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Camera suggestions for web series
RevGutter
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Some friends and I have started a gaming blog and one of the things we do is record us screwing each other over in board games. Looking for some advice on good affordable cameras to use to get some better quality videos.
Currently I'm using a logitec c615 on a laptop, unfortunately the laptop struggles with anything over 15fps, even at 480p, so the results are pretty choppy at times. We want to add extra cameras for a few angles and that just wont be possible. I can drag my desktop down but then we still wont be able to do more than 2 cameras at 720p and from my tests the second camera will eventually start to stutter due to the load on the pc.
I've also used my Nikon Coolpix L820 but the 30min recording limit and lack of settings to adjust video recording makes it impracticable.
Any suggestions for stand alone cameras that are in the $100-$200 range, that can do at least a smooth 720p@30fps with good performance for indoor and somewhat lower lighting?
Currently I'm using a logitec c615 on a laptop, unfortunately the laptop struggles with anything over 15fps, even at 480p, so the results are pretty choppy at times. We want to add extra cameras for a few angles and that just wont be possible. I can drag my desktop down but then we still wont be able to do more than 2 cameras at 720p and from my tests the second camera will eventually start to stutter due to the load on the pc.
I've also used my Nikon Coolpix L820 but the 30min recording limit and lack of settings to adjust video recording makes it impracticable.
Any suggestions for stand alone cameras that are in the $100-$200 range, that can do at least a smooth 720p@30fps with good performance for indoor and somewhat lower lighting?
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Anyone know first hand how wide the fov is or how it does indoors? It would be an improvement over webcams but I would hate to drop $200 just to find out it wont work for what I need.
The hero3 will do view finder through a phone app, so you don't really need the viewfinder addon if you own an ios or android device already, The tripod mount is only $8, or you could just use one of the adhesive mounts included and stick it to something. It has 2 fov modes, not sure on the exact numbers for it though, but the "medium" setting basically just crops in the picture a bit to remove some of the fisheye effect.
I know the guys over at Tested.com used one for a while to do video podcasts and it looked alright, but no idea if a webcam would be a better solution.
here is a video i made with one
https://player.vimeo.com/video/20710708
@mts being as you have one, any idea about how far back the camera would need to be set to get about a 6 foot wide shot? also how well it looks indoors.
I'm going to look more into the hero to see just how much of a fisheye effect there is. If anyone has any other camera suggestions I'd love to hear them.
As someone that's done a lot of web-series stuff with varying success, let me give you a couple of tips:
1. Four People at a Table is bad unless you are ALL sitting together very closely and have a tight idea of what you want to accomplish.
Here's a bad example: Four people, sitting at a table, eating food, looking incredibly amateur due to framing and lighting issues. This was shot with a 2,000 dollar camera
2. Here's an example of how lighting and a steady hand can help you out, too: https://youtube.com/watch?v=uVEqjhkvV-o
Also color-scheme can make relatively poor video quality look great because things are interesting visually. Notice the all the "Reds" in this video: Here's an example of how color-scheme can help your videos look a bit more professional
3. Really you'd be better suited spending money on a decent lighting kid (or you can film near windows), and QUALITY recording equipment. Audio is often times the difference between a really great series (like AT4W) and a pleasant mediocre one (HVGN) is aesthetics. My rule of thumb is don't upgrade your camera to something fancy until you *really* need it. For your purposes check out any camera that shoots "1080" HD, and maybe have a manual focus in case you want to get fancy.
4. If you'd like to get into specifics for what you're trying to accomplish, inbox me, or post here, and I can give some pointers.
Tweeter: @MeekinOnMovies
FB: Facebook.com/MeekinOnMovies
Here's out latest video: (NSFW language and hopefully not considered a plug. We're no where near ready to be public)
Obviously lighting and composition is something we need to work on. We had some trouble with the external mic but it's not much better than the internal on the web cam anyway.
I know it doesn't look the best spread out like we are but I don't really know a better way that would still give us room to play. I also do want to add another camera or two. Having two people on one camera and two on another would help with that, like i said though using webcams is troublesome for this since we cant get a good framerate and resolution with more than one hooked up to the computer. Hence looking for a better camera option.
So I'm open to any tips you have on improving the lighting, composition and audio while we use the camera have. I really know nothing about this subject so specifics on say a mic would be most useful.
Also looked further into the hero. Seems the hero 3 white is just a hero 1 in an update case. From what I've read of the older sensor it uses I have a feeling I will be let down by the quality vs price for my uses.
Also a thought: Do you all have smart-phones? for something like this some POV shots would be awesome, and allow for some quality close ups of the gameplay, maybe you can mount them or prop them up in front of the players, so you can get better close ups of the game being played, because as it stands right now I have no idea what's going on, game-wise.
Do a google search for "Board James" and see what that guy does - You don't need to be crazy over the top like he is, but that's probably the best way I've seen board games be played.
Depending on your budget, you could also get a super-cheap HD Flip cam and suspend it from the ceiling with some doin'.
Tweeter: @MeekinOnMovies
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The yellow i just don't know. I've tried playing with the white balance on the camera, tried adjusting in edit (magix movie maker at the moment) and I just can't get it looking natural. Maybe it is just the lighting itself? All we have is the ceiling light right above us. Wonder how much a difference even using a different bulb in that would make.
Using our phones for POV shots is a great idea i hadn't considered. My concern with that is cutting to shots from cameras of different qualities. Worth a try to see though.
We've gotten the same feedback of not being able to follow the game on our first video too and it's something we're trying to work on. I absolutely want to be able to get a shot of the table, just a matter of figuring out how. For the moment we're sticking with games that don't necessarily have a board to view for that reason. A better intro could help with being able to follow along in those cases.
Into wise we're still working on that (along with a bunch of other ways to improve) and I have a few good ideas. Where I'm at now is after shooting for an hour or so, then editing it down and quality wise it still looking like ass in my opinion gets me really discouraged. I can spend a bunch of time doing a separate into and run down, work in pictures of the game and pieces (which is the plan) just to have it still look and sound terrible. Feels like polishing a turd, you know what i mean?
I think once i get the technical aspect of recording down and to a better over all quality I will feel I'm in a better place to start improving the content.
I've considered flip type cameras. Lack of expandable storage is a killer but I know there were other brands that do the same. Seems that whole category of cameras has pretty much vanished though and I'd rather not buy second hand.
How bout the audio... any tips on getting it cleaner and more clear? I know I gotta get the others to project their voice more.
Tweeter: @MeekinOnMovies
FB: Facebook.com/MeekinOnMovies
I did end up getting a cannon hf r400 and still got pretty poor results, so lighting really is what I was missing
If it connects to the camera, great, if not, sync the audio to the video during the editing process. If it does connect to the camera, your camera will need audio level controls for things to sound right. Otherwise, it'll sound better to capture audio separately.
Basically, a good video camera has an external mic input and the ability to control audio levels whilst recording. The 30 minute record limit, because you're using a still camera in movie mode? Not an issue, at all. A quick break to hit the record button again is no big deal. But the ability to record good audio in one take? That saves a ton of editing time.
Finally, you need to be more willing to do retakes. Retake, retake, retake, until the whole scene is smooth. If that means separate scenes for each actor, editing it all together in post, because one actor screws up their lines more often than the others, so be it.
Tweeter: @MeekinOnMovies
FB: Facebook.com/MeekinOnMovies
I don't do the editing and this last one isn't scheduled til next Friday. We just did munchkin and I'm going to try scanning some cards to overlay which should help with being able to follow what's going on.
Tagging and seo I'm pretty good with, ill take any advice though. Nothing is really set up that way yet cause we actually don't want to be found. Website needs tons of work and we're focused on generating as much content as we can first. don't want to start driving traffic to the site until we have something to keep people coming back.