Wednesday, March 19, 2014

How can I operate and record video from a DSLR camera 100% from a PC?




Landen


I am part of the aquatics booster club at a high school and want to mount a high quality video camera (and microphone) onto a fixed position near the pool at a high school to record water polo games. I need the video to be shot in 1080p with decent sound (able to hear whistles and call-outs). The games will be played in the daytime, and should be recorded directly onto a computer hard drive either in a nearby office, or a laptop used by the coaches (who will sit and coach in the pool area). The plan so far is to mount this rig and it's weather proof shelter to a light pole near the pool.
The critical points are:
1.) Camera mounted high up where no one has to touch it to operate it. Everything including turning it on and off has to be done from a computer nearby.
2.) Quality video and decent audio from at least 40 feet away.
3.) No significant operating skills required. No one wants to record video or sound manually on the ground. No one will be willing to edit video or audio or sync anything. All we want to do is burn it to a DVD and be done after every game.
4.) Our budget is $10,000, though we by no means have to spend all of it. If we don't spend it, aquatics can use it for something in following years.

Please help. Our team trains very hard and is very competitive, and we want this to last for years to come and provide video for training and for team viewing purposes. Do we need to hire a professional? Can we pay professionals to install pro-sumer equipment?



Answer
I agree with "airdogspace2" and suggest you get this done professionally.

1) Most dSLRs will overheat and shut down afer about 20 minutes of recording video. Your games probably last longer. than that.

2) Additional requirements: Power. We presume the camera is never dimounted from the pole. There are no batteries that last forever. Run power.

3) Questions: From your description, zoom is not required. Also, panning the camera up/down; left right is not required - if this is required then a whole different set of things happen.

4) Assuming the video is burned to a DVD, as which format? If playable in a computer - as a MOV, MP4 or AVI file... or playable in any regular DVD player? If in a regular DVD player, they can only deal with standard definition video, so the requirement to record in 1080p is unnecessary. If to playback in a computer as a MOV, MP4 or AVI file in high definition a single layer DVD holds only 4.7 gig of data while a double layer DVD holds 8.5 gig of data. I just did a render of a 00:03:38.00 (0 hours: 3 minutes: 38 seconds. 0 frames) of a high quality, 1920x1080p/30 edited video. It was 2.6 gig. Assuming a water polo match is 60 minutes, no one wants to edit, for round numbers, just multiply the 03:38 x 20 - rounding... we also do 2.5 gig x 20 = 50 gig of low compression, high quality video. Then it needs to be compressed. This same 2.6 gig file took about 30 minutes to compress into an MP4 suitable for use on a personal media player to about 130 meg - so that's doable... If only 1 DVD is needed, then 4 minutes to insert a disc and burn remove the disc, mark it...

There's more for video, but we'll hold here for a moment... Now for audio...

If you were to position yourself where a single mic would be placed and not move, chances are pretty good you would not be able to hear call outs "from 40 feet away" - whistles you probably could... To "hear" like that over the area of a pool would need several mics placed closer to the activity - not the camera's built-in mic - and a parabolic mic is too directional. If you have ever watched a televised pro or college basketball game, there are about 30 mics placed up and down the court and an audio person changes the gain on the mics closest to the action - and is very actively involved making adjustments. You don't need this - but perhaps 6 shotgun mics - 3 on each side of the pool, perhaps no more than about 20 feet way mounted on a pole pointed at the pool.

Perhaps the high school has an AV club or computer club (with an emphasis on video capture/editing) that is willing to team up and provide the camera work, editing and such - even do the video providing they get to use your equipment to capture the water polo matches...

Another option is to use high quality commercial grade security cameras and high end video server/recording gear. The video burn will take a while, but the cameras can be outdoor rated and you could use the cameras for other things (security device). If go this route, $10k may not be enough.

Advantages of shooting video on a DSLR as apposed to a video camera/camcorder?




jjaiso


A lot of semi-pro film makers, like Phillip Bloom, seem to be shooting short movies with DSLR s now, I was wondering why you would spend thousands of dollars on a camera that primarily shoots still images and then use to shoot video? Shooting movies on DSLR's has gotten so popular that you can actually buy huge big rigs like the ones by Zacuto. So you can add triggers, microphones and screens to it.
I was just wondering, wouldn't it be a lot more practical to spend your money on a semi-pro video camera, rather than buy a DSLR and just use it for the movie function??! It just seems weird.
What are the advantages of shooting video with a dslr? I have heard that it creates a nice shallow depth of field, but surely you can do that with some video camera? Just wondering./.!



Answer
Ergonomically, shooting movies on a DSLR is a train wreck. You have to spend a few thousand on that whole bag of tricks you just mentioned, if you're going to make anything not resembling your average home movie. Ask the pros who are dabbling in this nonsense, and they may not admit it, but if you've 'actually' ever used the video function of a DSLR, you'll find out instantly, that it is not designed to produce decent video. I think they do it just to see if they can, and not because they are pioneering some new medium. Aside from the advantage of having a more shallow depth of field, resulting from the larger sensor, and low light capability, I see no reason to shoot serious video on a DSLR (or any video for that matter, I'm a still shooter) instead of a dedicated video camera. I mean honestly, a DSLR being used to shoot "films"? I'm hoping the fad will eventually pass, along with my nausea.

I think yes, it would be simpler to just buy a dedicated video setup than bothering with the extra work required to make a DSLR do the same thing. I think people are just bored. Technology tends to create just that, along with general laziness.




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Title Post: How can I operate and record video from a DSLR camera 100% from a PC?
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