Trying out scene labelling on #blackmagicdesign #davinciresolve17 This single feature I think will save me hours. I think it will take me more than a day to try out the new features. Love it.

 Using the Manfrotto Lastolite Panoramic green screen, to allow side and front views at the same time. We are creating videos for https://articulate.xyz and this involves showing a face side and front on to show how words are pronounced. The Panoramic screen here makes all the difference allowing rapid set up and seamless viewing.

Turning the Marquee into a makeshift studio

 In the summer months it is warm enough and usually quiet enough to film outside in the Marquee. We can easily get several lights a backdrop or two and enough room to move the cameras back to get good angles on the subjects. It also offers us time to make different types of films.

Better Portraits

Running an online class for the Womens Institute showing them how to improve their snaps to become portraits to remember and to cherish The @CanonUKandIE software is a brilliant way of showing this.

Interactive Whiteboard on Blackmagic ATEM

Improving lesson and screen presentations using our new @BenQ_UK RM6502K 65 inch interactive whiteboard with the @BMD_NewsUK Atem and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras.

First Birthday

My @Blackmagic_News Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is 1 year old today. We have made over 150 educational videos together. Over the year it has acquired another identical camera for the video conferencing and general film making. We now have  several zoom lenses for this and a collection of fast primes for the daily work. A better camera has demanded better lighting and sound, all of which have improved our quality of production.

Getting Close in on the Action

Action shots are often regarded as sports or people, but sometimes getting in close on moving things can bring in a new whole series of action shots. Closeup action of what is going on inside can lead to some magnificent B roll.

Camera on the Microscope

Armed with a Microscope and a camera Adaptor the Canon 7Dmarkii was attached and with a good led light was taking movies under the microscope. Connected to an ATEM these images could be broadcast to my students so they could see under the microscope.

Women's Institute online Tunisian Crochet Demonstration

In these days of doing everything online, we managed to demonstrate Tunisian Crochet across @WebEx to members of the local Women's Institute. And using the cameras

@rodemics  to hear the wool moving and the @Blackmagic_News #Atemminipro it was probably a more effective demonstration.

Improving workflow

Workflow is the in word. How do you process the work as quickly and efficiently as possible. We are finding that with the more powerful laptop, three screens and several open apps on a portable table does the trick.

Upgrading the Canon 7D MarkII to be a webcam

Canon have launched an new utility so my Canon 7D Markii can be used as a webcam. The thought of having a webcam with a 70-200mm f2.8 lens or even a Sigma 150-600mm lens is quite exciting. Probably I will use the Sigma 18-35mm most of the time as this is best as a webcam in a small space.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K reduced in Price

I see that just having bought my second Blackmagic 4K  for broadcast work, the 6K has just come down in price. Does this mean that I should start saving for the arrival of an 8K version and for more lenses.

Two Atems

Now I have two atems, I have set my Son the job of designing and building a stand to hold the two atems together, so he is working on Solidworks to design a stand and hopefully we can build this on the 3-D printer The two ATEMS work seamlessly together and allow us to  have more cameras in two banks working on either the direct teaching , or on the experiments we are doing in another part of the room.

Blackmagic ATEM Pro

This arrives today to improve our streaming capability.  With its built in encoder we can do without the laptop, save the recordings to hard drive as we go and daisy chain the ATEM Mini to this to increase our HDMI camera capability.

Blackmagic ATEM Mini Upgrade

We have managed to upgrade our Blackmagic Atem mini, Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (PCC4K) and Hyperdeck today The new functionality has come at a great time to improve our live-stream capability. With HDMI having a data line the Atem mini can now manipulate all the features and functions of the PCC4K, meaning that all the setting up can be done at the switcher/ over the network giving the producer remote control of the camera allowing social distancing. The On Air or Tally feature will be invaluable as it mean that can operate as a live broadcaster without requiring the £££.

The next thing we now need to do is to produce all the graphics and effects that are associated with a more higher quality production. 

Using the DJI OSMO Pocket as a camera

This DJI Osmo pocket camera is great for  video at upto 4K, but it is also a great little digital camera as well. Its size smaller than a phone camera, allows it to be used where other cameras can't and with excellent quality too.

Live-streaming beats Corona virus COVID-19

The corona virus may be winning but you can fight back with live-streaming. Much of business can be done with emails but live streaming and web conferencing especially using an ATEM can defeat  even the toughest virus.

Snatoms X

The new version of Snatoms arrived on my doorstep. Better shapes - not just tetrahedral bonding, but most banding shapes are now available. More Atom types with Bromine, Six sided Sulfur and 5 sided Phosphorus and a couple of Alkali metals. The bonding is much improved being much stronger.

Backing up

It is so important to back up those pictures, so easy too I use an Amazon Prime Photos account simply because I have on, but there are many others, all free for some photos. Since this is cloud backup the photos can be accessed by several different devices.

I see so many students carrying all their photos around on a phone then losing them all. All those memories gone. With so many free packages around can you afford not to back up?

Off to Vidcon 2020

Looking a bit like the alien from Predator, with the @Dji pocket Osmo on his shoulder Paul is off to @VidCon in London He hopes to see @AlanSpicerYT at @vidIQ and a few others on the creator track

A light and easy to use Jib. Great for small cameras like a GoPro or a small camera like my Olympus Tough. The jib is light enough to hold still at the full extension of this #Manfrotto monopod. The basic problem with most jibs is the time needed to set them up to achieve the shot. This jib is setup in less than 1 minute and using such a light camera it is possible to hold the shot steady. We often use a #DJI Osmo Pocket at the top. It has remote control, is steady and can achieve shots we couldn't do otherwise.

How many cameras do you need? I have 4 pocket cameras , three of these are waterproof to cope with the typical English weather. Some have GPS which many of my "Better" cameras don't have. Then I have the mobile phone - the ubiquitous camera - then a few slr's, a bridge camera, a blackmagic  4K camera and then a couple of 4K video cameras, a couple of GoPros a pocket osmo. Each has a different purpose, but when it comes down to it they all take photos and video. Gone are those days when I had just my Zenit E.

But how many cameras do you really need, for most this is just the mobile, and its back to the days of the Zenit E and a single lens.

Thinking about a camera as it is.

Using the 70-200mm lens. On the7D Camera which is an APS-C sensor this lens  with the 1.6x crop factor becomes a 112-320mm lens at f2.8, this makes the lens an exceptional telephoto. When buying these lenses I try not to think of them as for instance a 70-200 but instead as what they will be on this camera, so I think of this lens as my 100-300mm telephoto zoom.

Now I select the right lens for the right situation. I don't compare this lens and camera with a full frame  version but I think of it for what I have and it works fine.

Science Lessons by streaming. Using a Blackmagic ATEM mini to switvch between cameras and allowing picture in picture to engage the students. Now it is much easier to do online experiments moving the camera through the setup, then switching to a wide view, then a a flick of a switch to the paper or computer screen. I find four devices is just about right for one person to handle, allowing me to teach, and control the video and some graphic effects. Supported by Rode microphones and canon cameras and an Elmo visualizer we are making great progress.