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Lineside videoing


rodent279
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What sort of video cameras are folks using to make lineside videos of trains these days? I'm not talking about professional setups making commercial videos for sale, I mean your average amateur railway video-er (if that's a word...)

 

cheers N

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I use Panasonic 4k camcorders.

 

One think I've learnt is that many years after you record something (or photograph it) you will probably wish you'd use higher quality so I record at the highest quality available on my camcorder, it eats disk space but the quality will be there in 5/10/20 years time whereas recording at the base level will look grainy / blurred / soft focus.

 

Phone cameras have a small lens and the resulting image reflects this.

 

Horses for courses.

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I use this. I am very happy with it and you can set zoom speeds (which is perfect for Railways). Its maximum settings means it records 1080p (HD) at 50FPS. If I were buying it again, I would buy the next years model which has an external microphone in port, which is only really helpful when it’s very windy, otherwise the built in mic is fine and recording from a station I have no issues.

 

https://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/camcorders/high_definition_hd/legria_hf_r706/specification.aspx

 

Before I bought this I just used my iPhone, which gives great quality video, with the only downside that there is no optical zoom you can use on video (to follow a train). I still use my iPhone for static ‘going away shots’.

 

For some example footage, the main shots on my most recent 19 videos are shot with the Cannon Legria.

 

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCbJCLY7FbV-YSkkZHoAOBkw

 

The max photo resolution is only 1080 so the still images aren’t SLR quality, but I think they’re okay. See below.

 

post-27529-0-24447800-1519200907_thumb.png

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PS - Remember you can record in very high quality but render a video in lower quality (for quicker uploads when you have a connection like my damp string one) and like a negative, the original remains should you ever need the higher quality again.

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I’ve a Panasonic camcorder, not sure of the model number, but it cost abou £500. I’ve had it for 4 years. Its scratched (not the lens) and got a few dints from falling off the tripod, tripod being blown over etc but still going. Records in HD, though for DVD’s and uploads to Vimeo I reduce the resoloution. Pictures are fine, sound fine. I was initially advised to put it onto manual and set the shutter speed at 1/100 and the results were OK. More recently I’ve used it on auto and switched the image stabilisation on, the results are better.

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  • 4 weeks later...

On a recent visit to the UK I took two cameras and a cheap lightweight tripod. The cameras were both Sony. A video camcorder a HDR-PJ820E with 64GB built in memory but it also has a card slot so I used the card slot for video footage and the built in memory for photos. The other camera I took was an action cam a AS100VR. Both cameras record in 1080P (HD) at 50FPS.

With the cameras being on board luggage I decided not to take my still camera. You can only have two pieces of on board luggage. The tripod went into the main baggage hold.

 

Filming on UK preserved railways was difficult as being an overseas tourist without the financial resources of Richard Branson I don't get to the UK that often, as it's an 18,000km trip which means that I don't know the best areas to film. I like to be away from people as others can be very annoying. Filming on stations you have other people walking or standing in front of you. On gradients you find still photographers rapidly clicking away and then as soon as they've finished filming they start chatting among themselves or packing up and chatting whilst you're still filming. They now doubt would get very upset if I was to say to them "will you lot bl##dy well shut up!!". So I tried filming from public foot crossings but not knowing where they are, it takes time to find them. I only did it once and that was on the Llangollen Railway. Filming in the inevitable English rain was ok with one hand operating the camera and the other holding a big golfing umbrella for many photographers/videographers just stayed in their cars so a full panning shot was possible. 

I'm not entirely negative towards others who film for one man on the NYMR gave me some great locations to film so I'm very thankful to him. I will say though I bought an all day "rover ticket" or a full return ticket on the preserved railways that I went to, even though I had no intentions of riding the trains. Those trains are run for the intention of people to ride on them and not just for people to stand at the line side and photograph them. I couldn't bring the golfing umbrella back to Australia as it was just too long to fit into the my suitcase. So I gave it away to someone at Pendon Museum where I spent my last day.  

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