OT: video camera reviews

That would be my thought. I borrowed one from a co-worker and made a few video's. A nice stable base/tripod would be important. (Youtube complained that my videos had too much jitter.)

You might try asking Dave Jones of the eevblog. He probably has lots of good advice.

George H.

[snip]

I'm not sure if you have something like this in your area, but my city has an Arts center that rents video/audio production equipment to local artists.

This may be an option if you don't want to buy...

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what he uses is probably on the expensive side

this guy uses a go-pro

-Lasse

Three of my favorite youtubers are:

A lot of people ask Bill what he uses:

"Bosnianbill's Camera

I use a 3-year old Sony Cybershot. Consumer Reports said it had the most dynamic and accurate macro focus, although it still messes up once in a while. I record in the native MTS format at 30fps (the highest setting) and convert to MP4 using my video processing software, Magix Video Pro X6. I always use a 10" tripod and, because my big mouth is right over the camera, do not need a microphone. Probably ANY decent camera will work fine IF you use a Tripod AND make sure you have good lighting. Natural light is best but a good overhead florescent works well too. On the rare complex" video, I always have an outline of points to cover & keep it just out of frame."

Some tips from EEVblog forum:

I haven't picked up on what Jody (welding tips and tricks) uses camera wise...

You can watch stuff these guys are doing and get an idea of what works. Take a look at their subscriber numbers, obviously other people like what they are doing...

I don't like buying new stuff like cameras. You take a big hit in depreciation, like buying a new car. I would watch Craig's List and get something decent used. You can use Amazon to look up offerings and then read comments, reviews and maybe what they are currently selling for...

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Leon Fisk 
Grand Rapids  MI/Zone 5b 
Remove no.spam for email

Videos have generic problems which mean that they have limited usefulness: - can't google for spoken words - sloooooow. I can speed-read 10 times faster than I can watch a video - difficult to browse/skip/return to an interesting point Basically I'm not going to spend an hour of my remaining life watching a video on the off-chance there might be something useful. OTOH, I will spend 30s speed reading

Usually videos are used where the author has an ego, or is lazy, or prioritises their time over the audiences', or doesn't understand that nowadays the problem is deciding what /not/ to look at.

There are honourable exceptions, of course.

I can't imagine *anything* on youtube that would be that long that would be worth 1/10th of that time! Esp if it's "talking head syndrome" -- most things simply don't take THAT long to explain (or, if they do, are best committed to text with illustrations and animations, if needed... so the viewer/reader can focus on those issue of most interest and with which he/she has the most trouble understanding).

OTOH, I have seen several well-produced videos that document "lengthy processes" (e.g., how to replace a transmission). But, the author has invested time in post to ensure you don't waste the same amount of time that the process TAKES just to preview it! (i.e., speeding up the video, cutting sections that don't add significant value, etc.)

+1

But, some things *are* best illustrated with "moving video" (whether that be recorded video or computer generated animations). As with all media, the trick is learning which to use for each purpose.

E.g., it is virtually impossible for me to describe the characteristics of specific speech sounds; even if I try to say "the 'a' in 'mash'", you discover that different hear that as different sounds (regional dialects). A spectrogram can convey the information explicitly -- but few folks can "read" those! A live video of the speech organs *might* help some folks try to mimic the motions (and sound) with their own "speech organs". etc.

OTOH, an explicit sound clip is much simpler and far more explicit: "THIS is what it sounds like!"

On Mon, 11 Apr 2016 13:35:09 -0700, Gunner Asch Gave us:

I just love how everyone seems to dismiss Olympus, and they are like second to Canon and Nikon (well I guess that means third). And way better as far as price for the consumer level stuff. They made/make a nice macro job that everyone else subsequently copied.

That or there is a generic design out there they all used and mad "body" style variations on to make it 'theirs'.

Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?

Well, if everyone were put together like me, I'd agree with you.

However, while some people are most comfortable with reading stuff, some people are most comfortable being talked to. I'm already addressing the "reading stuff" segment by posting my articles.

What I want to address with the videos are, first, the visual learners, and second, I want to see if I can get enough interest that I can sell seminars.

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Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
http://www.wescottdesign.com

+camera&_sop=15

eBay. Hmm. Good thought.

I have an excellent still camera that can't take very long videos at all, and a nice cell phone that can record video for 30 minutes as long as it's 18 inches away from the subject.

I have no interest in messing with tape, and would like more resolution than Never Twice the Same Color (NTSC) video. I'm really wanting something that I can shoot with, then pop a card out of and into my 'puter, then start editing video.

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Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Well, yes -- I'm wondering if anyone can tell me which ones to believe without having to wade through 1000 sites, and which ones will actually show me clips filmed by the cameras being reviewed.

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Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Take a look at rpeeks videos on You Tube. He shoots his videos with Olympus Stylus Tough Series cameras. They are waterproof, dust proof and can handle being dropped. They take both video and still shots. Great picture, good sound and cheap. His current one is an FG830

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Steve W.

I use the same camera a youtube friend uses. Olympus Stylus Tough FG830

A smile from a veil?

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Steve W.

We try to keep our videos under a minute -- preferably under 30 seconds -- but I've been running some longer ones lately.

The ideal, when a video is embedded in an article, is just to show some point that doesn't communicate well or quickly in words. But sometimes a well-produced video, from a few of the machine tool builders, gives you a complete picture of how a system operates. Trumpf makes some beauties like that. In those cases I'll go up to around 3 minutes.

But when I shoot them (Sony NEX-7), I keep them very short.

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Ed Huntress

Invest in a camera (or optics) that will also let you take *extreme* closeups! E.g., to show a solder void under a gull wing, etc.

You might also consider doing *cabled* recordings. IME, it's virtually impossible to "pop out of a camera" and reshoot the scene without the camera having moved. This is OK if you are shooting a complete "do over". But, if you want to piece something into an existing video, trying to line up the shots is an exercise in futility

(I've had some luck by positioning "landmarks" on the fringes of the shots that I can use in post to manually align the different clips. But, *I* can always see the "splice" -- even if I cut away to camouflage that point in the presentation)

If you can leave cameras and mics stationary until you are done with the complete production, you'll probably be a happier camper!

Greetings Tim, I think it's great you are wanting to upload videos. Lotsa folks don't understand the written word as well as watching a video. Also, lotsa folks can't write well enough to make the information understandable but can show it and it all becomes clear. And sometimes a video or picture is just the best way to convey the information. While I can't recommend a video camera I can recommend an iPad app for uploading video to YouTube. It's called Capture. I have used it with video shot with my iPad and am very happy with it. I have seen several videos that were done using just an iPad camera that were pretty good. I imagine any high quality similar device no matter who makes it and no matter what operating system it uses would work as well. Cheers, Eric

I'll put on a video, when I'm doing some task that is old hat, but pays the bills. Other people might put on music. For me it's mostly about the sound.

I did watch a video of how to put a four plug converter for a trailer, into the back of my Toyota mini van*. That was worth it.

George H.

*I've got dreams of a little sunfish sailboat on a light (but highway worthy) trailer.

On Mon, 11 Apr 2016 17:19:10 -0400, "Steve W." Gave us:

Two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl.

I like Animals too. A lot. I can hear electronic oinks just thinking about it.

All sensible points. Good luck.

My wife has a Nikon Coolpix L30 that does pretty well. It's a sub-$100 camera.

I wouldn't have said anything but I was rather shocked by especially the audio quality.

She also has a Nikon Coolpix L120, which is a bit more expensive. Call it 2x.

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Les Cargill