Filming with your phone or tablet...

Halcyon Yachts said:
Camera technology is improving all the time. A good camera doesn't necessarily equal a good film though. Some of the best feature films ever were filmed before they could record in colour.

I enjoy filming and editing as a hobby and I hope I am slowly getting better. Our crew don't always have the latest equipment, but I do think the results from ordinary phones are6+ rapidly becoming very acceptable. I remember getting my first camera phone, one of the old Nokia's, it was terrible! I am amazed at how much it has come on in such a short period...

Here is one that might appeal to you a bit more? Filmed by a younger crew member with a gadget I don't recognise:

Pete
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The device is Xiaomi Yi camera could be had for about £45 at the lowest. The video quality is adequate for what it was used and overall is a lovely watch.

I used a wide lens action camera to make home videos of myself and my close people and we love it. Although I realise, that it is a sports action camera and ideally should be used for those occasions. Best creative videos are made with conventional cameras, that do no mount on your head.

But really, my strict posts only concerned the video in the first post. As I hate blurry videos, filmed with a potato in this day and age.
 
sand_dune said:
I was completely confident that most videos from Halcyon Yachts would be a good watch. I'm sure I've watched some.

Some poor bloke with an old smartphone filming the ride of his life is totally acceptable.

If the argument was that some smartphones on occasion produce acceptable footage I would have little to disagree. Even though one can get a way superior quality from a way cheaper device than a new smartphone, by using a right camera.

I did not judge the editing or music or filming, they were arguably pleasing. If one wants to sail safely they use an adequately equipped boat. Not a float. If they want an adequate level of footage, they throw away the potato-camera.
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I see a lot of home shot videos

I always get something from them - what sort of boat a bloke has got, how hard he sails it.

I wish more people wouold just chop out the bad bits

and do something about wind noise

KTL sailors video school lesson 1 is as follows

getting rid of it is pretty easy. All you have to do is to hold the camera down in the cockpit oout of the wind for as long as you were filming in the wind

then slide one bit under the other

bingo - sailing sounds, crashing waves, thrumming sheets - no wind noise

D
 
dylanwinter said:
enjoyed that

very interesting

audio recording was done using top notch gear and then re-synched with the camera

they changed lens when they changed shots.

I think the dedicated video camera will be with us for another year or two

after that who knows what will happen

D
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The dedicated video camera is long gone. Even major cinema film productions are shot with the SLR. The House series on TV used the Canon D5 totally for the last few series. Same with the movie "Ironman".which used the Canon D5 and the Nikon 7 for the whole movie. George Lucas used the D5 for many shots in Star Wars. And many more.

Tests were run at the studios with expert judges who could not see any difference between Expensive Video and the inexpensive (by comparison) robust mobile, hand held D5.

Something about colour rendition and tone that made the D5 an exact match to film.

The revolution is underway. The advantages on location of the D5 compared to the heavy bulky video cameras are many.
 
BurnitBlue said:
The dedicated video camera is long gone. Even major cinema film productions are shot with the SLR. The House series on TV used the Canon D5 totally for the last few series. Same with the movie "Ironman".which used the Canon D5 and the Nikon 7 for the whole movie. George Lucas used the D5 for many shots in Star Wars. And many more.

Tests were run at the studios with expert judges who could not see any difference between Expensive Video and the inexpensive (by comparison) robust mobile, hand held D5.

Something about colour rendition and tone that made the D5 an exact match to film.

The revolution is underway. The advantages on location of the D5 compared to the heavy bulky video cameras are many.
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I have a canon 5D mk3 and have shot some video on it but I think for the average joe (including myself) a standard cheap dedicated video camera is still best unless they want to dedicate quite a lot of time and money into learning how to shoot cinema quality footage. The camera is not just a simple point and shoot when it comes to video and even getting good focus is difficult unless you add on equipment to make the lcd a viewfinder. It best suits shots that you can set up in your own time. I bought it for stills.

 
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BurnitBlue said:
The dedicated video camera is long gone. Even major cinema film productions are shot with the SLR. The House series on TV used the Canon D5 totally for the last few series. Same with the movie "Ironman".which used the Canon D5 and the Nikon 7 for the whole movie. George Lucas used the D5 for many shots in Star Wars. And many more.

Tests were run at the studios with expert judges who could not see any difference between Expensive Video and the inexpensive (by comparison) robust mobile, hand held D5.

Something about colour rendition and tone that made the D5 an exact match to film.

The revolution is underway. The advantages on location of the D5 compared to the heavy bulky video cameras are many.
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do you mean the D5 -

could not find one on the web

do you mean the 5D

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Digital-SLR-Camera-Mark/dp/B001E97GIK

2k sans lenses - a quarter of that would buy you one heck of a good video cam

I know that I would rather be waving a £500 cam around while sailing than a £2,500 SLR

at sea I do not have control of the light, the wind, the movement of the boat.

what speilberg does with his lighting and post production is slightly different from what I do

and for me a smooth motorised zoom without a clunk on the end is essential. My hands are no longer steady enough to hand crank a smooth zoom.

D
 
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dylanwinter said:
do you mean the D5 -

could not find one on the web

do you mean the 5D

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Digital-SLR-Camera-Mark/dp/B001E97GIK

2k sans lenses - a quarter of that would buy you one heck of a good video cam

I know that I would rather be waving a £500 cam around while sailing than a £2,500 SLR

at sea I do not have control of the light, the wind, the movement of the boat.

what speilberg does with his lighting and post production is slightly different from what I do

and for me a smooth motorised zoom without a clunk on the end is essential. My hands are no longer steady enough to hand crank a smooth zoom.

D
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Yes I meant the 5D. I am a Nikon user where the letter D precedes the model number sorry.

As for cost, a pro cameraman (like yourself) should scoff at the comparative cost as insignificant. Nothing but the best. Besides that full frame sensors will soon become a lot cheaper and that will in any case kill any investment thoughts about buying a video camera. The historic value of your present productions will suffer obvious quality issues in the future. That to me is what video and photography is all about. Collecting memories for FUTURE use.

One reason it is taking off in the cinema (hollywood) world is that a one-of scene can be surrounded with cheap (to them) cameras to video for instance an exploding building from multiple angles. Plus their rugged build. In the past they would not dare to position their expensive ariflex stuff close to a danger. The movie about the USA Seals (Act of Valour) was shot exlusively on SLR 5D.

Anyway it is your business and I agree that the marine wet environment can wreck a camera, although mine are still working OK. Focus issues mentioned by pmagowan (sp) above is a real issue in cinema work where dedicated focus-pullers need a lever to waggle to earn a crust. Etc Big subject but I threw my opinion in to the mix to warn about too much investment in yesterdays video cams will be expensive mistakes in the long run for future use.
 
BurnitBlue said:
Yes I meant the 5D. I am a Nikon user where the letter D precedes the model number sorry.

As for cost, a pro cameraman (like yourself) should scoff at the comparative cost as insignificant. Nothing but the best. Besides that full frame sensors will soon become a lot cheaper and that will in any case kill any investment thoughts about buying a video camera. The historic value of your present productions will suffer obvious quality issues in the future. That to me is what video and photography is all about. Collecting memories for FUTURE use.

One reason it is taking off in the cinema (hollywood) world is that a one-of scene can be surrounded with cheap (to them) cameras to video for instance an exploding building from multiple angles. Plus their rugged build. In the past they would not dare to position their expensive ariflex stuff close to a danger. The movie about the USA Seals (Act of Valour) was shot exlusively on SLR 5D.

Anyway it is your business and I agree that the marine wet environment can wreck a camera, although mine are still working OK. Focus issues mentioned by pmagowan (sp) above is a real issue in cinema work where dedicated focus-pullers need a lever to waggle to earn a crust. Etc Big subject but I threw my opinion in to the mix to warn about too much investment in yesterdays video cams will be expensive mistakes in the long run for future use.
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most of my filming is done on one of these now

https://slrhut.co.uk/product/ID779C...wv-_7gS9WQbmszZSCWQ1abzvcs-_zqPI9zhoCDP_w_wcB

life expectancy is about two years - but then I am filming and sailing for about five months a year

as for future proofing... can't do that

v pleased that three d did not take off though

and google now owns every sailing film I have ever made. They will, I am sure, own every sailing film I ever expect to make.

It is a most marvelous business that they run

D
 
dylanwinter said:
most of my filming is done on one of these now

https://slrhut.co.uk/product/ID779C...wv-_7gS9WQbmszZSCWQ1abzvcs-_zqPI9zhoCDP_w_wcB

life expectancy is about two years - but then I am filming and sailing for about five months a year

as for future proofing... can't do that

v pleased that three d did not take off though

and google now owns every sailing film I have ever made. They will, I am sure, own every sailing film I ever expect to make.

It is a most marvelous business that they run

D
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Arrr yes, 4K High Definition. The 5D is still in the 2K world.

I am surprised you are still content with Google. I thought that with so many TV channels (87 where I live) operating night and day then the cost of a 5D would be paid by selling the videos to them. The TV channels must be desparate for content. I was told that one single TV channel could swallow the entire works of Shakespear in three days transmitting. Of course you would need expensive equipment but maybe I wonder if alternate technique would compensate for using work-arounds instead of gizmos.

Anyway best of success to your productions.
 
BurnitBlue said:
The dedicated video camera is long gone. Even major cinema film productions are shot with the SLR. The House series on TV used the Canon D5 totally for the last few series. Same with the movie "Ironman".which used the Canon D5 and the Nikon 7 for the whole movie. George Lucas used the D5 for many shots in Star Wars. And many more.
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As a professional cameraman running a small independent, I partly agree - the quality you get from a DSLR (thanks to it's large sensor and available quality prime lenses) is amazing for the budget. We use a Canon 5Dmkiii for a large percentage of our charity production, and it's portability is amazing for a lot of our lower-budget overseas shoots, where filming in remote and sometime inaccessible locations mean we have to keep weight down. In addition, I then have a great camera for taking production and promotional stills at the same time.

However, ergonomically, compared to a dedicated film camera, it's a nightmare. They still haven't solved good audio connectivity - you always need a bolt-on audio recorder with balanced audio connections. It doesn't fit well in the hand for "run and gun" - you generally need a few additional bits and pieces to make it work well - and most of the industry is moving to 4k and beyond. And - side note to above, it was only the last episode in the series of 'House' that was filmed on the 5D and the whole of Ironman was not filmed on a 5D and Nikon 7 - just selected scenes. In addition, they had some expensive lenses, great grip equipment, stabilisation rigs and lots of lighting...

Anyhow, I digress and miss the point of the OP - the fact is you can get great results on DSLR and indeed on mobile phones. I would imagine the bulk of people reading this thread are looking for ways to get usable and watchable footage using simple technology. With some of our clients, we're teaching them to use iPhones to produce their own short films. The quality is great and works really well for their needs.

The slo-mo on the iphone is also great - I filmed and edited this entirely on a iphone 5c last year:
https://www.facebook.com/phil.knox.90/videos/10152808776971721/?l=4320031630442372756

A few tips:
- stability - keep it stable, arms close to the side, use both hands, use any available fixed surface to help you keep it straight
- Don't hosepipe - ie wave the camera around at anything that catches your eye. Take individual shots - watch some tv - use of the pan shoot is generally kept very minimal
- if recording an interview, get close - you want to see head and shoulders in the shot - anything further away will render the audio unusable. Again - watch some tv news and try and match how people are framed up.
- be decisive in the edit - think of what your viewers want to see and cut to the chase.

Cheers - get out there and shoot something!
 
kayenox said:
As a professional cameraman running a small independent, I partly agree - the quality you get from a DSLR (thanks to it's large sensor and available quality prime lenses) is amazing for the budget. We use a Canon 5Dmkiii for a large percentage of our charity production, and it's portability is amazing for a lot of our lower-budget overseas shoots, where filming in remote and sometime inaccessible locations mean we have to keep weight down. In addition, I then have a great camera for taking production and promotional stills at the same time.

However, ergonomically, compared to a dedicated film camera, it's a nightmare. They still haven't solved good audio connectivity - you always need a bolt-on audio recorder with balanced audio connections. It doesn't fit well in the hand for "run and gun" - you generally need a few additional bits and pieces to make it work well - and most of the industry is moving to 4k and beyond. And - side note to above, it was only the last episode in the series of 'House' that was filmed on the 5D and the whole of Ironman was not filmed on a 5D and Nikon 7 - just selected scenes. In addition, they had some expensive lenses, great grip equipment, stabilisation rigs and lots of lighting...

Anyhow, I digress and miss the point of the OP - the fact is you can get great results on DSLR and indeed on mobile phones. I would imagine the bulk of people reading this thread are looking for ways to get usable and watchable footage using simple technology. With some of our clients, we're teaching them to use iPhones to produce their own short films. The quality is great and works really well for their needs.

The slo-mo on the iphone is also great - I filmed and edited this entirely on a iphone 5c last year:
https://www.facebook.com/phil.knox.90/videos/10152808776971721/?l=4320031630442372756

A few tips:
- stability - keep it stable, arms close to the side, use both hands, use any available fixed surface to help you keep it straight
- Don't hosepipe - ie wave the camera around at anything that catches your eye. Take individual shots - watch some tv - use of the pan shoot is generally kept very minimal
- if recording an interview, get close - you want to see head and shoulders in the shot - anything further away will render the audio unusable. Again - watch some tv news and try and match how people are framed up.
- be decisive in the edit - think of what your viewers want to see and cut to the chase.

Cheers - get out there and shoot something!
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I agree with everything this man says

and a gun mike with a decent wind gag is a marvelous thing to to own

I have heard enough terrible wind noise to a life-time or three

D
 
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