Funny, I just bought an Azden a few days ago, and returned it two days later. The sound quality was quite bad, much worse than from a point and shoot camera (though still better than the built in microphone). Finally splurged on a rode shotgun mike, which cost more than the red camera I shoot most of my videos with!
The Nikon s8200 audio is actually pretty good, in terms of equalization, I would say, on par with the rode. That's the frustrating thing, why do I have to pay more than I paid for the whope point and shoot camera to get a microphone that's only a bit better.
Don't really have a use for one of these. My camera is either on the tripod, or I need to be able to move it around over the workbench, and the gimbal gadget would really get in the way. Fact is, the DSLR is already a bit too big for my freehand shots, so I mostly use the small camera for those.
Stay away from interlaced (if it ents with i, that means interlaced). You want something 1080p. And not all 1080p is the same quality. For still images, my rule of thumb is you want to shoot at twice the final resolution. But for cameras, there's no consumer 2k camera. So 1080 it is.
Stay away from interlaced (if it ents with i, that means interlaced). You want something 1080p. And not all 1080p is the same quality. For still images, my rule of thumb is you want to shoot at twice the final resolution. But for cameras, there's no consume 2k camera. So 1080 it is.
The combing effect is called "mouseteeth", and it's a major problem with interlaced video. Interlaced is really not suitable for stuff like youtube. Yet another reason not to use a camcorder. There are ways to fix it, but they are complicated and / or expensive.
I'ts not just a bigger harddrive. It means buy bigger flash cards, a laptop with a bigger hard drive, a bigger backup drive, faster network in my house, faster computer, etc. File size costs way more than just hard drive space. I might consider the T4i once it becomes trailing edge.
For agiven file size, h.264 will always produce far superior picture quality, because it's a better compression. File size is a major issue. To say that mjpeg is better is ridiculous. If the h264 was made as high bandwidth as the mjpeg, it would be MUCH better.
I find the DSLR a bit too clunky, and the sound on mine is muffled, even if I plug in an expensive rode mike. So have been filming with the 8200 since. I just bought a Nikon J2 on clearance though. Better audio, but the video files are huge!
My older ones use only mjpeg. You are right, newer ones use H264, but the file size coming out of canon cameras is still much larger than for nikon (with no visible compression artifacts on Nikon), so I just assumed it was mjpeg.
With rapidly obsoleting thechology, there's no such thing as a one time investment. Plus, if it's "one time" there's a huge risk of getting it wrong. And the camera has to be used in a dusty shop, so don't count on it to be good forever.
In the man time, my videos shot at 480p still get the most views. I like to say "production values are for professionals". That is, they are ONLY for professionals. The rest of the audience does't really care, they want to see an interesting video.
It it's a set up-up shot, I usually have four or more lamps shining on it, each with a 26 watt CF bulb. But, I also adjust the exposure in post processing to make it as bright as possible without blowing the highlights.
Good point about the mike hole. The nikon has them right on top, and I have covered those with my fingers from time to time! The samsung was good hat way - on the left and right of the camera body, far apart.
I'm not sure if that is true for today's canon cameras. You have to check. I always set the video quality to not the highest on the Nikon. I can't see the difference, and the files are smaller.
Yes, but some people spend more money on ONE camera than I spent on all of them. Except for the SLR, all relatively cheap cameras. And the SLR is not one of the more expensive ones either.
I have gotten quite good at extracting slivers. And sometimes I nick myself with a knife or chisel. Oh, scuffing my fingers on the belt sander happens from time to time, but never enough to draw blood.
Tried a T2i. The video files are huge compared to the Nikon and not noticeably better. And when shooting at 720p, the Nikon is better. And the audio from the Canon is awful.
GoPros are good for recording yourself doing stunts. Unsuitable for shop vodeos. But watch some of panofis's videos with the gopro. You see, it's a bit strange.
That DSLR is too bulky for much of my shooting already. The red little Nikon allows me to get shots that professional cameras are simply not capable of getting.
@matthiaswandel I'm do all shots with Canon 5dmkII + 24-70 connected to tablet (with Android). I know it's not easy do movie (alone) by DSLR but... quality is superb, so I preffer spend more time to setup to get best quality of movies. Please check my Polish YT channel to see how this setup is working.
AUDIO: you must record on external mic like a ZOOM H2, H4 etc , than synchrionize tracks in comp (auto mode of coz). It's easy and fast metod to get the best results.
This is mass confusion. As a long time YT channel with many videos, heres my advice. For a video of you like in the video above simply use your PCs web cam camera it came with or a cheap kodak web cam camera like I use that is plug and play USB connect and hooks on the monitor screen that I payed 15.00 for. For outdoors are video for indoors the cheapest camera is a good as the highest camera. Also stop using FHD people and simply use 720 P Hd because it about as clear and good and doesnt use so much sd memory. Out door cameras I use? 25 dollar kodak Zi6 and kodak fz55 and a DVR I got for 18 dollars back in 2015. Would I advize anyone to buy a kodak fz55 I payed 107 dollars for? Hell no!! My DVR does a btter job and so does my Zi6
Спасибо за познавательную статью, и в целом все, что вы делаете. Сейчас я стою перед выбором нового фотоаппарата, вместо старого. На данный момент эта камера актуальна? Может, появилось уже что-то современней, и недорого?
Thanks for the information on the updated article. It was tremendously useful to benefit from your experience. After three days of acclimating to the camera culture by watching (other) mind-numbing reviews, un-boxings, and opinion-based spiels about camera aesthetics, I'm still leaning in the direction of the J2, which can now be had for $200 USD online. By the way, I especially enjoyed your article on DIY macro photography. I was actually experimenting with a similar setup for capturing a snowflake image a few weeks ago, instead with a chemistry ring-stand and a lens with a much bigger focal length, but I became frustrated and failed. I then resorted to using a stock image.
Great video. Its great to see the various video's from each camera. I preferred that Nikon DSLR footage over the rest, though I agree with you, the sound is a tad muffled. Though the image contrast was the best. The footage you shoot though, I can imagine the size and focus would be a problem, but as far as like setting the focus for a shot your in, you can set up a tripod with some form of graphics on it and place that where you will be standing and get your focus then its easily moved for you to get in the shot!
I got the Nikon S8200 on 12/3/12 for my anniversary. 36 years Yaay! I had trouble uploading video to my computer until tonight when I realized I was thinking it was loaded and stopping the process. The video has 4 times the pixels as my Sony and takes twice as long to load. Now I just wait a few seconds longer and Bob's yer uncle. Thanks Matthias. It is going to be sweet having real HD for my videos.
Other problems: dead pixels, swims in and out of focus in low light, terrible low light performance. In the future I will not want to use a camera that has a retractable lens or the microphone holes right where my left hand fingers want to hold the body of the cam. When brand new the camera performed extremely well, but just being in the shop it started to fill with dust and and soon all sorts of little problems cropped up. But for someone that is extremely tidy and gentle (like you) could work.
I too have tried many different cameras since I started this madness around 2005 but no point in mentioning the low res models. I currently use a Canon SD4500 IS that uses .MOV as the file type and shoots 1080p or lower resolutions. It has a selector slide on top and when in Movie Mode the size of the view and the actual recording are the same from start up. The sound is not great. It did not hold up to rough use and now there is a lot of dust inside the lens complex. Zoom makes noise too.
Matthias, great video as usual, i would also like to know how you compile your videos?. I'm using a Panasonic FZ48 with HD, the quality is great initially, but my video editing software sort of ruins it by making it more fuzzy even when compiling in "youtube HD format" I'm using AVS video editor currently. Thank you
I got myself an s8200 a few days ago and looking through the options there's one under monitor settings -> photo info that overlays a square 'movie frame' on the viewfinder, compensating for the slight zoom in when capturing a video. Not sure if you're aware of this.
I use a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX100V its 1080p 50fps and awesome quality for the price 400 dollar cam there is now also a HX200 version. The only downside is .mts files. Not 1 open source programs can edit it for me. :( But Cyberlink power director works fine!
Hello Mathias. Good video. I like my kodak zi8 for low cost video. however, it doesn't take very good still photos.it odoes have an external mic jack though and is very small and easy to take with you.
Is there no hacked firmware to sort out your problems with any of those cameras. Great video,If I ever go for a new camera I'll try for a used one of the one you said.
The DSLR chews up all the other cameras for breakfast! Shame about it's sound, but regardless of camera, your audio would be 100% better with a lapel mic.
I don't honestly see the problem with interlaced footage. I've been working with interlaced footage since 2001 or so. Sure, blending fields caused lower quality footage, but that kind of stopped being an issue in 2007 when yadif (Yet Another DeInterlacing Filter) was made available. In the current day and age, I would recommend using QTGMC because, while it is slow, it is one of the best quality deinterlacing filters available (really the only reason I even have a camcorder that shoots 60p natively is because QTGMC takes forever on a slow computer like mine, and my Sony camcorder is going south due to age).
I'm surprised that you didn't take some of those cams back. Anyway, thanks for the info and tests! I am in the market for a new cam for my RU-vid videos because my Sony A 57 DSLT is pissing me off with its quirky auto focus. I think that I am going to buy a Canon S110 and see how that works! Do you have any experience with that one?
Last week I bought a canon eos m, released in 2012 same age as this video. $200 shipped with extra batteries and a kit lens. There's a custom firmware out there called "magic lantern" (in particular a community build of it called "crop mood") compatible with cameras with this sensor and (admittedly ancient) digic processor. It lets you shoot up to 5k 14 bit raw, and overclock the sd io to not flood the buffer to shoot continuous. (though more realistically I'd be shooting 2k 10 bit) Plenty of coverage of the eos m on youtube if you're curious, and plenty of short films shot on it. I don't ever upload anything to this channel, but I do on my 3d printing one. Hope to tinker around with it there and shoot some better macro stuff. The footage ingest isn't quite as straightforward as dragging an mp4 into premiere/resolve/blender tho lol.
If you don't mind sitting in front of a computer while recording your videos then this might work. Buy a cheap $20 (AUD) external USB Mic, hook it up to your computer and use audacity to record the sound. Then use whatever camera, presumably HD, to film yourself while recording your voice with the mic. Then when you video edit, cut the sound from the camera and put the recording from your mic over top and you should have both clear video and sound. My $20 mic works like a dream.
