Happy New Year, Steve!

This is a timely topic and we can all learn a lot from it.

*Note*

For a more detailed and through discussion of the Topic on Making Videos on this Forum,

click: Making and Editing Videos - Techniques, Cameras, and Video Editing Software ideas and Reviews

Thank you Steve, and a Happy New Year. This is a topic I am very interested in. Hopefully I can learn what I need to make videos, being the technological caveman I am.

Brion

Happy New Year guys !!!

The thread Video Suggestions For ABS YouTube Channel - Topic For July 2013, although discussing ideas on what to make knife making videos about, also has a LOT of suggestions from Dan Cassidy on how to make videos. There are several good posts in the thread with good information on the subject. This particular post on video file formats, YouTube tips and tools is especially good.

Here’s another thread on How To Post Videos On The Abs Forum.

Vimeo (an alternative to YouTube) has camera, shooting and editing tutorials they call Video 101.

The How to Make a YouTube Video wiki is a fairly comprehensive survey covering the basics of...

[list]

I certainly hope we take this thing to the max.

Before I moved out into the sticks where my internet comes in on carrier pigeons, I would do little 4-5 minute videos of knives as I completed them.

Where I lived I had cable.

I could do a quick edit with the software that came with my camera - a little Canon Powershot - run into the computer and in 20 minutes it was live on You Tube.

The number of people subscribing just kept climbing and climbing.

Then I moved.

Now it takes 24 HOURS to upload the same 4-5 minute video.

So I thought I would do the same edit - file it on a flash drive - and upload to youtube at the public Library when I go to town.

Now, over the last two years I have become familiar with the new Go Pro cameras. They are so much more "friendly" to the entire process. They seem to come "You Tube Ready".

I wonder if the acquisition of a Go Pro would help me in my situation?

I have had the opportunity to spend some time with a new student of mine who has one and it seems like those Go Pro cameras are ALWAYS! in focus!

Note how here on this video my camera seems to have a hard time keeping up with my movements in and out.

That's unsettling to me, and I'm sure it is to other viewers as well.

Any opinions on Go Pro cameras?

[media] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUrRrZORmc [/media]

I've been filming videos here and there for a while now, but have always ran into the issue Karl spoke about with focus.....I'm convinced that it has to do with the quality of the camera. I've purchased 3 different video cameras over the past two years, and each one of them got returned because of the focus issue. By chance I got to talk with a fella here in Montana who's career is filming wildlife/the outdoors, his opinion was that unless you pay big bucks ($1,000+) for a video camera, you're not going to get one that will maintain focus. He actually recommended the GoPro cameras for the kind of thing I film. He said its "the best low cost camera currently available."

As luck would have it, Cindy (my Mrs.) gave me a GoPro Hero 4 Silver for Chirstmas. The video that I recently posted in the Blade Grinding subforum was my first attempt with it. Although that one turned out OK, I think I might have just got lucky, and still have much to learn with/about it. I tried another video yesterday, and it didn't seem to work very well.

Personally, I had an internal struggle with making and posting videos, because I have videos out there for sale, and had the thought that giving it away might impact video sales, and/or those who come to me for classes. That being said, there is such a huge portion of people who have youtube, etc. videos available, I decided to think of it as advertising, rather then an income source.

There is a lot of work that goes into creating even a short video. Positioning things, setting the camera up, editing, uploading.....it all takes time and effort. And for folks like most of us, that time is precious, and when something doesn't turn out (the video), it can be very frustrating.

So far, this GoPro seems to be the best chance I've had for creating decent short videos, and I'm going to continue working with it. In fact, as soon as I post this, I've got 4 handles to finish out, and am going to run the GoPro during it to see what comes out.

Karl and Ed

I can certainly identify with the "Time" issue.

I think I know the problem with the image shifting in Karl's video. The camera's image stabilization is turned on. Image stabilization is to reduce hand shake while filming. When the camera is on a tripod and you are moving objects in front of it, it makes the camera crazy. Turn the image stabilization off, when using it for bench shots.

Just learned another frustrating aspect of trying to make videos...... Running out of battery, on both the GoPro and the Iphone (I left the iphone app running so I could see what the camera sees). <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> This means if I want to continue capturing finishing these handles, I've gotta wait for the batteries to charge, and find something else to do. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//sad.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' />

Hopefully those Amazon yahoos will get my extra batteries and charger to me today.....it was suppose to be here two days ago! <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Many of our high school students use the GoPro for their action videos, especially surfing and catching cool pipeline footage. I have long wished to get one myself to shoot shop tutorials for my various classes. One concern I have had, seeing footage from them, is the fisheye effect. Maybe that is not so much of an issue for closer up shooting? What have you guys found to be the case?

Well.....I burned through the battery twice today.....and filled up a 32gb SDcard. I've been filming since about 9am (6 hours).....probably take me a week to go through all the footage and see if theres anything worth a hoot.

Phil: My GoPro has adjustment to minimize the fisheye.....changing the recording format solves it. I'm still learning with this one, so as I figure out more, I'll share what I learn.

|quoted:

I'm still learning with this one, so as I figure out more, I'll share what I learn.

I certainly hope you do, Ed. It would be a lot of help.

And, I will say, as far as the "advertising" effect of You Tube, I have not added a video in well over a year.

Yet just today sold 6 Damascus knives to a fellow because he found me on You Tube.

I think You Tube is a hugely effective tool - always have.

Thank you, Steve. I did not know that. I'll be trying that soon.

|quoted:

I think I know the problem with the image shifting in Karl's video. The camera's image stabilization is turned on. Image stabilization is to reduce hand shake while filming. When the camera is on a tripod and you are moving objects in front of it, it makes the camera crazy. Turn the image stabilization off, when using it for bench shots.

For most of the videos I have done, I have used a Nikon SLR camera on a tripod. I set the focus manually and use a fixed focus for each shot. This has worked well for me, (other than my poor cinematography skills) with the exception of three things. 1 I end up with very large video files in HD that then need to be significantly edited and shrunk to upload to youtube facebook etc,(this could also be a benefit for other uses as it is very high quality image I can also go into the settings on the camera and adjust this) 2 the SlR's can only shoot 20 min continuous, (this can also be an advantage as long as it is keep in mind as it can help keep the file size down) 3rd this camera tends to over heat and shut down when used as a video camera.

I have been considering purchasing a dedicated video camera, one of the things I dislike on all of the cameras I have looked at is the inability to pick a field of focus .. (the one thing that I really like about the SLR) I am very interested in others opinion of the Go Pro, that seems like it could be a good fit for action and shots with more movement in the field like forging, and still using a SLR for detail shots.

MP