Videotaping

[Y3a]

OK, Some tips on videotaping your model railroads and engines.

DO NOT:
Have your camera so close as it won’t focus

Film just a silhouette

Have your train blasting by, but slowly to see the details

Pan if you don’t have a tripod

Bother posting blurry or poorly lit video. DO IT AGAIN!

Have other noise going on in the background if demonstrating your sound decoders

Try to tell us about your scene if you haven’t rehearsed it, write it down so you don’t wander

Blather on about aspects of the real locomotive, etc unless you know what you’re talking about, so you don’t blow your credibility.

 

[flyboy2610]

Lessons learned from personal experience, I assume?

 

[Selector]

Have image stab on, and DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE THAT AWFUL IMAGE STABILIZING FEATURE THAT YOUTUBE WILL OFFER YOU!! PLEASE!!

Following the entirely appropriate advice to have your locos moving about 10-20 scale mph, and no more, do pan slowly as well. Be deliberate, and ssssllllllllloooooooowwwww down your panning!!

Focusing, I agree, can often be a problem. Pick a focus point and actually back up a wee bit as the train approaches. Once the train moves too close, or you try to zoom a poorly featured point-and-shoot, you'll screw up everything that follows.

And, yes, in the words of that well-travelled East Indian gentleman, "Binder Dundat". Particularly my recent, and solitary, experience with that horrible image stab feature on youtube.

 

[Y3a]

"Lessons learned from personal experience, I assume? "


YUP. That and I'm a frustrated Second Unit Cinematographer. I've found the lens on most phones and many still cameras are not too good to for close-up video. the lens seems to compress, and also seems to have too much 'fish-eye'.

Also, don't look down from too steep of an angle because all you see is the top of the engine.
Lighting and Focus are most important. IF you are still working on your scenery and buildings and haven't painted them, convert from color to sepia tone or black & White.

Here is my old Blue Ridge Climb, in which the sound was correct(Brad Miller-Ghost Train LP) and the locomotives were correct ( N&W BLI Y6b and A) but the scenery was still floral foam, etc, so I did it in Black & White.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iScOZrQ5yU