Behind the Camera
Here are today’s links:
- Find out what equipment and software I use for video creation!
- Read my latest blog post with lessons learnt from 2013.
- Learn more about the upcoming webinar with Danny Iny.
Please leave a comment below.Note that I don’t reply to all comments, but I do read them all.
If I don’t reply to your comment, it most likely means that I agree with what you say and don’t have anything meaningful to add, myself. I appreciate and read all comments and your comments play an important part in what I write about, so keep them coming.
Spammy comments are always filtered or removed. No surprise there.
Hi Shane.
Thanks for putting up a resources page for your video creation. You’ve come a long way since you used a cheap mic with some foam inside a box :-)
Cheers
Peter
Nothing against my brilliant foam/cardboard construction! :D
Hello Shane,
You’re a mind reader! Exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you!
Cheers, Xenia
P.S. On Another note, I saw you did a web analysis on several websites a couple of years ago (quite a few Aussies there too) and I was wondering, if you have a product for spam? My developer says it is not a problem (?) but every day when I open wordpress, I get this http://prntscr.com/2iu536 which when I check the SFS (whatever that means) I see it is mostly from China.
Do you have any recommendations? Cheers, Xenia
I made a quick video a while back, answering a similar question about spam prevention. You can find the video here. I hope this helps!
Thank you very much Shane,
Spam is a real problem on my site and your video advice, is very, very helpful! Warm Regards, Xenia
Hi Shane,
I understood that you shot the video and record the sound separately and then you put them together with some kind o video editing software. Am I right?
thanks great stuff.
ps: on your resources page, the link for the Zoom H1 mic is taking to the Sigma lens.
Yes, that’s correct. I record separately and then sync them in the video editor. I find this to be much less of a hassle than I originally expected.
Thanks for pointing out the mistake on the resource page. Fixed it! :)
You’re welcome
Just bought a new camera with an external mic, should be here by the end of the month. I’m looking for a solution to record both video and sound with good quality at the same time. Let’s see how it works.
Hi Shane,
Earlier today I listened to a Danny Iny webinar. He apparently has graduated from the Shane Melaugh School of Transparent and Honest Marketing. His webinar was a monologue, so I look forward to you interacting with Danny on your upcoming event.
Thanks so much for another useful weekly update.
Jeff
Might be the same webinar we’ll do. Not sure which one you watched. I agree about the transparent and honest marketing thing, which is why he gets the increasingly rare guest appearance on a webinar with me. :)
Hi Shane,
Thanks for sharing those great resources with us and the great presentation.
I have always found your approcah with video refreshing, but one definitely has to be confident enough to chose this route!
I just wish that someday I can do this myself…
Thanks, Matina. The confidence part is a matter of practice, just like the other parts. :)
Hi Shane,
Thanks for the update. I am in the process of making videos too and concerning audio I think you have reviewed two examples that are too far apart: The RØDE Podcaster Microphone is too much for the occasional video maker and the Logitech Desktop Microphone 600 is more on the lower side. I think a more fitting option for those of us in the “middle” is the blue yeti microphone, its under 100$ but still towards the high end.
Just in case you decide to put together a “middle budget” option :)
Fran
Hi Fran,
I’ve heard good things about the Blue mics, but haven’t used them myself. The Yeti is, as far as I know and condenser mic that captures audio at a wide angle. This means you’ll have more ambient noise in the recordings, which is why I prefer a mic like the Rode Podcaster.
My in-between solution is the Zoom H1, which produces decent results as long as the speaker is close enough to the mic. It’s about in the same price range as the Yeti, but I can’t say which one makes for better recordings.
Thanks a bunch for sharing this Shane…love the explanations around your recommendations.
I haven’t done the video stuff yet, so I’ll keep these recommendations in mind. Since my ex was an AV engineer, I totally hear you about the recordings…he said the same thing as you do! Start with the audio quality first. I’m blessed to have a prof level mic and soundboard. Still learning how to use them! Definitely a learning curve!
Totally non-resources question…I noticed your nav bar is not on this page…how the heck did you do that (I have TCB if that is part of your trick…lol)
That’s the thing with pro equipment: it’s usually that much harder to use. :)
But the learning curve pays off, once you get your head around it. The same is true for the camera I recommend. It’s definitely more complex than a webcam or camcorder. But invest a few hours into learning how it works and the results will be better by a large margin.
The resources page uses a different page template. We call it a “landing page template” and one like that (no nav bar, no sidebar, no footer widgets… in short, no distractions) will be part of every Thrive Theme.
Hey Shane,
I’m really looking forward to the launch of Thrive Themes, do you have an estimated launch date in mind? :)
Cheers,
Paul
We’re aiming for a February release. Not much longer to wait! :)
Interesting observation about audio. I bought a Canon T4i, which I’m not 100% thrilled with, but I suspect that I just haven’t mastered it’s quirks (I have noticed that your camera occasionally has slight problems with autofocus, but not as bad as my T4i). The reason that I got it was that it was the least expensive DSLR/vidcam that would take an external microphone.
For my video recordings, including some recordings of my violin, I use a $3 lavalier condenser mic (I got 3 of them for $9 on Amazon), which actually sounds pretty good (to me, anyway) — much better than the built-in mic on the T4i, which picks up camera motor noise and background echo, etc.
I wonder if it’s really worth spending big bucks on a mic. After all, audio technology has progressed over the last few decades to the point where a cheap condenser mic will outperform nearly anything that was available 30 years ago.
OTOH, my hearing is not the best. It never really has been, which is one reason I never made it big as a violinist (there are probably other reasons, but even a slight hearing disability is a show-stopper for a violinist). So, I may actually be missing problems with that $3 mic. Guess I need to have somebody with better hearing critique my recordings…
Still, it’s better than any built-in camera mic I’ve tried.
Also, I wonder if maybe there is a demarcation between “good enough” and “not good enough,” where incremental improvements over “good enough” are of diminishing value — and might even work against you. For some purposes, a less-than-perfect video will get better conversion rates than a high-end, professionally-produced one. For psychological reasons.
The T4i is supposed to be decent, although I haven’t used one myself. From what I hear, it’s probably superior to the G6 for still images, but lags behind for video quality.
I finally figured out the focusing issue with my camera, btw. There are two separate focus settings. One is for still images and the other for video. I was changing the one for still images and couldn’t figure out why it still wouldn’t behave! So, hopefully no more re-focusing in future videos. The settings on the T4i might be similar. There might be a separate setting somewhere that tells the camera not to re-focus while recording.
Alternatively, setting it to continuous focus/focus tracking might be better than single focus.
I may be on the other end of the spectrum with my hearing because even slight noise and lack of quality in audio annoys me to no end…
You’re absolutely right about the diminishing returns, though. That’s why I make the distinction between “budget”, “good enough” and “pro” equipment and I use the “good enough” stuff. Even if I upgraded to a camera and lens combination that costs more than a new car, unless I’m showing my videos on a Cinema projection, it would be almost impossible to tell the difference.
Hi Shane, some great tips and advice in there, thanks for that. One question: you say you record the audio separately? how EXACTLY do you do that?
I use camtasia and if I record camera and external mic at the same time it looks ok in Camtasia but often the lipsynch is out when posted to you tube. Any advice or tips would be a big help, thanks, Marc
Hi Marc,
I record the audio using Audacity. I record the video along with the on-board audio from the camera.
For synchronization, I either snap or clap before I start talking, so that there’s a distinct spike in the audio.
In the video editor, I will now have two audio tracks: one from the camera (which is perfectly synched to the video by default) and one from the file produced in Audacity (I export as a 16bit WMV file). I use the point where I snapped to align the two spikes in the audio levels as perfectly as possible. Once that’s done, I mute the camera audio and group the video and audio track together, so I can start editing.
If your audio is synchronized in the editor, but out of synch in the final production, that seems like a technical error or bug, to me.
Excellent. Thanks very much Shane for the detailed reply I looked all over for a step by step guide, regards, Marc
Shane, what about lighting? Besides audio, lighting is a HUGE factor that separates quality video from crappy video.
I’ll add some lighting equipment. I bought my lights locally, when I was in Romania. Needless to say, I can’t find the same models anywhere online, so I’m still searching for something I can recommend that you can actually order online. Otherwise, the recommendation is a bit pointless. :)
I have found that the Lumix “Happy Light” is a pretty good lighting source (so I bought a bunch of them, and I currently sell them on Amazon). The Happy Light 2500 (about $40 on Amazon http://h2ha.com/happy2500) is one that I use, but I don’t currently have any of that model on Amazon (there are over 10 sellers for that item, so I probably won’t bother with trying to sell that model myself).
It’s a lot less expensive than lighting solutions sold for video recording use, and works pretty well. Its main purpose is for treating Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). There are other brands of “SAD Lights”, but Lumix trademarked “Happy Light,” which I regard as pretty brilliant (pun intended).
It gives a very well-diffused sunlight simulation, and it improves the color rendition even on my built-in laptop webcam.
That is a nice marketing move, with the Happy Lights.
Thanks for the tip, I didn’t know about these before!
Yeah, I was wondering about lighting too… oh and it looks like you use a green screen for “app of the week”. Any recommendations on how to get a cheap but “good enough” one of those? I assume there is an option in your video editing software to edit out the green and replace it with your chosen background?
You can use this as a green screen. Fairly inexpensive and good enough for shooting just one person in front of the screen.
The cheapest option for the whiteout background effect is just to over-expose a while wall that you stand in front of. All you need for that are some construction floodlights or even desk lamps with strong bulbs in them. You can get this kind of thing very cheaply from a DIY store.
A plain white bedsheet works pretty well, and can be hung with cheap clothes pins on a line or just draped over objects in the background. I use one draped over my iMac and connected monitor that I keep on a table on the side of my office opposite from my PC.