Focus people...Please!

and use a tripod (generally speaking) so we don't get sick trying to watch it 

if you don't have a tripod, move very slowly

Also turn on video or picture stabilization if no tripod.  Lastly, if you forget to do that for video, it can be usually corrected for stabilization if needed.

I think most people shoot videos with iPads and phones these days so don't think you'll get a 80s tripod for that. Most phones and iPads do have a stability setting though.

ALWAYS (well, almost always) use a tripod! If you use an iPhone or other so-called "smartphone", get one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/ANYCASE-...apter/dp/B009NX2EU4#

Even the cheapest/smallest tripod is better than no tripod at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KZ6mIsbDc4

AG.

And also...

Jerry

Proud Member Of The Peanut Gallery

Our own Joey Ricard had a post on this subject.....easy to follow......

Well now thanks to this post & Allan's suggestion I just bought a tripod for my I Phone. More toys.  To be honest I never really thought about one till now.

Good advice.

More advise when panning...Do it extremely slow about half the speed you think would be about right when behind the camera.

After reading this thread I came up with a great little project that only cost me time and patience waiting for the glue to dry. Using the tripod socket from a long dead digital camera and a few pieces of scrap Styrofoam I pieced together a platform for the smart phone to sit a top the tripod.

Still didn't do much to improve my photography skills.

Now that is what I love about this Forum!! That retrofitted tripod is awesome...I'm doing that when I get home!

Out of focus pictures and videos is one of my pet peeves.  You even occasionally see it with big presentations where the screen is out of focus.  What a way to ruin an otherwise excellent presentation.  I am not wanting to be mean to anyone that doesn't know any better, but we see far too many pictures posted on this forum that are badly out of focus too.  Please sort through your pictures and share the "keepers" and not every picture that you took.  End of rant - Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Art

There are what I call, back-pack friendly, tri-pods.  Cannon 520A (old),  Drive mode, 10 second or 2 sec delay.  hands off the camera.  A rock will also work as a camera stand.

I have used an older tripod and simply held the iphone on with rubber bands. Also used smaller tabletop tripods. The little stand that came with the phone also works great for shooting video. I think the key is to keep the camera still and not hold it in your hands moving the focal point all around. Letting the trains do the moving and keeping the camera still usually provides the best results.  

Matthew that is a clever idea with the foam...

That sounds great Nick! With that arrangement you also have the option to enhance the clanging bell on your engines  while you're shooting the video.

I am going digital! Desperately need a new camera, perhaps one that can also do video! Any suggestions?

I have the little Gorilla Pod shown in Alan's link and above.  It works great and comes with the mounting hardware for your digital camera.

.....

Dennis

Is everyone sufficiently discouraged from sharing with the Cecil B Demilles of the forum?  

I can can arrange the rental of a 53' white box that will produce 1080p content for those of you that insist on professional quality. 

I've done a lot of (on the rock) pictures.   This one, I needed to clear the grass a bit. Me on the far left. Cannon A520 set to 10 second delay.  Bridger Teton Wilderness trail crew.

Can I get 4k resolution instead?

 Look and ask, for one capable of taking an extreme close-up of small items. Some setups are much better suited than others for this (even digital, its the lens). Most cameras are designed for shots 4', or further away. A view finder/screen, that tilts/swivels is very handy! I used it way more than I thought I would. A "locking" auto-focus (partial button press), manual focus, and a flash that stays turned off "when told" would be nice.

 The #1 reason some of my pictures are blurry, was a long range camera. Anything closer that 6', and the auto-focus didn't like to stay still. Even then 4' was the cutoff as seen here, All shots from the same camera, I only tried on the train stuff.  

Surprisingly, this adaptor for the Cannon A 520, allows for better close-ups. IMO tough to find this, (close-up), in a point and shoot camera.

You can do close-ups, but there are still limits.

Note the roof distortion.

If you want truly professional results, never - EVER - use Auto-Focus! This is especially true if you're shooting a moving subject. You need a camera with MANUAL FOCUS if you want good results. Set the focus for your subject and shoot. You don't want the camera changing the focus points in the middle of a shot.

ANY video camera, properly used, can take good videos of model trains. The cameras I use when shooting OGR Great Layout Adventures videos are nothing special and they are not "close-up" cameras.They are standard Panasonic HD video cameras, a large one and a small one.

When shooting models, if you want everything to stay in focus, you have to stay at the wide end of the zoom lens. You cannot zoom in to a long focal length and have everything stay in focus. The laws of optics just don't work that way, no matter who makes the camera.

Turn off the flash too!  Please!!!!!

I don't know Dave, mine didn't come out so good using your 'tip'

- walt

Perhaps this thread could be renamed to something more friendly like "Helpful tips for getting the best out of your videos" or something like that?

I have been on this forum for a long time and something that bugs me more than ANY poor video that someone decided to share with me is the attitude of some forum members who consider themselves experts on certain topics. Rather than be helpful, often times jabs and ridicule are used where helpful suggestion would suffice. I wonder how many newbies are turned off by the attitudes of some here on the forum? I'm not trying to single out the OP here as this goes far beyond just this thread. Just something that I have observed over the years.

If you don't have anything nice to say...

Here's a "big picture" suggestion: ask yourself whether a video is really the best way to present the information, or would one or two or three still photos be a better use of your and the viewers' time? All too often I see five seconds of content presented in a three-minute video. A BAD three-minute video. 

And if a video is really the way to go, EDIT! Most amateur train videos are at least twice as long as they should be. Five run-bys of the same train from the same vantage point does not engage the audience. I mostly don't even bother to look at posted videos because the average quality is so bad. It reminds me of all the jokes in the old days about Uncle Charlie's endless slide shows of family vacations - the ones where the slides were projected exactly as they came out of the box, including all the out of focus shots, duplicates, and pictures of the photographer's feet. 

I chalk it up to Male Menopause...that point of life where you can no longer get a thrillor offer tips!

I'm really not seeing a big problem with the original post. He was appreciative of the efforts made but was simply making some suggestions to ensure that the clip was as good as it could be. 

Presentation, Presentation, Presentation!!!  Gotta remember we are communicating thru a monitor and keyboard where there is no tone of voice.  The title was kinda gruff...and discouraging for the rest of us non-pro photographers.  And as the poster before me said, we have seen worse...much worse.  It is much better to offer POSITIVE CRITICISM in the manner in which the Webmaster offered constructive tips.  Otherwise you are right...NO BIG DEAL HERE!!!!  Ron B.

You know, sometimes you just point the thing and hope for the best.