Versatility is the key

One day we want to do one thing, the next its all turn around and doing something else. The video studio is in constant flux, adapting to the needs of every shoot. The lighting, the sound setup is different and even the choice of cameras changes.

New Trailers

New trailers are an essential put of any online business, they say who you are and what the business is about. Changing these regularly to update things as they change is always a good idea, even though it takes time and effort.

3-D Design

With the ever increasing cost of science equipment, sometimes the only way to get a piece of equipment is to design and make it yourself. Somethings are too expensive and other things just can't be found for any price. Designing and using the 3-D printer solves this problem.

Macro Lenses

 ​Thank goodness for Macro lenses, to help see into mechanisms and see clearly what is going on. The Canon has some great lenses for this.

The Podcast Show London 22

 @PodcastShowLDN yesterday. Some excellent presentations. Learnt quite a bit, on what we should be doing.

The real Periodic Table

When I take out the real periodic table made from samples of all the different elements then there is a lot of interest in the different elements , most of whom the students have not seen and this sparks off conversations on the use and abundance of them.

 

Canon R7

 Having just bought an R5 C do I complement it with an R7 to replace my aging 7D and replace all the lenses over time - Decisions, decisions.

Changing the R5 C to a full cinema camera

The Canon R5 C changes completely to a cinema camera when we add to Tascam CA-XLR2d allowing two mic in our case a Rode shotgun and a lavalier mic to also get great sound captured directly to the Camera. A real game changer and why we bought it.

 

Spraycan inverse square law

Using a spray-can at different distances to demonstrate the inverse square law. At distances up to 40 cm the experiment works well, the students measuring the area with a 1 second spray at 5, 10 20 and 40 cm. Also works well with household spray bottles and dye.

Spraycam

 Filming a video on the inverse square law using a spray can involves creating spraycam!

Models Make the difference

Showing the students some diamonds and some carbon nanotubes is one thing but showing them the models is what really helps them relate structure to function even if working out why the colours is more difficult

 

Lego pens

The new Lego pens have arrived so we can now work on the mark 2  circle to sine wave machine. Father-in-Law has been sacked and my son will try his design and engineering skills.

Clean the safety specs

 One of the comments I get is that my safety specs are always clean and easy to see through and they don't fog up. If you want students to wear safety specs then they need to be really clean and easy to see though with no marks. Keeping them in cases is an excellent investment.

The Sound room - isoball

 This little cover surrounding the mic, with its built in pop filter turns a normal room into more that of a studio, cutting out all those ambient noises and making the sound crisper.

Programming Davinci Resolve Fusion

You only start to realise just how big and powerful DaVinci Resolve is when you get into Fusion and start programming the effects using Lua making in this case a count down timer for the livestreams 

Hand strap for EOS r5 C

 I like using hand straps on my cameras, but I also like using the battery grips. Years ago Canon did a nice strap for the hand grip before they changed to a screw fixing one on the base. Alas I can't get one of these anymore so until my wife makes me one I am having to use the old one  off the EOS7DMarkii

The value of outreach

A good friend of mine run a youth group. It's hard to keep these groups going. and on an occasional basis I go to these youth groups and put on some demo's for them (by popular demand) because for many this is the only time they see real science.

Media Changes

As I look at my new Canon EOS R5C it is interesting to compare how the cards have changed, the size and the speed. I have always used fast cards but increasingly the cards are getting larger and large and the speeds are also going up to keep up with the sizer of files.

50th Podcast

We celebrate our 50th Podcast. Going Green has been going for just over a year now with one broadcast a week, making a Podcast and a video of the Podcast about the environment we live in, what is going on and what you need to do.

Angelbird Card and Reader

 For the New Canon R5C I knew I needed a fast card and a fast reader so @PROAV suggested the Angelbird card and Reader and they were not wrong. It is fast enough to keep up with the camera.

Visualiser

Using the visualiser as a closeup camera to focus on the things you want the student to see and how you want them to do it. Great for experiments when used in a horizontal mode, and good not just in the classroom but online as well.

Zoom H5 with Stereo shotgun Mic

Quite useful for recording a person speaking. This stereo mic covers the person speaking with the shotgun part and the more ambient sound with the other part of the mic.

Voice Meeter

One of my problems with live streaming is sharing a video on YouTube with a a student, sharing the video is easy but sending the sound was more difficult and for me to also talk to the student at the same time. The solution Voice Meeter.

Trying out the Canon R5 C

 I tried to take one of my Mums trees down and my son used this as an opportunity to try out the Canon R5 C to test the quality of the shots.

Tascam CA-XLR

 Trying out the New Tascam on the Canon R5 C Seems to be working well. I will try it out with the Rode shotgun mic and the Rode wireless lav to see what quality we get. Tomorrow will be  busy day for the camera.

Canon EOS R5 C Arrives

My new Canon EOS R5 C arrived. We played with it a few weeks ago at @ProAV and immediately fell in love with it. We had been toying with the C70 but this camera gives us the ability to do landscape and portrait videos with ease and great photos as well.

Hyperdeck arrives

The Hyperdeck Shuttle arrives and is immediately put to work. With the online teaching I can immediately play videos of every practical to show the students what I can talking about rather than directing them to watch a video. Its what I have needed.

Davinci Resolve 18

In just a short time we are now on Davinci Resolve 18 studio with all its online working which is free. This powerful software has transformed our film making. The product came free with the cameras and we can only wonder why others pay so much to use other products.

Yield Organic Synthesis

At GCSE the students learn about yield, but only when the students do first organic Synthesis they really understand what is meant by yield when not much stuff is made at the end.

 

Online teaching has it transformed the way we work?

Has online teaching transformed the way we work? People and students, are much happier to accept online learning, but the quality varies considerably. The shame is to do this type of teaching there needs to be new and a different types of training for teachers and possibly from new experts in this field.

Working on a short about Bartons pendulums

 

Trying to do Bartons Pendulums Short in less than a minute is the challenge for today. The shorts are a good way to get facts and principles in front of people but it is difficult to convey all the info in less than a minute

Turgid Cell

 Sometimes we have to be innovative to get the message across. Turgor pressure become easier to understand when the students have to build a brick wall made from zip-lock plastic bags filled with water. The half filled bags are very unstable and bed, whereas the full bags make a stiff and strong wall.