PhotographyBanzai.com

Lately, I've been shifting more towards Sony equipment for my video work, and there are a few key reasons behind that decision. Let's talk about it in this article!  A close up of the video rig. I initially tried using the Nikon Z30 as a replacement for my Canon EF-M equipment I sold a while back. While I knew of users saying the Z30 can overheat, I wanted to test that for myself so I gave the camera a chance.  Unfortunately, it consistently overheated after about 25 minutes outputting 4k through HDMI. That's with no internal recording and a DC coupler instead of a battery. The Canon M6 Mark II camera had no issue outputting 4k through HDMI, but would overheat doing internal recording, so I thought the Z30 might be similar. Sadly that's not the case.  The Sony ZV-E10 with the Atomos Ninja V. It's a problem when I'm filming longer videos, like detailed lighting equipment reviews that can take an hour or two. Or filming multiple hands-on equipment videos. So I...

How much does online video and two websites pay a collective viewership of probably a bit over 1 million views/interactions per year? I’m talking all of my YouTube channels, on-site Amazon videos that get commissions, affiliate links I place in descriptions and on my websites. Not bothering to count Instagram and TikTok , but I do post videos on those websites too even though I can’t do click-able links or receive ad revenue sharing due to not meeting their requirements. Plus, only one of my 8 YouTube channels is monetized which accounts for 810k of the total in 2023. The YouTube channel homepage. The largest YouTube channel that is in YPP. You can see a clear downtrend over 2023 in addition to 13% fewer views than 2022. I post normal videos and Shorts on the channel. My best guess is that a lot of my 950+ videos have aged out of relevance besides global trends and YouTube itself.   Channel statistics for 2023. A bit less than $10k USD for the year before tax. My Amazon efforts...

In the related video, I share my journey of rediscovering my love for photography and sharing my photos on Instagram . Starting with my early photos taken on a 2 megapixel Canon PowerShot ELPH S200 camera , I share the process of digging through old photos and editing them with my current perspective. (As an ebay affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases!)  Instagram profile I also talk about the benefits of sharing my photos on Instagram and the positive response I have received so far. Join me as I embark on this fun and nostalgic photography project. (this video description was mostly made by ChatGPT , lol… I was curious to see if it helps the video increase its reach compared to what I had written.) This video was posted back in 2017. I also clipped out a good portion of it through YouTube’s editor to make it more concise. Let’s just say the video, up to this point, hasn’t found any success on YouTube. Maybe a website article can help? Anyways… What the account looks like at ...

Note to self, don’t agree to be an “extra” for a person’s video job that you barely know. The training video extra might turn out to be you being cast as the past abuser in a mock trial. Technically it appeared to be the judge going over having the restraining order released. Writing this out now so I remember it happened, and to make it public on my social media incase the training video somehow surfaces years into the future. I’ll have posts about it to bring up… An awkward situation all around. :/ On a different note, I was able to pick up a discounted Sony Alpha A6000, so expect more content on that camera! I couldn’t pass up the clearance price considering used prices like KEH are around double that. It’s a good reminder to check out your local big box stores like Target every so often to see if any of their camera gear is on clearance. A good price on the A6000! Sony Alpha A6000 Digital Camera: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wunTn9 B&H: https://bhpho.to/3whmIHw ebay: https://shrsl....

Since starting my photography Youtube channel in January 2011, I have used various brands of equipment. The main camera kits were Pentax , Nikon F , and Canon EF-M . I have tried various other brands of gear along the way as well. Hindsight is 20/20, but had Nikon released the Z5 in the first round of their Z cameras at a decent price, I think the current mirrorless full-frame camera market share situation could have turned out differently for them. Not to date this article too much moving forward, but the current body-only price of the Z5 is $1000. With the 24-50mm kit lens it’s $1300. “Prices subject to change” and such… This is a lot of camera for the dollar. I remember going from Pentax APS-C to the full-frame Nikon D600 when that camera was $2000 just for the body. Looking at initial MSRP it was $2099 for the D600 vs. $1399 for the Z5, so not quite as impressive at first but still an uptick in functionality per dollar. Especially true considering one was released in 2012 and the ...

It’s officially the Photography Banzai YouTube channel’s birthday. 10 years old… The result after 10 years. The first time I remember using YouTube was back in Nagasaki Japan in 2006. I had the desire of doing something with it back then, but at the school I was going to the internet speeds were terrible. Not to mention a group of my fellow foreigners were sucking up bandwidth due to their World of Warcraft addiction, lol. I still have my original account and currently post low quality fast food reviews to it. At the time, YouTube was often used as a video hosting platform of whatever random stuff people wanted to show others. The idea of cohesive genre focused content wasn’t much of a thing. By the time I started the photography focused channel it was starting to happen. My first video on YouTube for the Photography Banzai channel was a quick clip where I show a film era Kenko teleconverter working with a Pentax K10D DSLR and 300mm f/4 SDM lens. I was active on PentaxForums.com so ...

A friend is writing up an English composition paper about photographers. She wanted people to answer a list of questions related to that. I decided to write up responses for her instead of doing an interview. That should be easier for her and it gave me something to post on here. Here are the questions and my responses. Reflection photo at an Anime Central convention. Question: How many years have you been a photographer (or counted yourself as one)? Around 2002, so approximately 18 years. Question: Would you call yourself an amateur, a hobbyist, or a professional photographer? Hobbyist Question: Are you self-taught or do you have school/formal training? How long did it take before you were confident in your skill? Self-taught, mostly from online sources and learning by doing. I’d say it took around 7 years to have a solid foundation of knowledge and practice. Question: What do you feel makes a professional photographer? Someone that can financially support the majority of their life w...

I wanted to talk a bit about how things are going and some of my plans. My most popular videos on YouTube lately are the hands-on camera gear videos filmed at Camera Craft in Rockford Illinois. Thanks to the shop for allowing me to handle the cameras and record footage there.  What the channel looks like on YouTube. This simple unassuming gear video recorded at the camera shop is currently my most popular video on the channel. That collaboration doesn’t allow for super detailed videos, but based on feedback and popularity, I think those videos are truly helpful to people. I do want to continue with that. I don’t know when I’ll be able to make more of those videos again with the COVID-19 situation. Even if things are slowly opening up, it doesn’t mean the virus has gone away. The shop is open now as long as you wear a mask, so I could ask the owner what’s possible, but right now it doesn’t feel fair to them and people I live around to increase my contact with others (staff and espec...

The initial goal here was to find the cheapest camera I could get and see what I could do with it. My focus was to see if this camera could meet the needs of someone on an extreme budget.  Canon EOS 30D and a lens. Kinda like my non-existent YouTube production budget, haha. I think you get the idea here. If this ends up being successful, that will motivate me more to try this with other cameras. Links are potentially affiliated in this article, I earn from qualifying purchases!  The video where I receive the camera and work on it to make everything functional. That idea morphed as I spent an unnecessary amount of time browsing used camera shops like KEH.com and UsedPhotoPro.com where they give you some type of warranty on gear, which is a nice bonus or necessary depending on your needs. KEH had a 12% off coupon at one point and I took action. It was under $50, but shipping added a bit of extra cost. See what used Canon EOS 30D camera bodies KEH has here (I signed up to be an ...

I was able to make 2019 the best year ever for my related YouTube channel. In this article I’m going to reflect on the statistics and compare it to my previous performance. This level of effort came with sacrifices. Hopefully, in time, I’ll be able to make the online media and video thing… my thing. I still don’t feel like I’m that close. Anyways, on to the statistics!  Some of the primary statistics for 2019. For calculations, I’ll be going by the internal totals for the channel rather than the public stats. There is a difference between the two of over 100,000 views due to videos I’ve deleted over the years. On the admin end, those videos count toward totals. Also, sorry if some of the calculations are off! I’m not a math wizard and won’t likely be proofreading this too much. It’s all just for fun and to get a general feel for how I did in 2019. For some of the initial comparisons, I’ll be including the 2019 data. Though, for the rest I’ll be using the time span 1/29/2011-12/31/...