PaulH
Newcomer
- Followers
- 0
- Following
- 0
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2021
- Posts
- 2
- Likes Received
- 4
- Name
- Paul Hannay
Hi,
I'm a Scotsman living in Barcelona (since 2011).
One week ago, I bought my first 'proper' camera - the Sony a6400.
It seems like a lifetime ago.
I run my own training/facilitation business serving clients around the globe and decided a while back to significantly improve my streaming production values with better audio, lighting and video.
100% of my business is done in front of a webcam from my home.
It's a nice business. I'm quite good at it and I want to get better.
So I converted a small spare bedroom into a new studio.
First cab off the rank was sound - acoustic treatment, absorption, diffusion, air gaps, geometry, pine, screws, pilot drill holes, rock wool, wall fasteners, breathable fabric, foam and door fitting.
I'm reasonably handy with a hammer and screwdriver (I used to fix nuclear submarines), so I made my own acoustic panels, bass traps, ceiling clouds and combined them with diffusion panels. I bought a Rode NT5 condenser microphone (good for small rooms). It hangs off the end of a desk-mounted sprung arm on a shock mount and is connected to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Generation Audio interface. This interface connects to my laptop via USB (for Zoom, Teams, Webex, etc). I'm not Barry White yet, but everyone tells me it sounds great.
Then onto lighting - key lights, fill lights, rim/hair lights, practicals, barn doors (no sheep involved), back-lighting, softboxes, RGB, mood creation, the Kelvin scale, Tungsten and more.
I bought a pair of Neewer 660 bi-colour LED panels with a softbox and mounted them (after a trip to the hardware store to buy a couple of long hex nuts) left and right to the wide monitor arms extending from the same 800mm high desk-mounted pole that my second monitor is attached to. With this decent lighting and a ridiculously expensive moisturiser, people tell me I look at least 2 days younger - which matters when you're in your fifties.
To video...
My main requirement was to improve the quality of how I looked on my Zoom/Teams/Webex calls by upgrading from my Trust HD webcam to a mirrorless camera solution. I regularly spend 2-4 hours leading training sessions to groups of 6-20 people, so I was keen to make the experience as eye-pleasing as possible for them.
I was looking to spend less than €1000 Euros.
Even though I may make a few video at some point, it's only a fancy webcam, right?
243 YouTube videos later, I got the variables nailed. (Thank you Camera Conspiracies - all I want is the perfect camera).
Clean HDMI feed (needed the Elgato 4K Cam Link too - that's another €130!), flippy screen, good auto-focus, not too fussed about IBIS, good lens eco-system (just in case I fancy a new lens later), nice colour science (am learning the lingo), can stay switched on for extended periods without overheating, feels nice in the hand (can't test that one as all the tech stores in Barcelona have their camera sections taped off. I can see them but can't touch!).
Long story short, I bought the a6400 with the kit lens online.
However... and I'm not sure how serious this is, I seem to have caught some kind of bug.
This damn camera now occasionally accompanies me on my morning walks, gets me talking to strangers about Bokeh and colour grading, has me buying extra batteries, including a dummy one, a Peak Design snazzy wrist strap and debating whether or not an investment in the SIGMA 16mm f/1.4 lens will make me look more handsome online.
I'm also finding myself watching short films thinking 'Hey, that doesn't look so hard, I could do that', and have tumbled into pan, tilt, push in, pull out! dolly zoom and tracking & trucking.
Heaven knows what damage I'll do with Dan Harmon's 8-point story circle and my ham-fisted attempts in Davinci Resolve (sure, it was a 70 trillion gigabyte download and it has 3000 sub menus, but it can't be that hard, right?).
So, that's my rabbit hole-tumbling so far. Who knows how deep it'll go?
Oh, and nice to meet you!
I'd be delighted if you said hello to the newbie.
Warm regards,
Paul.
I'm a Scotsman living in Barcelona (since 2011).
One week ago, I bought my first 'proper' camera - the Sony a6400.
It seems like a lifetime ago.
I run my own training/facilitation business serving clients around the globe and decided a while back to significantly improve my streaming production values with better audio, lighting and video.
100% of my business is done in front of a webcam from my home.
It's a nice business. I'm quite good at it and I want to get better.
So I converted a small spare bedroom into a new studio.
First cab off the rank was sound - acoustic treatment, absorption, diffusion, air gaps, geometry, pine, screws, pilot drill holes, rock wool, wall fasteners, breathable fabric, foam and door fitting.
I'm reasonably handy with a hammer and screwdriver (I used to fix nuclear submarines), so I made my own acoustic panels, bass traps, ceiling clouds and combined them with diffusion panels. I bought a Rode NT5 condenser microphone (good for small rooms). It hangs off the end of a desk-mounted sprung arm on a shock mount and is connected to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Generation Audio interface. This interface connects to my laptop via USB (for Zoom, Teams, Webex, etc). I'm not Barry White yet, but everyone tells me it sounds great.
Then onto lighting - key lights, fill lights, rim/hair lights, practicals, barn doors (no sheep involved), back-lighting, softboxes, RGB, mood creation, the Kelvin scale, Tungsten and more.
I bought a pair of Neewer 660 bi-colour LED panels with a softbox and mounted them (after a trip to the hardware store to buy a couple of long hex nuts) left and right to the wide monitor arms extending from the same 800mm high desk-mounted pole that my second monitor is attached to. With this decent lighting and a ridiculously expensive moisturiser, people tell me I look at least 2 days younger - which matters when you're in your fifties.
To video...
My main requirement was to improve the quality of how I looked on my Zoom/Teams/Webex calls by upgrading from my Trust HD webcam to a mirrorless camera solution. I regularly spend 2-4 hours leading training sessions to groups of 6-20 people, so I was keen to make the experience as eye-pleasing as possible for them.
I was looking to spend less than €1000 Euros.
Even though I may make a few video at some point, it's only a fancy webcam, right?
243 YouTube videos later, I got the variables nailed. (Thank you Camera Conspiracies - all I want is the perfect camera).
Clean HDMI feed (needed the Elgato 4K Cam Link too - that's another €130!), flippy screen, good auto-focus, not too fussed about IBIS, good lens eco-system (just in case I fancy a new lens later), nice colour science (am learning the lingo), can stay switched on for extended periods without overheating, feels nice in the hand (can't test that one as all the tech stores in Barcelona have their camera sections taped off. I can see them but can't touch!).
Long story short, I bought the a6400 with the kit lens online.
However... and I'm not sure how serious this is, I seem to have caught some kind of bug.
This damn camera now occasionally accompanies me on my morning walks, gets me talking to strangers about Bokeh and colour grading, has me buying extra batteries, including a dummy one, a Peak Design snazzy wrist strap and debating whether or not an investment in the SIGMA 16mm f/1.4 lens will make me look more handsome online.
I'm also finding myself watching short films thinking 'Hey, that doesn't look so hard, I could do that', and have tumbled into pan, tilt, push in, pull out! dolly zoom and tracking & trucking.
Heaven knows what damage I'll do with Dan Harmon's 8-point story circle and my ham-fisted attempts in Davinci Resolve (sure, it was a 70 trillion gigabyte download and it has 3000 sub menus, but it can't be that hard, right?).
So, that's my rabbit hole-tumbling so far. Who knows how deep it'll go?
Oh, and nice to meet you!
I'd be delighted if you said hello to the newbie.
Warm regards,
Paul.
Last edited:
At least for now anyway, we hope to move this year and all being well there will be an extra room or garage for a studio. I think I'll come back and read your post again when I'm ready to set things up! I might see if the Sigma 16mm makes me look more handsome too but I doubt it 
