JoeVanCleave

Last week I used my 8-by-10 tailboard-style nested box camera to create a simple image of a patio chair, and afterwards decided that an overview video of the camera's operation was needed, so I got busy yesterday afternoon, while everyone was away and the house was quiet, with shooting video.

I used a Lumix G5, micro-4/3 format still camera to shoot the video, using the 14-45mm Lumix lens set to continuous AF, recording in the MP4 format. Because my heavier Bogen tripod was being used to support the box camera during the video, I had to use the video camera atop a lightweight carbon fiber ball head tripod, not ideal for video because you can't pan the camera without upsetting the horizontal level.

The G5 makes for a good video camera because it has a rear LCD screen that can be flipped around so you can see yourself on camera. Its only disadvantage is lack of external audio inputs, but in this case the hardwood floors of my house do a good job of amplifying the sound into the camera's mikes.

I shot the video unscripted, as you might be able to tell, and did all the scenes in the order of their appearance on the video, with the exception of the title intro shot, which I did last.

I imported the video to an iPad2 and used iMovie to do the edit. While iMovie is a simple editing program, it does a great job, and is glitch-free. When I initially tried to upload the finished edit to You Tube, it informed me that the video exceeded the maximum limit of 15 minutes, so I had to go back in and delete some footage.

When I finally got to bed, late last night, the video was still (slowly) uploading to You Tube, and so this morning was when I first viewed it on You Tube.

Here's the link, enjoy.

~Joe