1 hour ago, Myers Lego Technic said:

@Boulderer , Maybe it's time I bought a new camera so I can take better pictures of my other camera. 

I think you just need better lighting. The photos would be OK if they were better lit.

Andy D

4 hours ago, Andy D said:

I think you just need better lighting. The photos would be OK if they were better lit.

Andy D

I know, I was just taking a quick pic in the natural light of the room; I wasn't going for anything special. 

8 hours ago, kbalage said:

You need to specify what would you like to shoot - photo or video? Would you like to do action shots, e.g. camera mounted on your Lego creations?

Video... I've got a great camera for photos, I it just can't take videos any better than 480p...

Yes, but it's not as important as a having a good main, tripod-mounted camera.

12 hours ago, Aventador2004 said:

Like a Canon powershot 1200s? Cause that is what I use.

Yes, similar. Mines a Canon PowerShot SD780 IS. Takes great pics and video. 

I also own a Canon PS TX1. A very good camera for its age.

I've been using my old Panasonic Lumix LX-7 and my Samsung Galaxy S8 for the new youtube channel I'm starting.  The LX-7 is great because it has a nice macro mode and 1.4 aperture.

The other option, which I find rather slick, is to use a gimbal-stabilized camera. I got the DJI osmo recently and rather pleased with the 'stability' of movies it produces. Careful though, as the 4k videos it produces won't run on just any PC/laptop.

Now, if you're into building your own little camera (forget zoom and other features), you can try a Raspberry PI with a Camera Module. Be prepared to invest some serious time programming, to get it to do exactly what you're after. Again, both options (Raspberry Pi and Osmo) have no mechanical zoom/Tele capability. 

Edited December 22, 20177 yr by DrJB

1 hour ago, LegoMonorailFan said:

Yes, similar. Mines a Canon PowerShot SD780 IS. Takes great pics and video. 

Ageed, they always come out great pictures.

9 hours ago, Aventador2004 said:

Ageed, they always come out great pictures.

And assuming the camera is in good condition, you can find some great deals on Ebay if someone wants to buy one used.

My main camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 which costs around €450. For the money it's a very feature rich bridge camera, it shoots in 4k video amongst other things.

I also use a ThiEYE T5e which is a very nicely performing 4k actioncam. It costs around €90.

Edited January 1, 20187 yr by Kelkschiz

I've been through a dozen of cams until I started using Lumix G7, and never looked back since. It's not very cheap but offers awesome quality for the price, complete with 4K, 50 FPS, tons of filters, and it's also light and small (unlike Canon cameras which are built like tanks). I had to buy a wide-angle lens for nearly $800 to get most from it, though. Other than that, I can recommend GoPro 4 Session for reasons mentioned above (it's actually small enough to be put inside a Lego train) and GoPro 5 whose tiny LCD screen is surprisingly useful (also, it has decent slow motion, image stabilization, awesome GPS speed gauges that you can put on a video, and it's waterproof by default).

3 hours ago, Sariel said:

Lumix G7, GoPro 4 Session, GoPro 5

Now I know why you're videos look so good - you use all the expensive stuff!

4 hours ago, Sariel said:

...had to buy a wide-angle lens for nearly $800...

What lens did you choose? I am currently in the market.

5 hours ago, Myers Lego Technic said:

What lens did you choose? I am currently in the market.

Olympus 9-18 mm. Definitely the best wide-angle lens that won't cost you an arm and leg. Anything fancier is way, way more expensive.

Just now, Sariel said:

Olympus 9-18 mm. Definitely the best wide-angle lens that won't cost you an arm and leg. Anything fancier is way, way more expensive.

If you're ok with manual focus then I strongly suggest the Laowa 7.5mm F2 for Micro Four Thirds, that's only $500 and has a much wider aperture than the Olympus -> you can get away with lower ISO indoors. I used this lens for my latest speed build videos and as the focus is manual you won't have the annoying "focus breathing" either. And it's super small, looks like a toy lens on my GH5 :)

So... After may weeks of searching, biding, and waiting, I've finally got a new camera!

Although, I should say cameras, because I stretched my budget a bit, and got two:

• Firefly 7s - for $89.95
• Canon PowerShot SX700HS - for $102.95

Anyway, both cameras can shoot 1080p 60fps video (which it the highest resolution my computer can play), the Canon has fully manual focus (as well as many other awesome features! ), and the Firefly has a 120fps slow-mo mode - which I've already had a lot of fun with...

One website I found extremely useful when I was searching for cameras, is www.dpreview.com, or more specifically their camera search tool - which lets you search for cameras by their features and specifications. It let me narrow down thousands of cameras down to about 20 that had everything I wanted, which I then searched for on eBay, until I found one that was cheap enough.

Another thing I found, is a new video editor - VideoPad - which should make it much easier for me to edit my videos (because Windows movie maker couldn't handle 1080p videos), but I'll go into more detail about that when I post on the "Video Tips" topic...

Edited April 16, 20186 yr by mocbuild101
My GoPro broke...

Good choice of cameras and a very lucky deal with that GoPro! Enjoy the equipment and show us the results :)

11 minutes ago, kbalage said:

Enjoy the equipment and show us the results :)

I will, I should be getting 42063 in a few days, so I'll definitely be taking some outdoor shots of it, and hopefully posting them in the Technic photography topic...

Sorry for bumping this topic...

I needed to hold my camera low to the ground, so I built this:

I thought I should share it here, since this topic is all about cameras... 

It has a LDD file too, if you need it: https://bricksafe.com/files/mocbuild101/mini-mocs/Camera Tripod.lxf

By the way, if the camera in the video doesn't look like s GoPro, that's because it isn't...  (see my edited post above)

Edited April 16, 20186 yr by mocbuild101

I am looking for a small onboard wireless camera with a real time stream for inclusion in various remote operated and self operated builds.  Also not looking to break the bank.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions/experience/reviews?

Maybe look into fpv gear. I don't have any experience with it, thought it is definitely small enough.

5 hours ago, Juxtapoisson said:

I am looking for a small onboard wireless camera with a real time stream for inclusion in various remote operated and self operated builds.  Also not looking to break the bank.

Please don't post topics in Technic forum, that do not relate to Technic, or to Lego.
We do have one "camera" topic here (even though it should not be in Technic forum), so at least use that, instead of opening new topic.

I will move this there.

I am looking for a 4k video camera for a few hundred USD/euros. It would be used mostly to shoot 4k videos while stationary (mounted to a tripod). Easy file transfer to a computer for editing is important too.

Does anybody have a recommendation?

1 hour ago, ord said:

I am looking for a 4k video camera for a few hundred USD/euros. It would be used mostly to shoot 4k videos while stationary (mounted to a tripod). Easy file transfer to a computer for editing is important too.

Does anybody have a recommendation?

An older GoPro?

17 minutes ago, IA creations said:

An older GoPro?

I do have an older GoPro (not sure if 4k) but it only shoots in fisheye. I prefer to shoot from further away to reduce the perspective distortion (I should add this as a requirement - that the camera can capture HQ 4k video at say 2-4x zoom). Thanks

3 hours ago, ord said:

I am looking for a 4k video camera for a few hundred USD/euros. It would be used mostly to shoot 4k videos while stationary (mounted to a tripod). Easy file transfer to a computer for editing is important too.

 Does anybody have a recommendation?

I'm using GoPro Hero 7, but I have to say that it's not perfect really.

First of all, the 4K is in wide angle (fish eye?) and not linear view so it's not really good for shooting this kind of stuff. I'm using 1080p mostly on it.

Secondly ISO to shutter speed is graded in a way that you really can't tweak brightness/cut out white background properly and it's either overburn or too dark in a pro softbox with dedicated LED lighting. You can check my videos to see effects, but I end up with a lot of overburn videos because I'm not yet ready to spend my time figuring out what should I upgrade to.

Thirdly the screen lies about the brightness the camera registers, so the outcome is a bit different overall and tweaking live is a problem. I think that the newer ones that allow for wireless connection may be better because you could be connected to your PC live to see it properly even if it's at lower refresh rate.

Fourthly I can't see on the screen whether the focus is correct or not so I end up moving camera away and zooming in, which isn't ideal, I know I'm losing some quality because of that, not to mention time wasted if I figure out afterwards that the shot is out of focus.

What I like about the camera being 240 Hz is that you can do a shot on a moving camera and slow it down 4 time to 60 Hz like this here (should be a timestamp where required):

It works well for those if you do a fast movement and slow down the capture rather than try to move properly at real time speed.

I'm using something like this:

the roller, not camera, but shorter. You get the idea. The issue with this is that it requires some space, big background and good lighting. And here you'll see that the shots are slightly overburn yet the background is still not cut away properly.

Overall not recommending going with GoPro unless you've got a plan to handle the issues mentioned here.