What Camera do you use to record your show ??

[Jarrad33]

Hi All

Last season I had a lot of troubles taking video of my display (see attached photos). So my question is what cameras do you use to record your show ?

I had a Samsung S10 and a Nikon A1000 and they both come out very bad. I only have my display 30% so its not up high or anything.

Thanks
Jarrad

 

[LawrenceDriveLights]

Just used a iPhone 10, nothing special just made sure I locked the focus and brightness using the AE/AF LOCK feature (hold finger at bright part of display and a yellow box appears) which locks the cameras current focus and exposure settings, maybe the Samsung has a similar feature. My videos are far from perfect but I didn't want to invest in camera gear which i probably have no idea on how to use. Also just used a cheap tripod to hold iphone

 

[Notenoughlights]

I used a DJI Mavic Mini Drone, had to set the auto focus lock otherwise it would continually attempt to focus as lights turned on and off.

 

[i13]

I used a Canon 600D which did a reasonable job. It has manual video settings.

Videos will never do the display justice.

 

[Katekate]

Google Pixel 4 XL. you have to manually focus and set the exposure low (this applies to all cameras)

 

[Mark_M]

Crappy little Cannon Powershot SX530HS for the win lol.

Not really. I do these recordings around 9PM when its just going dark. A little bit of extra light help so the WDR doesn't stretch.

This image was taken by a neighbour with their Samsung S10 I believe. I don't think they did any special settings. Was very dark outside, around 10PM.


Mixture of right timing during the night and playing around with settings I guess.
There's a reason professional photographers exist since they know what they're doing!

 

[lithgowlights]

Nikon D800, but also used a few other cameras in the past. up to 100% brightness here, and no real issues getting things looking OK. It's all to do with settings on the camera -
1. Manual focus. Don't zoom in, focus, then zoom out, as that wont work. Try to focus on something about 1/3 to 1/2 the depth into your display. Some DSLR's allow you to zoom "electronically" on the screen in live view and this is the way I do it.
2. 1/50 to 1/100 sec shutter speed. You want it half your FPS value, so for 25fps, you want 1/50 shutter speed
3. Adjust your aperture so it's about 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop from full open, so for an f4 lens, f4.5, or an f2.8 lens f3.2 or f3.5. This is camera dependent and sometimes it may simply have to be full open, but this can often give slightly less than optimal results
4. Adjust the ISO of the camera to get the brightness you desire. From memory I usually end up about 400 or 800 for my display, but I also use an f2.8 lens close to full open on a full frame camera. Noise is less of an issue that you realize on video.

 

[Katekate]

Don't zoom in, focus, then zoom out, as that wont work.

This does work with some lenses, comes down to how the lens is designed.

 

[orchidman33]

last year I used a Huawei mate 20Pro with a 40mega pixel camera @ 4k 30fps, hence large files
here's a link
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjUTn1xfXtk_sHVOZwLVGwAP18vr?e=LVLdxA

these were all filmed with the camera hand held. Best filming was acheived on pro setting with the light setting on the tree at the back

 

[lithgowlights]

This does work with some lenses, comes down to how the lens is designed.

True, but the vast majority of lenses are a tradeoff and focus will drift over the zoom range.

 

[djgra79]

Samsung S8 on a sturdy tripod worked for me. Now have an S20 this year.
Being able to set manual focus and some manual settings as outlined above is best, along with lowering display brightness will all help.

 

[bpratt]

so once you've videoed it all, what do you use to edit all the different angles together ?

 

[ezellner]

so once you've videoed it all, what do you use to edit all the different angles together ?

I use OpenShot, a free video editor that's fairly powerful and easy to use.

 

[Dreamin]

I used my ipad with a free app called Movie Pro which allowed me to manual focus and adjust the light right down. Worked great I think.

 

[lithgowlights]

I use Adobe Premiere Pro, but a free one is just as good