BobDiaz
The Professor
The Belmont Shore Model Railroad Club is located In Angles Gate Park, San Pedro, California and is open to the public every Tuesday Night.
Some background behind the video...
N-Scale Model Trains are really small, 1/160 the size of the real thing. Figure the engines are about 3" long. Shooting these trains isn't easy, because tight shots have very limited DOF (Depth Of Field). The one advantage to the HMC40 is the small chip size, which translates to a lower mm lenses and greater DOF.
Still, shooting the trains was NOT easy, the small size and the fact that the floors weren't 100% solid made for shaky shots when someone walked near the camera on the tripod. While lighting in the layout wasn't bad, maximum of +9dB gain in the darkest area, I found that using the VidLED light as a fill helped a lot.
The really wide shots look flat, but the tight shots where my fill light worked the best, seem to be a lot richer and have more depth. If I had to do it over again, I would bring a light kit and do a much better job of lighting. (The lighting there is great for seeing the trains, but not video.)
There's no live audio, because of the noise level in the room, with random stuff killed the audio. I was there as a guest, so I couldn't tell people to shut up. :laugh:
The Century 0.5x Wide Angle Adapter worked better than I expected. All hand held shots were with the wide angle adapter and the video light. The shots with the tripod are without the adapter. It's not easy to hold the camera steady without a steady cam, but the wide angle helped to reduce the camera shake and gave a nice tracking shot.
Bob Diaz
Some background behind the video...
N-Scale Model Trains are really small, 1/160 the size of the real thing. Figure the engines are about 3" long. Shooting these trains isn't easy, because tight shots have very limited DOF (Depth Of Field). The one advantage to the HMC40 is the small chip size, which translates to a lower mm lenses and greater DOF.
Still, shooting the trains was NOT easy, the small size and the fact that the floors weren't 100% solid made for shaky shots when someone walked near the camera on the tripod. While lighting in the layout wasn't bad, maximum of +9dB gain in the darkest area, I found that using the VidLED light as a fill helped a lot.
The really wide shots look flat, but the tight shots where my fill light worked the best, seem to be a lot richer and have more depth. If I had to do it over again, I would bring a light kit and do a much better job of lighting. (The lighting there is great for seeing the trains, but not video.)
There's no live audio, because of the noise level in the room, with random stuff killed the audio. I was there as a guest, so I couldn't tell people to shut up. :laugh:
The Century 0.5x Wide Angle Adapter worked better than I expected. All hand held shots were with the wide angle adapter and the video light. The shots with the tripod are without the adapter. It's not easy to hold the camera steady without a steady cam, but the wide angle helped to reduce the camera shake and gave a nice tracking shot.
Bob Diaz