All,
I am considering upgrading cameras from the C920 to the next level up, and I am overwhelmed by specifications and marketing mumbo-jumbo. Still, it's not practical for me to test 10 or 20 of them. What's important and what's not? What's money well spent and what's overkill? I expect I will be working with 720p, and aiming for 30fps. Small size is a plus. Wired is good. Money is an object, so used equipment is fine. Can you help me make an educated guess? Thanks in advance. :-)
Here is a good article to get you started with the current terminologies and pros and cons. https://ustream.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/207852197-Recommended-cameras-for-streaming-on-Ustream
ReplyDeletePinging John Brown :-)
What are the reasons you want to upgrade?
ReplyDeleteThis might help a little: http://www.audiovideopro.net/kit-clinic-upgrading-cameras-live-streaming/
ReplyDeleteOokina Maguro I second Dan McDermott 's question about "why?" I upgraded from C920's because I needed to shoot subjects at a distance greater than 10' or so. The C920 does a great job if it's sitting on top of your monitor pointed at your face 16"-24" away. When you try to point it at distant subjects and use the Logitech software to "zoom" you are really just cropping and stretching the image while reducing the effective resolution.
ReplyDeleteLike yourself, I was upgrading without significant budget. I first bought a couple used Canon HV20 consumer camcorders on eBay. I just saw one with a buy now price of $211.00 today. Connecting that to a video capture card via HDMI I was able to take advantage of more sophistocated settings options and most importantly the 10x optical zoom (no loss of resolution) those cameras allowed.
Later I experimented with a DSLR because of it's larger sensor. The image quality is very good, but tread carefully here. Most DSLR camera do not produce a "clean" HDMI output. That is to say, the stock HDMI output includes the various camera settings on screen. I opted for a Nikon D5100 which is uniquely appropriate. An outfit called NikonHacker.com provides a "hacked" version of the Nikon firmware which eliminates the on screen "settings" and provides a clean 1080 output. The hacked firmware settings were not super intuitive (to me.) I made a short video when I figured them out. You can find it here: https://youtu.be/EhuDOHkq4ak
I did notice, however, in using the Nikon D5100 I had some momentary "glitches" which I blame on a data flow problem. I've not proven it, but my intuition tells me that the large sensor on the D5100 may be exceeding my video capture card's ability to process incoming data.
I think Terry Leigh Britton found a super buy on a camcorder at WallMart that was right around the "used" cost of some others. Perhaps he'll chime in with the model and its cost new.
Have fun!
John Brown
ReplyDeleteWhy is a good question. I want to learn what's possible before determining exactly what use I will make of the tools. My plans will take shape as I learn. Of course I have ideas, but some of my ideas are kind of sci-fi. Maybe that's because I haven't yet learned all the things I can't do. I'm not doing a whole lot with this tech right now, but that can change as my skill level improves.
I already see that HDMI can give me more freedom than I can have with USB. A longer cable is possible (50ft vs 15ft). I'm guessing that a better image is also possible. Better depth of field, better low light sensitivity, better sharpness and clarity. I want to see this. The C920 is the "best of breed," but the image I see on my Canon S90 is better.
I have also learned that, with the right hardware, I can do this all on one machine without the CPU taking a big hit. I have discovered the 4-channel HDMI capture card. [wallet cringes] The simplicity of doing everything on one box has appeal. If HDMI from a camcorder can also provide superior image quality, the one-box approach would be hard to resist.
I'll be window shopping for an affordable compact 1080p camcorder. John, I appreciated your comment about working with 1080p even when you are sending 720p. Your demo showed me the reason for something I'd seen but didn't understand. I haven't been conceptualizing this data properly.
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Thanks guys for the links. Stephen, the audiovideopro article pretty much describes the reasons I have cameras on the brain, and confirms some of my suspicions. John, what an interesting video you made. It says a lot about our product development process that firmware hacking needs to take place. How difficult would it have been for Nikon to include a checkbox called "Turn the junk off." It would have cost them nothing, and increased the utility of their product.
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I think most of the current Nikons can turn off the displays (Clean HDMI Out is what to look for). Maybe not some of the older ones (like the 5100 which I have too) but the current entry level 3300 does.
ReplyDeleteOptions more limited in the Canon line up, but there are also the Panasonics. gh4 has come down in price and has lots of good features for video. We did a piece on the GH4 for live on Audio Video Pro too.
Stephen Pritchard
ReplyDeleteThanks Stephen. I had a look around for "clean" output cams. At first glance, this seems to be some pretty rarefied air. My budget is about 10% of what these DSLRs are going for. The old cowboy song about a "ten dollar horse and a forty dollar saddle" comes to mind. This business of unwanted text on the output could be a problem. I'll keep looking.
Meanwhile I'll learn how to use the box I just built. I need to learn to configure an MSI R7770 ( http://us.msi.com/product/vga/R7770-PMD1GD5.html#hero-overview ) to operate in dual output mode. I've connected it to the PEXHDCAP, and there's life there, but no image yet. This is today's mission. :-)
Ookina Maguro by the way, I have had good results in extending the distance between a C920 and the switching PC using trippLite extender/booster cables: http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-U026-016-Extension-Repeater/dp/B0002D6QJO/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445120211&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=Tripplite+usb+extender+booster
ReplyDeleteStephen Pritchard have you seen the Nikon Hacker firmware hack for the Nikon 5100? https://nikonhacker.com/wiki/Main_Page#General_Nikon_DSLR_information
ReplyDeleteI've applied it to my 5100 to remove the menu stuff override the 20 minute time restriction on video and tweak other settings. pretty cool. I bougHt my 5100 just to play with this.