Category: Digital Video

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A real tripod mount for your iPhone

More and more I'm seeing the iPhone being used for some serious photography applications and workflows. Don't laugh, it's true. Chase Jarvis published an entire book of photos captured with nothing but an iPhone. Now that the iPhone 3GS does video, I'm even seeing Steadicam rigs. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not all that impressed with the iPhone as a camera. It's OK! It's fine for the occasional snapshot and of course in the words of Chase, the best camera is the one you have with you. A while back I reviewed an iPhone App by Joby called Gorillacam that allowed you to do timed captures. Here's another App that tries to be the only photography app that you'll need and even adds video capture to the iPhone 3G. With these apps that can do video capture and time lapse photography, the next thing you're going to want is a way of mounting your camera on a tripod. While I love the Gorillapod series, the only way of using one with the iPhone is using their specific Gorillapod Mobile. Well not anymore! The good folks at G Design have come up with the perfect solution. The U+3G is a holder for your iPhone 2G or 3G/3GS that has a standard tripod mount on the bottom. This of course will allow you to mount your iPhone on ANY standard tripod that you already have. 

On its side

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Get a Snowflake for Podcasting on the Go

I recently spent a lot of time reviewing various desktop USB microphones for podcasting. Recently I've been traveling a lot for business and I'm not always able to use my favorite desktop mics on the go. Although I've had the Blue Snowflake mic for a while now, I've really been using it a lot lately and I'm reminded of just how great of a Mic this is. I recorded my last two episodes of the Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast with it while on the road right in my hotel room. As a matter of fact this Mic lives in my suitcase. That way I know I always have a great mic with me when I'm on the go. 

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Finally! A decent Stereo Mic for my Kodak Zi8 HD camera

ecm-cs10

I went in search of something that I thought would be pretty easy to find and that I would have a ton of options to choose from. Boy was I wrong! All I wanted was a simple wired stereo lavalier style microphone to use when traveling with my Kodak Zi8. I wasn't looking for anything super expensive since the camera itself was less than $200. Should be easy right?

zi8small

The first Mic I tried was the Audio Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Micrphone and while the sound quality was OK, I hated two things about it. First and most important is that is wasn't stereo.  So I was only getting sound on one channel and while I could fix that in post using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 it would mean doing it every time I used it. The second thing was just bad design of the battery compartment. There is an On/Off switch, but no LED light to tell you if it's on or not or the status of the battery. So you could start a recording and have the battery die half way into it and never know until it was over. 

 

The Sony ECM-CS10 Stereo Microphone

This is the Mic I was looking for. It's a stereo wired lavalier mic that doesn't require a battery, sounds good and just works! I plugged it into my Zi8 and did a quick test. I brought the video clip into Premiere Pro and low and behold I had stereo audio. That's all I wanted from a travel Mic. 

The only thing I would ask for now is slightly longer cord. It's a minor thing, but it would be nice to have to interviews where I want to have the subject a little further away from the camera. So if you're looking for an inexpensive stereo mic that just works without any fuss, this is it! It's "plug-in power" based and therefore it may not work with everything. The cord length (which I dare you to find listed anywhere on Sony's site) is approx. 1 m (39 7/8 in.)

Get it here for about $31 (list price $50)

 

Quick samples here from that first recording. Nothing special just wearing the mic on my t-shirt and speaking at a normal tone:

MP3 sample here. AAC sample here.

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Kodak Zi8 HD Video Camera: Great for travel & video blogging

 

Kodak_Zi8_raspberry

A few days ago I wrote a post called "Are camera phones the new point and shoot cameras" and I guess the same thing could be applied to video cameras as well. I have a big older 3CCD Sony VX2000 Mini-DV camera as well as a newer Canon VIXIA HF10 HD camera that I LOVE! However, unless I'm specifically doing an event recording I'll probably just capture something quick on my iPhone 3GS and share it. The Canon is small but it's not pocket small. So this time I really do have a need for something in between. While the Canon is great, I don't always have it with me. While I do always have my iPhone with me the video is not the best. First off it's only VGA (640×480) and not widescreen. Everything I do nowadays is widescreen or HD unless it's something personal and fun just to share with friends/family. 

I was leaning towards the Flip camera until I ran it by my buddy Dave Helmly (guru of all things video) and he has both cameras and said hands down the Kodak was better. Since they're the same price, I didn't look any further and I bought the Kodak Zi8. I gotta say, I'm blown away by what this little thing does. First off it supports video at full 1080p HD! My HF10 only does 1080i. It has a built-in SDHC slot so I just stuck in one of my Transcend 16GB Class 6 SDHC cards and started shooting. My use for this camera will be mostly for video podcasting/blogging and a few interviews here and there. Speaking of interviews it has a stereo mic input. Another huge plus as I can plug in any mic I want. I'm starting with this one. The Zi8 is about the same footprint as my iPhone 3GS and maybe 1.5 times as thick.

I recorded my first video in 720p mode with it here. This is using the built-in Mic. (Don't forget to switch the YouTube playback to 720p to see the maximum quality):

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7JNZNctUk

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Westcott Chromakey Blue/Green Screen Popup Illuminator

bluegreenonstand

You might remember my video review of the F.J. Westcott uLight Green Screen Lighting Kit. Well this time I'm here to review another Westcott Green Screen solution. It's their Green/Blue Screen Popup Illuminator. The difference between this background and the uLite kit is that it's more portable. Like the other Illuminator backgrounds that I love so much, this one folds down (into a circle) and fits into a handy carrying case. Combine it with their popup Illuminator background stand you've got a Green Screen or Blue Screen background that sets up in about 2 minutes. This one also doesn't take as much room to setup and use. 

 

It's Holiday Greeting Card Time

Many of you are putting your Christmas or other Holiday cards together as we speak. It's great when you can setup the perfect setting and take the picture. However, sometimes you just don't have the perfect setting, so you need to improvise. That's where shooting on Green Screen really comes in handy.

Here's a quick test shot that I took just to see what I would get with minimal effort. I basically setup the background in my basement right under one of the flourescent lights in the ceiling. I aimed a Westcott Spiderlite TD5 with a small softbox right at my subject. I could have used a bigger softbox and the brighter daylight bulbs, but again this was just a test and the light was already there from another project that I had just done.

test shot

I was worried at first that the ceiling light was too bright, but in fact it did a great job killing the shadows on the background. I fired this shot using my Nikon D700, 28-70mm lens at f/4.5, in Aperture Priority mode at 400 ISO. Yes, in RAW of course.

jenextracted

Next I brought the shot into Adobe Photoshop CS4 and ran an Action that I learned how to setup from Dave Cross to AUTOMATICALLY extract her from the background

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Sennheiser Evolution G2 100 Wireless Mic for Video Review

G2100

I have been doing still photography and motion video/graphics for years now. Although I feel pretty comfortable making hardware selections when it comes to DSLRs and HD Cameras, I know very little about Audio equipment. I know the importance of good audio. As a matter of fact (rule) you can't have good video without good audio. People are forgiving when it comes to marginal video quality, but if the audio quality is bad people will stop watching. Since it was time for me to invest in a decent wireless mic system for doing video work, I turned to my buddy Bruce Mandel of Mandel Video for some recommendations. After I got the links that he sent me I quickly learned that you can spend a little or a lot for audio equipment just like you can for camera gear. I already had a low end $100 system that I wasn't really happy with. I also knew that I didn't want to spend a ton of money either. So I guess I was looking for something in the middle of the range. After looking at my options, I decided to go with Sennheiser Evolution G2 100 Wireless System. I knew that basically I was buying the older model since the Evolution G3 was out. However, since the G2 was going for about $300 less, I went for it.

 

Getting Started with the Sennheiser Evolution G2 100 Series

When the box arrived, I was able to get it setup without ever touching the instruction manual. Again, I'm not an audio expert, but it was pretty easy to figure out the setup for the transmitter and receiver. I put the supplied camera mount on the receiver, put the batteries in both units and attached the supplied lavalier mic. After turning on both units I could see the level indicator moving on the receiver indicating that it was picking up sound from the mic. Cool! Next I plugged the mic into my Sony VX2000 DV camera and recorded a short clip. I walked around and spoke at different levels to see what the sound quality would be like. I was pleasantly surprised by the pickup that it had from the mic being located relatively center of my chest. 

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Two New Drobo Storage Robots

Drobo_S_left

As you know I'm a fan of Drobo! I currently have two Drobos serving up my data here at home. (see my original review here) One is connected to my New Mac mini OS X Server and the other is connected to my iMac iTunes Server. I've been very happy with the products and the performance. However, Data Robotics isn't resting on their laurels. Today Drobo is announcing two new members of the Drobo family:

 

The NEW Drobo S

Drobo_S_Open

This is the one that many of you have been waiting for. Although the current Drobo with its Firewire 800 connection is fast enough for my regular data storage needs, those of you who would like to use a Drobo for more intensive work such as digital video have been craving eSATA support. Well it's here! The NEW Drobo S offers USB 2, Firewire 800 AND eSATA connectivity. It also has a 5th drive bay which means it can support up to 10TB's of storage/protection (using the current 2TB drives that are out today). 

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Wanna learn the Adobe Creative Suite? There’s an App for that!

CS app on the App Store

My New iPhone App is Now Available!

 

As you may already know I have one of the Top Ranked Video Podcasts on iTunes! Each week I provide tips and tutorials on how to use the Adobe Creative Suite via the Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast.

Top How To Video Podcasts

Well now there's an app for that! I'm very pleased to announce the immediate availability of my NEW iPhone App. The "Learn Adobe Creative with Terry White" (CS) not only gives you access to my near 300 Video Tutorials, but here's the catch – you will have access to videos that won't be posted anywhere else! That's right – BONUS CONTENT!

 

How does your app work?

CSappLoading

Once you install the CS App you can go and watch any video you want as often as you want. The videos will be streamed to your iPhone or iPod touch. So you don't have to wait for them to download first before you start watching. Rewind, pause or skip ahead.

CSappEpisodes      .CSappPlay

 

CS-playing

 

How is this App better than just downloading your Podcast?

I knew you were gonna ask that. 🙂 The biggest difference is the EXCLUSIVE Bonus Content. Starting with my Lightroom 3 Beta Episode you'll be able to tap the "Extras" button and see an additional tutorial that can't be seen anywhere else. These Episode Extras will be in the form of video or PDFs with additional tips, techniques, steps, etc., and only available to the users of this app! Also the app just makes it easier to get straight to my show and all of my episodes without the multiple taps it would take in the iTunes or iPod app.

CSappBONUS

That's right, you get to see more tips and more techniques from videos recorded specifically for the users of this app. This week I posted a video on Retouching in Photoshop CS4. In addition to that episode, there is a bonus clip that covers additional techniques.

 

What if I want to watch your tutorials offline?

CSdl

There's a button for that. You can tap the "Download in iTunes" button and the app will take you right to my page on the iTunes store to download the episode of your choice right to your iPhone/iPod touch. Then you can watch it offline.

 

Will there be new content?

Absolutely! This is not a static app. It's the app that keeps on giving. On average I record at least one tutorial a week. So you'll have something new to watch all the time. My goal is to also provide Bonus content with each new episode from here on out as well.

 

How do I get it?

The "Learn the Creative Suite with Terry White" app is available for both the iPhone and the iPod touch. You can get it from the App Store for $1.99 here:

Learn Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White

I hope you like it and if you do get it, Thank YOU!

P.S. Also do me a favor and if you like it don't forget to go back and rate it on the App Store. It helps!

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Camera Mount for Your Car – Gripper 3025-RA Review

gripper

Last weekend I collaborated with my buddy Bruce over at Mandel Video on a video project. He was telling me that he bought a brand new Camera Mount for the car and wanted to use it on this project. Of course I had immediate thoughts of "yeah right, that ain't gonna work!" and I could just picture thousands of dollars in camera gear tumbling down the road. However, when I saw this thing and saw him attach it to the car I was very impressed! So impressed that when we were done shooting I immediately said "OK, how much for the mount?"

 

Here's a rough cut of the video we're working on that I put together for this review:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmsrVeSmOzc

 

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