BV I: Choosing the Camera

It has come to my attention that the vlogging community in South Korea is much smaller in comparison to the amount of bloggers. I wish to offer some simple guidelines that can get people started in shooting video so that we may have a much larger community and information/entertainment for anyone interested.

Integration of video can be found on most any cell phone these days as well as cameras and even DSRL cameras come equipped for the ability to shoot HD video. Deciding on a camera can be pretty frustrating  and can get more complicated when dealing with things like  SD, 720 HD, 1280 HD, flash memory, hard drive camcorders, DV…

Here is a small post with information that may help you choose the camera that will fit your needs as a vlogger. Remember, just because someone uses an expensive camera to accomplish their needs does not mean you need it for what you may be doing.

Lets start with what you are more likely to have.

Digital still Cameras:

Pros:

• Point and shoot
• Portability, size
• Tripod ready
• Easy transfer to PC
• Costs (unless HD camera)

Cons:

• Video quality is subpar
• Low light shooting is awful
• Filming movement is terrible
• Audio is a sin, lack of audio jack
• Most don’t have offer advanced features

There are a few cameras that offer advanced features and even at HD quality. I have one such one but I am the firm believer that you are either buying a camera or a camcorder, a jack of all trades doesn’t suffice to me and although it offers advanced features such as white balance, zoom, exposure levels and such, most digital cameras will not be able to do so. Not to mention the inbuilt microphones are pretty terrible.  If you shoot video with one of these, be prepared to shoot video with rough quality that contains black “deadzones” on the edges of your video with poppy and cracky audio. Chances are you will be shooting at 640×480 with low frame rates. They suffer greatly from movement, whether slight or fast and do bad in low light.  Any bump will be felt on the video. Likewise, any zooming in the camera will likely be heard in the audio. Don’t expect any long clips from this!

However, you are able to do things such as time lapse photography if you are patient enough, slide show type videos, and instant action when you need a camera fast. If you are shooting with these, chances are you will have to include music in the background to make up for the poor quality of recording.  They are also pretty good in bright light but filming indoors or twilight can be disappointing.  If an SD camera is what you have and all you have! Don’t let me stop you from making videos, although it will be tough to get rid of the “homemade” look, even on higher end HD cameras. If you are panning make sure to do it slow and smooth!

Camera Phones:

Pros:

• Point and shoot
• Portability
• Free pocket space
• Easy transfer to PC and sharing

Cons:

• Lack of zoom
• Quality is terrible on most phones, higher end can be alright
• Bad audio, lack of audio jack on most
• Definitely don’t expect advanced features
• Terrible in low light
• Movement is pretty bad

Whereas a camera is built for taking pics and some video, you have some phones who try to do it all. Personally, I would say you are much better off with a digital camera. Recording on a regular cell phone with video will give you pretty awful quality but if you have something like the iphone, it will give you as about 80% of what an HD still camera can provide you.

Expect it to be a large drain on your battery as well if you are going for longer shots, like a digital camera your videos will more than likely be composed of short clips. One would expect the audio to be better as this is a phone but that will depend entire on your phone and where its mic is located and you will have to be pretty damn close to your target if you want to get decent audio. Some smartphones come equipped with some editing tools like Sepia or Black/White. If you plan on editing on the computer do NOT ever use these, as they will degrade your quality and you won’t be able to undo online. Plus you can add those effects on the editors on the PC.

As said, most phones will have terribad quality, if you have something on the higher end like the iphone you can get away with more but will still suffer from some of the things HD cameras will. Avoid movement, not so amazing audio, quality is almost as good as an HD camera, even if the iphone video is HD it won’t be the same. Lower frame rates with blurring and once again, pretty bad in low light.

Park Chan Wook shot a a pretty amazing film using the iphone, but even then he used studio equipment to record sound separately and specially made adapter lenses for the phones that can cost more than the phone itself. The effect was an artisty looking video, but sad so say I can’t expect the same effect from anyone else trying to shoot a video with it. Be sure to invest in a tripod and external hardware! Like the SD HD cameras, you might have to add music to cover up the audio, and you’ll have lots of deadspace in your videos unless its a higher end phone filmed sideways*

Webcams:

Pros:

• Cost
• Quality (Cost dependant)
• Screen capture
• Inbuilt software
• Interchangeability of Mics

Cons:

• No portability
• Extremely light dependent
• Lack of advanced features
• Reduces you to talk in front of PC videos

If you have a laptop, chances are it has an inbuilt webcam. Something I do like about webcams is that if the audio is crappy, you can always purchase a better mic.  Personally I find that the video quality can be much more amazing than a cameraphone or HD still camera, but that of course depends on how much you are willing to pay. Chances are that only serious vloggers will purchase an HD webcam, and if you have a regular one, then the quality won’t be something to write home about, but it will get the job done.

There are some issues with them, such as lighting and you will quickly find how lighting dependent  webcams can be.  Backlighting is a huge issue, more often than not you will be darker than the background and that can seriously mess up your exposure levels. On the other hand if you are in a well lit area where you are brighter than the background, you have a really good picture.

My gripes with webcams are that they can restrict what you can do with your videos. Of course that can be remedied with combinations, you can use the webcam to talk and edit to add scenes caught with another camera – no problem.  If you plan on doing more of a diary style or video tutorials then this would be perfect for you. Some webcams come equipped with software for editing and higher end ones even have screen capture, which is great for tutorials or game recording. I might do some video tutorials myself. Be sure to have good lighting on you! And don’t be afraid to show your pores to the world on an HD webcam.

Point-and-shoot camcorders

Pros:

• Portability, size
• Tripod ready
• HD quality
• Cost
• Easy to transfer to PC
• In built software
• Some advanced options
• Zoom
• Weather/water proof (some)

Cons:

• Audio
• Movement issues
• Some use AA batteries
• Zoom (on second though its not so great but good to have)

I actually would like one of these to add to my collection as I regard them more as action cams where one doesn’t have to worry about them getting wet or falling down.  This is very good if you are an outdoorsy type of person. The video quality can be amazingly good and does provide some advanced options.  They can also provide instant uploads to youtube which can be good but I prefer to edit them using software.  Sometimes video formats can be an issue but most record in AVI or MPG4 which by now are universally accepted on PCs or software.

However there exists some issues such as movement. Movement can cause your viewers to stop watching your videos, no matter how good the information or entertaining it can be. Definitely consider a tripod since they usually include a tripod mount or if you don’t have one try reclining against something to remove your movement since it WILL show up on the video.

The battery thing can be annoying, but not all of them use double AA batteries, unfortunately one of the better ones, the FLIP does.  Again, it can suffer from lighting problems so they do best in high lit areas or outdoor shots.  I would probably recommend this if you are on a tight budget and want your videos to standout more than the common videos you see on youtube.  I have yet to see a point and shoot cam with an audiojack, but my thoughts are that it would drain the battery way too fast. The audio is decent at best, just don’t get too far from your subject.

DSLR Camera

Pros:

• Depth of field (lovely)
• Viewfinder
• Screen
• Advanced picture options
• Realtime output
• Huge sensor: greater light sensitivity
• Tripod ready
• HD recording
• Flash memory
• Possible microphone jack
• Different lenses
• Time lapse
• Trendy

Cons:

• Crazy wacky recording formats
• Manual focus/zoom/everything are noisy in recording
• Automatic settings adjusted with camcorders aren’t with DSLR
• Rolling shutter (jello cam)
• Limited recording per sequence
• Overheating in short periods
• No audio monitoring
• Movement
• Costs + Accessories

There is a huge debate among everyone in the world of video. And there are good arguments for both, but personally the biggest factors to me are its greater lighter sensitivity and the shallow depth of field effect which makes everything blurry in the back, pretty hot stuff. In fact one  my favorite vloggers from Korea, EatyourKimchi, use a DSLR Camera to record their videos and it looks pretty amazing. Picture quality is definitely a plus for DSLR.

If you do decide on a DSLR, be sure to invest on a good mic though, as the inbuilt mic is pretty bad if you are further off. Also, definitely use a tripod, because as all the previous video recording until now, any movement on the camera will be really noticeable.  Additionally, since a DSLR is made for pictures, you can expect it to heat up pretty quick, possibly even damaging your camera, so videos should be kept in short segments.  You do have the ability to take amazing stills though, always a plus. As mentioned in the cons, everything is manual, including focus, exposure settings, etc. Basically almost everything a camcorder can do on its own, will have to be done manually on a DSLR and the movement of lenses will be picked up on the mic, so be sure to invest in an another. By now most higher end DSLRs tape in HD, though not all will.

Most DSLR camcorders export in some pretty weird formats and can’t be edited using normal software, so you might need a third party software like Final Cut or Adobe premiere. They do include software but its usually just to transfer the files to be read on your computer. The picture is beautiful and crisp, but if you are filming in DSLR be sure to expect shorter taping sessions, and not move so much from what you are taping since you can get out of focus. Expenses can’t get high too if you start buying different lenses, microphones, or mounts for the camera.

HD Camcorder

Pros:

• Inbuilt image stabilizer*
• 24p recording
• True HD*
• Zoom
• Autoadjustments (focus etc)
• Audio jacks
• Night vision (some)
• Advanced options
• Ease of transfer
• Zebra stripes
• Viewfinder
• LCD Screen
• Tripod ready

Cons:

• No depth of field
• Fixed lens
• Lighting problems
• Cost
• Possible strobbing effect
• Video-e look

Theres different types of camcorders, SD and HD. Standard definition vs High definition. SD camcorders can have a zoom over 30x and most HD camcorders zoom is 10x unless you go for a much more expensive one.

Additionally, there’s different forms of memory, such as DV (small tapes), HD (hard drive), Flash memory. In all honesty I would choose the Flash memory as it makes the camcorder much lighter and is cheaper in costs, additionally it makes file transfers to computers easy. DVs are a dying breed and can cost alot with each tape costing about 8 dollars each. HD memory camcorders can be kinda heavy and if damaged, you might not be able to repair it.

The true gem of camcorders is getting one with image stabilization which, if you have lots of movement, can reduce it drastically. Manual settings will give you greater control over picture although there are also auto options. Any sound quality that’s inbuilt is usually junk, so be sure to invest on an external microphone.  Lighting also tends to be an issue with most camcorders, though some can make up for it by including night vision.

You do get that videoy look though, where you can tell it was shot with an HD camcorder but some camcorders offer 24 frame rate recording which can give you that film “look and feel”. You do have to worry about recording the appropriate frames to aperture ratio, which would otherwise give you a strobbing effect, where the screen seems to blink rapidly.  It does not have a depth of field effect either, but you can manually create one but it won’t be as amazing as the DSLR’s.

The  argument from me and my point of view is that a camcorder is built for video, whilst a DSLR is built for taking stills. You can get really amazing DSLR scenes and the depth of field effect, which is the reason many people choose the DSLR, but a camcorder will give you the tools needed to take the camcorder on the move else plus better audio options. Audio is 3/4 of the video, have you ever watched a video that although it looked great, something was just so off you couldn’t keep watching? It may have been the audio. Image stabilization is your friend while panning and moving. For DSLR you may have to invest alot on a rig to keep a steady picture while moving.

It’s comparing apples and oranges though. Will you be doing alot of outdoor action? Then a point and shoot FLIP still cam will do you justice. Are you looking to not move the camera so much and want the depth of field look on your shots with gorgeous shots? Then get a DSLR. Do you plan on moving, panning, and zooming? Then a SD/HD camcorder will do you good. Interested only in talking about things podcast style, then a  webcam will be more than enough. Or if you are on a budget and have only your phone or SD camera, then those can do you justice as well. Some video is better than no video, and the more media we can get out there, the more we can share the things we love about Korea and the world with others.

Better Vlogging series:

Better Vlogging II: Sound and Microphones

Better Vlogging III: Know your Camera

Better Vlogging IV: Composition Basics I

Better Vlogging V: Composition Basics II

Better Vlogging VI: Editing

Better Vlogging VII: Software Coming Soon!