would get via the computer

Sicilian pipes player

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grBuLzgckak
 
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Camcorders, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras all have their merits for video. Maybe post some videos from YouTube that you would like to emulate and it will be easier to suggest what kit would suit you best.
 
One thing the OP hasn't mentioned is cost. how much is he prepared to spend on whatever he wants to record with. Not forgetting say a fluid tripod head and tripod. Then there is the question of using the internal mike of getting an extrnl one
 
If thinking about buying a used camcorder, don't forget that some of the older digital camcorders that used a built-in internal mini hard drive, rather than a memory card, had 'drop protection' sensors on them to protect the hard drive from physical damage in the event of sudden camera movement or minor drops. When the camera sensed a drop it would momentarily stop recording to the hard drive in an attempt to prevent damage. I believe that vibration from music played at loud volume could also trigger this and lead to the camera frequently cutting out when recording, particularly at live gigs with loud bass. Hope this is useful.
 
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One of my friends is the number one bass tutor on youtube and I know he uses Canon gear, specifically 6D's but he now has people doing to the camera work. (My other friend is number 2 which is mad really!) He told me he started with something like a 600d I think and moved on from there.

I use a Canon 70D with autofocus (godsend!) and a load of different but cheap lenses to give that great depth of field or wide angle which is useful recoding in a small space like a studio/office. I also have a 60D set up with the exact same colour profile as a B camera. It's helpful to be able to have enough visual material to cut with when editing rather than having to keep reshooting the same material with different angles. It doesn't matter to me that they're not 4K. Most of TV is still standard definition so 1080p is fine for youtube. So have an rough idea of the shots you want to be able to take and then work out from there. If you can get hold of a cheap mirrorless camera or even an iPhone then you can still get some great B roll shots for what you want to do. I have a friend who's a pro cameraman with some very expensive gear and he was on a shoot last year where the director had set up a few cheap Sony mirrorless cameras to get some extra shot with.

Another really important consideration is the light. I have a permeant office set up with four 85w 5400k daylight bulbs (as well as a couple of light boxes to give a softer light) that I can position in places to give plenty of light to my face and have a back light to bring me off the background. It's all cheap stuff (Ikea lamps that fix to my desk - £10 each) but it allows me to be able to shoot regardless of the changing weather conditions or even just being able to shoot after dark. Also, the less work your camera has to do the better so I can keep the ISO down to 100 by just moving the lights closer.

Also, make sure you have a tripod - common sense really for static shots. If you're shooting yourself then you're not going to get any dynamic shots unless you buy a motorised camera slider or have someone else film you so a couple of different tripods will help in different situations. I have a frame built around my desk (again, all cheap stuff) that I can mount the camera on in an overhead position as well as on the side to do head shots. I use a gorillapod when out and about and then I have a couple of decent tripods with video heads. I also have a slider and a cheap steadycam stabiliser - which takes some getting used to.

You also need to consider your editing machine. You need something pretty fast for video editing and then you'll need to get your head around the software. There's plenty of really good free editing software, such as DaVinci's Resolve, but you need processing power to use it. I'm finding it hard to migrate from Final Cut Pro X as I have loads of additional add-ons that you can't get for Resolve just yet but that's my issue and not anything to do with the software. Afterall, you just need to keep the cuts clean rather than any silly transitions between shots and for that the basic editing software will do.


There's plenty more to consider but the bar is set pretty high on youtube and the most important thing to consider is the content rather than the camera you're shooting on. You can have the best gear in the world but if you're boring and your content is crap then forget about it!
 
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I would suggest you look at a quality camcorder. After all they are designed to record video. You may not need to spend a lot of money to get quality that is OK on You Tube. Panasonic/Canon? Sony all make good models . I would also consider an external microphone suitable for the cameras if you don't already own one.

As far as software is concerned I'd opt fr something like Premier elements. You can download a trial from the Adobe site. Other software such as Resolve is excellent but if you've never edited video before I'd suggests you leave it well alone, even if there is a free version
 
I have a panasonic HC-X900M, if you can find one secondhand then go for it but make sure it has the M on the end
focus was on the mini tripod in answer to someone else on another site

I have had this one some years and still gives great video and stills. Now very hard to get hold of but top of range when produced

video example in previous post
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Another example

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQI23VmWeCc
 
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