Post by doogsatx on Aug 18, 2014 9:33:18 GMT -5
So I've had a few people asking me to do videos for some time now, and as I hit a bit of an impasse with the blog, where the standard 4-part build log thing just isn't doing it for me anymore, I decided...what the heck. May as well give it a go.
Thought I'd use this thread to catalog the experience.
First Thing - Needs
Adding video to the bench is a lot more involved than just adding a camera. You need...
- A video-capable camera. I've got a rarely-used Sony HDR-CX520 camcorder that does the trick. I'd love to use something like a GoPro, but those things have such a wide field of view that they're not really useful for tabletop video.
- A stable shooting platform, since the idea is to video techniques in action. I picked up a small, cheap tripod that *may* do the job. We will see.
- A way to edit the video into something useful. I'm already signed up with Adobe Creative Cloud, so the answer is easy - Premiere Pro CC.
- Time to properly edit videos, add title cards, transitions, etc. I have no idea where this will come from!
- An external scratch disk. I picked up a sweet little Western Digital USB 3.0 1TB portable drive. It's about the size of a pack of cards, and has twice as much capacity as my Mac's internal disk. It's USB 3.0 and an SSD drive, so it's also wicked fast.
Second Thing - Setup
Last night, I set the camera up. My computer monitor has a separate HDMI input, so I took the liberty of hooking it to the camera. Boom - instant video monitor, so I can frame shots better.
Side benefit! The video monitor makes a GREAT magnifier, to really highlight all the flaws in my work. At the tightest zoom where I can still focus, I'm guessing I'm pulling at least 5X magnification. The offset view also really helps with seeing paint go down from a different angle.
Thought I'd use this thread to catalog the experience.
First Thing - Needs
Adding video to the bench is a lot more involved than just adding a camera. You need...
- A video-capable camera. I've got a rarely-used Sony HDR-CX520 camcorder that does the trick. I'd love to use something like a GoPro, but those things have such a wide field of view that they're not really useful for tabletop video.
- A stable shooting platform, since the idea is to video techniques in action. I picked up a small, cheap tripod that *may* do the job. We will see.
- A way to edit the video into something useful. I'm already signed up with Adobe Creative Cloud, so the answer is easy - Premiere Pro CC.
- Time to properly edit videos, add title cards, transitions, etc. I have no idea where this will come from!
- An external scratch disk. I picked up a sweet little Western Digital USB 3.0 1TB portable drive. It's about the size of a pack of cards, and has twice as much capacity as my Mac's internal disk. It's USB 3.0 and an SSD drive, so it's also wicked fast.
Second Thing - Setup
Last night, I set the camera up. My computer monitor has a separate HDMI input, so I took the liberty of hooking it to the camera. Boom - instant video monitor, so I can frame shots better.
Side benefit! The video monitor makes a GREAT magnifier, to really highlight all the flaws in my work. At the tightest zoom where I can still focus, I'm guessing I'm pulling at least 5X magnification. The offset view also really helps with seeing paint go down from a different angle.
