Video camera...

[Upatdawn]

Im veering off taking images on a DSLR (Nikon D5300) as most images simply end up on social media, what camcorder would you suggest (without spending hundreds) and what format is best for uploading? i find the phone cameras a but too small and screens a bit wishy washy

santapod is my usual venue, mainly pit action


cheers thanks all

[Derek Smith]

I've got a Panasonic GH2. It is great for video. I don't know how much it is s/h but it won't be expensive.

I've also got 2 G9s. S/h around £350 4K, bags of features. Very high quality. They make films and TV series with similar cameras.

[Simpo Two]

Have you tried video with your D5300 - or are the ergonomics wrong?

[StevieBee]

Upatdawn said:

Im veering off taking images on a DSLR (Nikon D5300) as most images simply end up on social media, what camcorder would you suggest (without spending hundreds) and what format is best for uploading? i find the phone cameras a but too small and screens a bit wishy washy

santapod is my usual venue, mainly pit action

If your clips are heading for Social Media, then for formatting, 1080p @ 30fps is optimal for quality that seems to suffer less with the compression applied by most of the platforms.

You say you don’t want to spend hundreds and the good news is you don’t have to spend anything; as Simpo says, you already have good video functionality with the D5300. Very good, in fact and with the advantage of being able to use different lenses; something that entry-level camcorders don’t offer.

Couple of things to keep in mind:

The autofocus won’t be as rapid and as accurate as in stills mode. On all but the very high end DSLRs, they’re stills cameras that have video capability, not the other way around and autofocus is the one area that they lag compared to dedicated video cameras.

Sound will be very poor.

You will need some ND filters. For video; the shutter speed should be double your frame rate so at 30fps, the shutter should be 1/60th. When shooting outdoors on a bright day, this may mean an overexposed shot even at lowest the ISO and aperture as small as it will go so ND filters are needed to reduce the light hitting the sensor.

And, unlike most modern camcorders, there’s no in-camera image stabilisation.

But, a decent gimble, decent mic and some ND filters will cost you less than an entry-level camcorder and give you a very capable video set up with what you already have.

If you did want and entirely separate video camera, any of the major brands do very good handycam units that will serve you well.

This is also worth a look: https://cvp.com/product/sony-zv1f-vlogging-camera

There’s a couple of variants on that where lenses can be changed too.

And have a look at the GoPros. Sublime quality though limited when it comes to zooming in - good for detail stuff in and around the paddock but less so for any strip-action you may want to get.

Derek Smith said:

I've also got 2 G9s. S/h around £350 4K, bags of features. Very high quality. They make films and TV series with similar cameras

In the past, perhaps and these days, regional news programmes may use them or similar, but not mainstream Film and TV which require 35mm sensors and other technical features you'll not find in anything below the Blackmagic 6K pros.

All of the main channels and platforms issue approved camera lists and the G9s – as good as they are - aren’t on them.

[Simpo Two]

StevieBee said:

Derek Smith said:

I've also got 2 G9s. S/h around £350 4K, bags of features. Very high quality. They make films and TV series with similar cameras

In the past, perhaps and these days, regional news programmes may use them or similar, but not mainstream Film and TV which require 35mm sensors and other technical features you'll not find in anything below the Blackmagic 6K pros

Indeed; in 2019 I was an extra in a minor film and here's some of what they used:

[Derek Smith]

StevieBee said:

[

Derek Smith said:

I've also got 2 G9s. S/h around £350 4K, bags of features. Very high quality. They make films and TV series with similar cameras

In the past, perhaps and these days, regional news programmes may use them or similar, but not mainstream Film and TV which require 35mm sensors and other technical features you'll not find in anything below the Blackmagic 6K pros.

All of the main channels and platforms issue approved camera lists and the G9s – as good as they are - aren’t on them.

Three years ago I bought something on eBay from a chap in independent TV filmmaking, a documentary in the specific case. I told him there was no point sending it unless he was sure it fitted a G9 and he reckoned they used G9s for B-roll extensively. Of course, he may well have been spinning a line, but I’d already paid for the item. Not relevant, but the item was unused, some bits still in its wrapping. Waste, it seems, was endemic in the industry according to him. Not sure how to take that.

My lad is a journo on national TV news and I went with him to the launch of a Playstation game that featured a TVR Cerbera Speed 12 being driven through London. He was in the TVR and I filmed it. The camera was a high-end dedicated video camera with more controls than a Space Shuttle. I had to work the damn thing with no instructions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFSMYJ9OaH4
so when I was filmed for a BBC TV series Crossing the Line of Duty (no longer of iPlayer unfortunately but 7.5 on IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14536022/) I was surprised to see what I thought was a Panasonic GH5. I was nervous and in no mood to talk photography. I'm only shown on 'All cast' on imdb, which really hurts my self-image. The third part, the best by far, which happens to be the one I'm in coincidently, is on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFSVyUYfxzQ

[Upatdawn]

I find the Nikon now too much to lug around, and never liked its video output, my canon 600d was better, i need to downsize the kit, ive had a bridge camera beforem about the right size, a panasonic i thinc

i had a panasonic camcorder but the flip out screen wasnt very easy to see and it had no viewfinder