Hey everybody!

I've got a new vidcast, 50 Pounds, 6 Months (Pickle Page), about my mission to lose weight, but I'm less than satisfied with the crappy webcam that I'm currently using to record the show. It has such poor low-light performance that I have to use tons of light just to make anything visible, and that totally washes me out and looks odd.

I'd prefer to have better image quality, (and also to not have to start slathering up with stage makeup), so I'm looking at potentially getting a digital camcorder.

Only problem, I don't really know anything about them beyond the basics. Anyone have a suggestion for things I should look for in a camcorder? Must have features?

Also, if anyone has any other suggestions for how to improve my show, that is welcome as well. Thanks!

I just bought the samsung mini DV sc-D353. Its a great little camera, but is terrible in low light. If your problem is with low light steer clear of this little camera. Shame too. you can get it for as low as 189.00.

Hi Christiana - first of all, good luck with your vidcast and good luck reaching your goal.

I thought your image quality overall was pretty good. Instead of purchasing a new camera, consider getting a good, bright spotlight or two. Directional light will do more for you than a lot of light. If you have a lot of straight on light, you would need make-up to paint the features back on your face. Directional light will bring out the features.

Since I don't do a video podcast, I deferred to my husband, our home movie nut, and holder of an actual degree in stage lighting (I never thought it would come in handy...)

You are not moving around too much, which makes a lighting set-up for standard portrait photography ideal for you.

Start with a key light (your brightest light) and position it 45 degrees high from your face and 45 degrees to the side. Use a fill light at about 50% to 75% of the intensity of your key light, and position it 45 degrees to the other side. Slowly move it to be more of a front light as needed.

Light the background with a light positioned behind you if you want. If you want to keep it neutral and less of a focus, don't worry about it. Last trick: put a light behind you, low to the ground and aimed at the back of your head. It will create a halo-like effect, that will separate you from the background and add some depth to the overall picture.

Finally, human eyes are better at compensating for contract that cameras. To help you see what the camera sees, put a mirror in front of you, and squint at the picture. By squinting, you will see with more "contrast", which is closer to how your camera is likely going to capture the image. Use that as a guide to add more fill light and back light if needed.

Good luck!
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Depending on your webcam and software, you may be able to digitally brighten up your image. I have an Apple iSight and there's a little piece of software for using in iChat that is called iGlasses and it is pretty amazing at how much better things look. I don't know if it would work for other applications, but the concept might be worth looking into. I also know that for the iSight you can get a light to attach to it which is presumably not as good as proper lighting but it might be a cheaper option if you can get something like it for your webcam.

**Applause**
Nice to see another person who knows about lighting for video.

Make-up stinks... my wife still gives be grief about wearing more make-up than her, and it's been 4 years since I wore it on TV! Still have it stashed away in the off case I get the time and money to turn my show into a video podcast.

Erika's tips are great! Textbook 3 point lighting.

Another simple solution is to bounce a strong light off a light-colored surface . . . like a nearby wall or the ceiling. Bounced light is soft and diffused. One or two generic silver-domed shop lights will go a long way.

Peace,

Good luck to you on your journey. I hope you reach your goals :-)

The only bad thing I saw was your chart. It was too small to see.

Can you tell me what you are using to create your vidcast? What camera? What editing program? What are your system specs as well? RAM motherboard...


I dont think I would change anything, unless you have the funds.

I would think about it in a different way. What you "need" vs what you "want", out of your vidcast. I can see you clearly, I can hear you fine. With some graphics to replace your chart, I think that you are achieving something good.

Now if you are trying to make this look like a pro shot it, maybe you can team up with a person that owns their own camera and lights to shoot it for you. I'm sure you can find someone in your area to join in on this project.

Once again good luck, and I'll keep an eye on your vidcast.

Wow, thanks for all the helpful responses everybody! I tried some of these tips (the ones I could do without spending any money anyway) on show #5. How's that one look?

*nods* I tried that a little, but was unable to get the results I was looking for. No real substitute for good original lighting, I guess. Though those can help with tweaking.



Ha! I actually did some children's theater when I was little, so I had to learn how to do stage make-up before I had even learned the regular kind. Totally ruined it for me. Hate the stuff now. lol



About the chart, I thought that might be a problem. It's big enough for me to see, but only just barely and not everyone will always be watching under ideal viewing conditions. The dilemma of course is that I could make it bigger, but that would require showing less on each screen. I'll work on trying to improve that for the next show, maybe a little rearranging or multiple shots would help instead of trying to show everything at once.

As for gear, basically I'm using a $35 Logitech webcam that I'm not thrilled with, but it is getting the job done so far. I use Windows Movie Maker to capture the video and I use my regular microphone tucked out of sight. My laptop apparently doesn't have the bandwidth to plug in both my webcam and my USB mixer, so that's a little annoying, but the audio quality gets degraded some when I convert the files anyway, so it probably doesn't make too much difference.

So I'm plugging my $30 microphone straight into the computer and capturing the video. I use the Movie Maker software to edit, then I export as an AVI (Makes a HUGE file!), then "Export to iPod" with Quicktime Pro.

It seems to be working for me so far, but I'm definitely open to suggestions if anyone has better methods. Thanks again to everybody for your input! I love this place!

I'm thinking that maybe you can scan in the chart? And import it as an image to moviemaker. I use Adobe products for my editing, so I dont know how much control you will have in MM (Movie Maker) over the image. I can move an image all around so we can look at different parts of the chart as you refer to them. Or you can use text graphics instead of showing the chart itself, just for a visual reference.



Hey if it aint broke, dont fix it but I'm still thinking that you can add a camera person to this, and make your project a ton easier.

What are you trying to achieve by producing this podcast? Other than documenting the loss of weight. Because if thats what you are trying to do, congrats, cause you are doing fine

I hope this helps.

Christiana,

I enjoy your casts but it is obvious you are using a pretty low grade camera. Personally, I think what matters is the content and not so much the quality of the picture, but if you want to improve, you really need to go out and get yourself a minidv camera and do it right.

Unfortunately, then you are talking about spending $300 at least so not sure if that is in your budget. Also getting a handle on some editing software would be useful.

Keep up the good work and good luck!

I use a building site light. It cost £40 ($75?) sits on a tripod and gives out about 1kilowatt. If I want drama I set it low to the floor and extend it right up as high as it'll go for gentle light. I also difuse it with grease paper if I start to bleach out. This allows me a lot more control over the image. I think because most of the rooms are film in are small one light is enough. 45 degrees off in front of me (or key light of you look on the pic)

Brilliant idea. Those things are incredibly bright, and very reasonable in price.

Nothing compared to an ARRI, but when on a budget, those are the way to go. HOWEVER, I would spend just a little extra, and get some proper diffusion. That means a "frost" and some clothes pins. Frosts are just heat resistant semi-translucent white material that softens the light. It's reletively cheap so pick up quite a bit if you can. Check out some here: http://store.yahoo.com/cinemasupplies/leedifligpac.html

Good advice guest, but in normal world terms thats called wax paper

It's all about lighting- but you can get 250 watt construction lights (I use two) for $10 a pop at home depot.

For a camera, hell- I use my digital 5 megapixel sony still camera (it has 640-480 video capability) for videos. Crude (cheap!) but effective. The lighting is prolly your best way to improve image quality- low light usually translates to very poor image quality with cheaper video/camera gear.

Yeah to be honest I'm getting a bit sick of that light. One day I'll be able to afford a couple of red heads! At the moment all my cash is going on costumes and DV tapes.

As for a camera...for http://www.maryandkarla.com and http://www.rumorgirls.com we use this camera:

http://exilim.casio.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...2C-F6A411DB509A

Believe it or not

Sound is decent, not as great as the Mini-DV setup we used to use, but production time has dramatically decreased, since you are recording to a video file which is easily converted, no tapes, firewire transfers, nada

Check out our recent shows to see how it looks. One cool thing is you have picture paramters that can be set that also work for the video (like sharpness, color boost, black and white, etc.)

These shows are more reality tv than produced, so quickly shooting with a still camera works out well.

Franklin
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http://www.fmstudio.com/
http://www.podfader.com/

With a resolution and frame rate of VGA size (640 x 480-pixel) images at 30 frames per second, I believe it.

BTW - with your recent entry into vidcasting it may just be me, but your pic looks a lot like Quentin Tarantino
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Yikes...I am a little unnerved by the shots..but you are right! haha

I thought this link was useful. http://www.bmyers.com/public/857.cfm?sd=30
I haven't had time to try out the setup yet, but it seems like it should work out fairly well.
I hope to do a setup next week.

Wow, nice link! Thanks!

christina I have an inexpensive samsung dv recorder! I have a question also: what software are you using to produce your vodcast?