Cameras for videoing?

JoW

Member
Hello everyone,

I've seen some great videos recently which is making me think about giving it a go, but I'm just wondering what cameras people are using? I couldn't find a recent thread about it so thought I'd ask. I've got an Olympus tg4 which takes good stills but I don't know about its video capabilities - does anyone use this or would I need something more specialised for video?

Any pointers welcome :)
 

ttxela2

Active member
I think it will be OK, this was filmed with a TG4, plenty of light is the key, I used my Roy Fellows MagnumStar - Underground bit starts at 7:14;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv1qeD4aZkY
 

Huge

Active member
I haven't done anything serious but the TG-4 does seem to give reasonable results with video. The sound of the zoom being used is distinctly audible so best not to use it while shooting.
 

ttxela2

Active member
Yes, sound in general isn't the best on the TG4, always seem to get a bit of background hiss.....
 

ogofmole

Member
I have a TG4, but windows will not recognise the video files or I'm doing something wrong. But it is a great camera for stills.
 

JoshW

Well-known member
ogofmole said:
I have a TG4, but windows will not recognise the video files or I'm doing something wrong. But it is a great camera for stills.

what's the filetype of the videos?

check out VLC player - free download, almost guarantee it will play whatever file type is coming out of the camera.
 

Caver Keith

Active member
I've seen some great videos recently
None of mine then.

Sorry I can't advise on the suitability of the TG4 but in my opinion almost any camera will do the job. What is much more important is the lighting you use and good video lighting can cost more than the camera. I use Fenix FD65 rotary focusing torches and they are superb. I've just purchased a fourth one. There's a review video of them on my YouTube channel. However getting good well-exposed footage is only a small part of producing a quality video. To quote Chris Binding, "The main thing to emphasise is the massive importance, and the implied magic therefrom, of EDITING, EDITING, EDITING. There are loads of people taking video footage on caving trips nowadays but because their editing sucks big-time the resulting film(s) aren't watchable."

Keith
 

JoshW

Well-known member
Caver Keith said:
I've seen some great videos recently
None of mine then.

Sorry I can't advise on the suitability of the TG4 but in my opinion almost any camera will do the job. What is much more important is the lighting you use and good video lighting can cost more than the camera. I use Fenix FD65 rotary focusing torches and they are superb. I've just purchased a fourth one. There's a review video of them on my YouTube channel. However getting good well-exposed footage is only a small part of producing a quality video. To quote Chris Binding, "The main thing to emphasise is the massive importance, and the implied magic therefrom, of EDITING, EDITING, EDITING. There are loads of people taking video footage on caving trips nowadays but because their editing sucks big-time the resulting film(s) aren't watchable."

Keith

With the correct lighting, I was able to put a semi-decent video together using an iPhone SE.

Keith is spot on the editing is 99% of a video, and keeping it slick and attention grabbing is key. My main issue i've tended to have is that of audio. I think Keith has mentioned previously that he actually uses his phone to record the audio and then syncs it later (did I hear that correct - it was at Hidden Earth on the Sunday morning so chances are I was still very drunk!)
 

cap n chris

Well-known member
Caver Keith said:
To quote Chris, "The main thing to emphasise is the massive importance, and the implied magic therefrom, of EDITING, EDITING, EDITING. There are loads of people taking video footage on caving trips nowadays but because their editing sucks big-time the resulting film(s) aren't watchable."

Keith

Pretty sure I was way more blunt than that, but thanks for the props, No.1.
 

PeteHall

Moderator
JoshW said:
ogofmole said:
I have a TG4, but windows will not recognise the video files or I'm doing something wrong. But it is a great camera for stills.

what's the filetype of the videos?

check out VLC player - free download, almost guarantee it will play whatever file type is coming out of the camera.

The TG4 saves a .MOV file type. I had issues getting Windows Media Player to play these, but after an update, it works fine now.
 

mudman

Member
PeteHall said:
JoshW said:
ogofmole said:
I have a TG4, but windows will not recognise the video files or I'm doing something wrong. But it is a great camera for stills.

what's the filetype of the videos?

check out VLC player - free download, almost guarantee it will play whatever file type is coming out of the camera.

The TG4 saves a .MOV file type. I had issues getting Windows Media Player to play these, but after an update, it works fine now.

You can export them to mp4 from the Olympus Viewer software.
 

Caver Keith

Active member
JoshW said:
With the correct lighting, I was able to put a semi-decent video together using an iPhone SE.

Keith is spot on the editing is 99% of a video, and keeping it slick and attention grabbing is key. My main issue i've tended to have is that of audio. I think Keith has mentioned previously that he actually uses his phone to record the audio and then syncs it later (did I hear that correct - it was at Hidden Earth on the Sunday morning so chances are I was still very drunk!)

Yes, I have used my iPhone as a mobile recording studio and have been very pleased with the results. In an attempt to try and improve sound even further I've recently purchased a Tascam DR-05 sound recorder, but I haven't had chance to try it out yet.
 

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JoW

Member
Cap'n Chris said:
Caver Keith said:
To quote Chris, "The main thing to emphasise is the massive importance, and the implied magic therefrom, of EDITING, EDITING, EDITING. There are loads of people taking video footage on caving trips nowadays but because their editing sucks big-time the resulting film(s) aren't watchable."

Keith

Pretty sure I was way more blunt than that, but thanks for the props, No.1.

Yes, I can see that good editing is pretty crucial, although I'll have to create some passable video to edit before I get to worrying about that bit!
 

ttxela2

Active member
Caver Keith said:
JoshW said:
With the correct lighting, I was able to put a semi-decent video together using an iPhone SE.

Keith is spot on the editing is 99% of a video, and keeping it slick and attention grabbing is key. My main issue i've tended to have is that of audio. I think Keith has mentioned previously that he actually uses his phone to record the audio and then syncs it later (did I hear that correct - it was at Hidden Earth on the Sunday morning so chances are I was still very drunk!)

Yes, I have used my iPhone as a mobile recording studio and have been very pleased with the results. In an attempt to try and improve sound even further I've recently purchased a Tascam DR-05 sound recorder, but I haven't had chance to try it out yet.

That looks like a handy bit of kit, will be interested to hear how it fares underground  (y)
 

Caver Keith

Active member
ttxela2 said:
That looks like a handy bit of kit, will be interested to hear how it fares underground  (y)
I will be trying out in the studio initially to record voiceovers.
I will venture underground with it in the new year as the projects I have in mind will need me to do pieces to camera. The sound on my Panasonic Lumix GX7 is very good but not as good as the Tascam. Also I will be able to place the Tascam nearer to me than the camera. I've often recorded scenes on two cameras, the Lumix and my GoPro so that I can cut between them but I only use the sound from the Lumix to give consistent levels.
I do now want to improve the sound in my videos. In Keith's Cavers (https://youtu.be/CBfmV7s8NA0) getting the sound right was the biggest challenge by far. The dialogue had got to be audible and distinguishable when played in the conference hall for the video to have any chance of success. I think I got it just about right, but it took countless hours of behind the scenes work. The biggest challenge in this video was recording sound in the cave environment. Caves do not have the best acoustics anyway with lots of echo in the larger spaces. Add into the mix the rustling of cordura caving suits and the horrible scraping sound they produce when rubbing against a cave wall and you will understand why the mixing took so long. Much of the audio was recorded, not on the camera, but on my mobile recording studio - my iPhone. The telephone sequences were mainly recorded in my studio aka the front bedroom on the iPhone using an external iQ5 Zoom microphone. The video utilises a number of audio special effects. The most noticeable is the telephone effect but the voice enhancement effect was also extensively utilised.
 

JoshW

Well-known member
I think footleg/sid use zoom audio recorders. I started to research about it and realised I should better my techniques before spending more money..

on the subject of spending more money, DJI have just realised their osmo pocket that looks a handy piece of kit (once combined with the waterproof housing..
 

first-ade

Member
One of the big things with sound is to get whatever mic you're using as close as possible to the subject. The dr-05 is a great bit of kit, it even has a 1/4 inch thread of it so you can stick it on a selfie stick and hold it above the camera sight line to get it even closer.

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

 

ZombieCake

Well-known member
Zoom H1's are also pretty good. Put a dead cat on the end of whatever you use though. Keeps the noise down.
 
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