Tabletop Filming Redux - Part 2

Before I get down to the actual DIY bit of my Overhead Camera Frame I have to do some tests to establish dimensions for the frame (appropriate minimum height from table) as well as getting some ideas about camera settings and lighting.

To do this I will lash up a make-shift camera rig using my tripod and other bits and bobs - just so I can work with the various bits of equipment and work out the ideal arrangements for the final frame layout. For this test I requisitioned the wife's dinning room table (temporarily - I was told)...

Excuse the shoddy snap, hopefully you can make out what's going on here. I've just tipped up my video tripod so that I get a top-down perspective with my camera and set up various types of lighting to try out.

One lesson learned straight away even at this early stage was the benefits of having some form of field or preview monitor so you can keep an eye on camera settings, focusing and framing.

Even if my Fuji XT-2 had a flip and swivel screen it wouldn't be entirely suitable for monitoring tabletop tutorial filming and so a separate preview monitor is recommended. A proper video feed monitor - with all it's bells and whistles - is probably overkill in this situation (although good to have if you can afford one) so I bought a very cheap (£30) 7 inch LCD HDMI monitor for the job.

The addition of a preview monitor means I can sit down - as I would be in a filmed tutorial situation - and work with my tabletop objects with the monitor still in my line of sight, but just out of frame.

This little screen still shows me my cameras main settings - including histogram - and is just sharp enough so I can check focusing. The downside is that colour rendition isn't accurate and it doesn't have the focusing and hand other assist features that a real field monitor would. But, for £30 I'm not complaining.

Conclusions
Despite the messy lashed together set-up, I had a very productive session and made lots of notes. My dinning room 'video lab' also had the added benefit of being right next to our kitchen so I was able to replenish my mug of tea without going to far!

1. Camera Height: The first issue I got to grips with was the camera height. I decided to stick with my Fujinon 18-55mm zoom to give me some flexibility in framing shots and testing relative proximities between subject and lens.

In the end I settled on my camera being about 1.5 feet (44cm) from the table - to lens - and my zoom set around 20mm.

2. Focus Setting: Because I will be shooting tabletop tutorials and, so, move from wide shots to closeups quickly I decided to set my camera to continuous auto-focus with the point of focus centre biased using the zone AF mode. Yes, there will be a little focus searching when I move from table distance to 'close-up' (about 7 inches from the lens), but this is the least 'fussy' way of doing things to begin with.

3. Lighting: You can never have enough light, and although I think my test proves this point it also proved that it's a particular sort of light that I am short of.

Because my models are glossed - with varnish - strong harsh lighting is not helpful as it produces very aggressive reflections. I, therefore, need defused lighting so as not to create too many bright highlights on my subjects and by doing so lose detail.

My current problem is that I only have one LED lamp which can generate enough illumination when defused - my Neewer 304 LED lamp (and I had that turned up to max) - so I will have to buy another so I have the level of control that I am after.

I used a umbrella to create the soft light I wanted, but this is also a problem as this is far too large and cumbersome to be suitable for my overhead table frame concept. I may, therefore, have to make some sort of compact soft box and try that out (more experiments)!

4. Camera settings: Funnily enough, my shooting settings were perhaps the least of my problems as the XT-2 is such a great camera that it didn't take long to settle on some working settings (although that isn't to say they won't be modified as I gain more experience).

The one thing that did have me scratching my head was what video recording mode to shoot in; FHD (1080) or UHD (4K)? And, also, what flavour of either of these resolutions - 24fps, 30fps or 60fps.

Although I am aiming at 1080HD output for YouTube, I did - initially - fancy FHD 60fps for reasons of detail, but then decided upon 4K and downscaling to FHD so I have the flexibility to crop, zoom and animate within my editing software.

Result...

A wee bit soft and a touch dim causing the loss of some of the details

in the shadow areas...More light needed!

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Anyway, this was all very sloppy and a lot of 'guesstimation', but it got me a starting point. I can refine my technique with practice. Most importantly, I have the data I need to start making my overhead camera frame.

Tabletop Filming Redux - Part 1

After a long hiatus - where I had to do some serious rethinking about the whole idea of my filming activities due to changes in work and life changes - I've concluded that my videography interests will have to be relegated to a 'hobby' rather than my original intention of exploring a small business.

But let's not bemoan lost opportunities and move on...

While I had originally had some ambitious ideas for film projects, I've had to scale these down to suit my new work schedule. But one thing that struck me is that I was missing a trick, somewhat, in that I had overlooked a interesting video opportunity on my 'own doorstep'.

Tabletop Filming
I am a pretty active craftsperson and modeller and I already blog a lot about these activities. However, I had often thought that text description and even still photographs do not adequately illustrate some of the techniques and processes that I use to produce some of my creative projects - filming the work would be far more effective.

Funnily enough, I had already started to explore the idea of filming my small hobby work table on this blog in a post I simply entitled 'Videoing Tabletop Tutorials' back in March 2017. But, this was a very simple attempt to capture my workspace using my GoPro Hero 4 camera and actually created more questions than it answered about focusing, lighting, camera angles and the ability to do close-up shots.

My conclusion at the time was that the GoPro was perhaps not the best camera for this purpose - being fixed focus with a minimum focus distance of about 30cm. I think I was going to try either my mobile phone camera or my Logitch webcam next, as they both have very responsive auto-focus systems which would be great for close-ups (but I didn't get round to it).

A More (Semi) Professional Approach
Obviously, the above experiment was very rudimentary to get me on my way towards finding a suitable solution to filming tabletop hobby activities. But, now I want to look more seriously into devising an effective means of recording craft and modelling work.

I did some research online and discovered that there is, actually, a purpose-built camera rig specifically designed for tabletop film-making - it's called an Overhead Camera Platform...

This upside-down 'U' shaped from sits on a tabletop and is
adjustable for height...

Camera equipment can then be clamped to the frame to allow
for 'top-down' filming of tabletop subjects.

Now, there are alternative solutions used by videographers - including cranes and also using a downward facing mirror - to capture tabletop scenes, but all of these require space (preferably a small studio) or money...And I have neither.

So, what I need is a more 'professional' approach but which comes with a budget price-tag and that will fit the constraints of my cramped workspace. Something that will sit on my workbench.

I've looked around for some DIY overhead rigs on YouTube and found a couple of options, here's a pretty good bargain basement rig idea...

Or, here's an alternative method for making a DIY overhead rig with some in-depth tips about how to set up your camera and the lighting...

SO... I now have a plan, a cunning plan, the first part of which is to design and make my own home-brew overhead video platform and then to shoot some tests. As it happens, my wife found something in our attic that might make a good cheapo rig...

It's one of those clothes hanger rails, we've had one disassembled in storage for ages (in fact it was a bit rusty) and we were about to take it to the recycle dump...But I have an idea I could make a tabletop rig from it.

In part 2 of this post I get to work modifying my clothes rail with the help of my trusty Dremel tool!

Videoing tabletop tutorials

Something I've been asked to do for one of my hobbies is to video some of the methods, to be exact - how I do some of my scale model making. But, I've been putting this off as I've never been quite sure how best to video some tabletop work - a la Blue Peter - given that a lot of my models are quite small.

But, I've decided it's best just to film some stuff and see what works. I can adjust my technique accordingly. So here's my first test footage...

Yes, it's all a bit thrown together, but this clip does give me some useful information.

EQUIPMENT: 

Camera - I'm using my fixed focus GoPro Hero 4 Black.
Stand - The GoPro is attached to a clamp with articulated 'gooseneck' arm (about a 30cm long).
Lighting - Just one small LED desk lamp.
Sound - Just the GoPro's internal mic (hence the hiss)!

Not very high-tech. But you have to start somewhere.

My goal was to find out how close the GoPro could focus - as it is a fixed focus camera - and to see if I could get it close enough so that the viewer could make out the small model parts that I work with.

Also, I wanted to experiment with the best angle and position for a single camera without it getting in the way of what I am doing. I thought the 3/4 view, looking down on my work area, would be best as I wouldn't block the view of the objects being worked on but this does mean I occasionally have to turn the objects if I want the viewer to get a clear view of the work.

GoPro 4 mounted on articulated 'Gooseneck' clamp.

At this point, I am not bothered about sound as I am undecided whether I shall add a voice over narrative in post. It might be easier that way so I can cut down mistakes and follow a script.

CONCLUSIONS
Well, it's not horrendous! The good thing about the GoPro 4 is I have several filming resolutions to choose from (including 4K if I want). The major downside is the fixed focus, the GoPro's minimum focus range is about a foot (30cm) and anything closer than that is blurry.

This is a bit of a pain as I may want closer shots to show some of the small components and assemblies (perhaps as close as 10-15cm). But, for a wider overview of my work area, the GoPro is adequate.

The other main concern is - as always with video - the lighting. I am going to have to set up something a bit more like a mini-studio, with at least two lamps giving even illumination from either side of the bench to eliminate any shadows.

OTHER OPTIONS
To focus in closer, I have the option of either using my main video camera - the Fuji X-T2 - or my little Logitech Web Cam. The Fuji might be a little overcomplicated, although the quality of footage would be superb, and it seems like a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut sort of solution.

The Logitech web camera seems a little more flexible and suited as it has a very good auto-focus system - that can focus very close to the lens - and wouldn't take a lot of space on my desk. Additionally, I would have the ability to monitor the footage via a computer screen, which would help to make sure I have small objects in focus.

I think my next test will be with the Logitech (and let's see if we can improve the lighting).