Sony has recently announced a fancy compact superzoom camera, the Sony RX100 VI. It looks identical to the RX100 V, but it boasts a 24-200mm equivalent zoom range and comes with a couple of improvements. Kai Wong had a chance to play with the new vlogging camera from Sony, and he brings you his first impressions of this latest piece of gear.
This Frankenstein on-camera microphone setup could be the perfect vlogging audio rig
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Vlogging is a whole lot of fun, but it can be difficult, especially if you’re out with other people. If you want to capture them on camera, or just record the scene in front of you, then capturing audio of yourself becomes tricky. You either just have to deal with being behind the microphone and hope it gets it, pull the microphone off the flash shoe and rotate it 180°, or just record a voiceover at another time. None of these is ideal.
Caleb Pike over at DSLR Video Shooter, though, might have come up with the ideal solution, using a pair of Rode VideoMicro microphones and a short adapter cable. As well as allowing you to record audio both in front of and behind the camera simultaneously, it records them straight to your camera using two separate channels for maximum flexibility in post.
How avoiding social media for a year improved this photographer’s life
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Quitting social media, even for a brief time is something that most of us wish we could do. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to get away and completely unplug for a few days here and there. Others aren’t so fortunate. We’re often tied to it by friends, family or work.
Photographer Dave Morrow, though, decided to take a complete break from social media. With a combined following of over 1.8 million, he just quit cold turkey and deleted his accounts. It’s been a year so far, and in this video he talks about why he did it and how it’s helped to change his life.
This Canon G7X II vs iPhone X comparison tests to see if phones really can replace compact cameras
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There is no doubt that increases in smartphone camera technology has made a huge dent in the sales of compact cameras. Compact cameras, also known as point and shoots, vary wildly from very low end to fairly high. And for stills photography, there’s no doubt that most of the current top smartphones can easily keep up, and even beat, the selection of compacts that are out there.
But what about for video? That’s what Potato Jet aims to find out when he puts his shiny new iPhone X up against vlogging staple, the Canon G7X Mark II. Perhaps not surprisingly, the iPhone actually won in some areas, although the G7X II definitely shone in others. Ultimately, it looks like you’ll mostly be good with either, although specific needs may demand one over the other.
How to film yourself when nobody’s around to help
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Filming myself is probably one of the more difficult things I’ve ever attempted to learn with a camera. It’s so easy when you’re filming other people when you have all of the camera’s controls at your fingertips and are able to quickly adjust. Filming yourself, though, is an entirely different set of skills. But they’re essential skills if you’re looking to start vlogging, which I have.
I’m still no expert at it, and I still have a lot to learn. But you know who is an expert at filming themselves? Peter McKinnon, that’s who. In this video, Peter provides a whole slew of advice to help you film yourself. It’s full of lots of little tips and tricks to make life just that little bit easier and get you thinking a little bit differently about how you approach it.
New GorillaPod “octopus” lets you mount all you need for “pro smartphone videos”
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GorillaPod has a new member of their family of flexible tripods. JOBY has announced GorillaPod Mobile Rig, aimed particularly at smartphone filmmakers. This rig has the same flexible design, but with an extra pair of “arms” in addition to the three legs. So, it lets you mount the additional accessories for a better smartphone video or vlog.
6 practical shot transition effects you can create in-camera
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Transitioning from one shot to the next in a video or film has a huge psychological effect on the viewer. It can be seamless showing an instantaneous switch from one viewpoint to another. Or, it can show the passage of time. They can be relaxing or jarring. It all depends on the feeling you want the viewer to have.
With the proliferation of affordable video cameras and editing software, new transitions pop up all the time. Not all of them work for every pair of clips, but they all have their place. In this video, filmmaker Darious Britt shows us 6 easy in-camera transitions that you can use yourself. While aimed at vloggers, you can adapt these to fit many genres of video.
Use this simple trick to instantly improve your smartphone vlogs and selfie videos
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Phones are great for recording video of yourself. The big advantage is that big LCD letting you see what you’re doing while you’re filming. But they also have that big LCD that you constantly stare at while talking instead of the camera lens. So, when you watch the video back, you always appear to be looking slightly off to the side of the viewer. Not at the viewer.
Those using DSLRs, mirrorless or even point & shoots to vlog probably won’t benefit from this one. But this tip from YouTuber and vlogger, Dave Knop (aka, Knoptop) will help to instantly solve that problem with your phone. And all you need are some some sticky labels.
Looking for a 4K vlogging setup on a budget? Here’s a suggestion for $600-700
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If you’re looking for the best vlogging setup, the options are many. It may not be easy to bring together the ease of operation, image and sound quality, versatility and the price. But Caleb Pike from DSLR Video Shooter proposes a solution that you could embrace. The entire setup costs around $600 (more or less, depending on the retailer). It’s lightweight, useful at various conditions, and allows you to shoot from the table or from hand, with good sound quality both indoors and outdoors.
Build your own 3D printed DIY LED ringlight for your smartphone
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The problem with mobile phones is that if you need lights, you’ve usually got two options. The first is to simply deal with the underpowered, far-too-close-to-the-lens built in LED. Unless you’re using in the front camera, in which case that’s usually not an option. The second is to lug around all the usual LED lighting gear you’d use with regular cameras. In which case, you probably might as well just use a regular camera.
The folks over at Adafruit, though, have come up with a great project to help solve this. A 3D printed smartphone case with a built in LED ringlight. Not only does it wrap the light around your lens instead of being right next to it, but it also offers a fair bit more power. That it’s controlled by an Arduino also means that you can reconfigure the lights to give some neat effects.
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