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I’m always on the lookout for low cost ultra compact tripods. When making videos solo I often need to bring some type of tripod with me so I can film myself with a second camera. There are the usual cases as well with long exposure photography or something like bracketed exposures that need a tripod.  The Manfrotto Compact Light Tripod So if I’m doing a video about those subject then I’d need two tripods. I picked up this Manfrotto Compact Light Tripod from Amazon using their “warehouse deals” for a big discount over the retail price. Let’s take a look at it! My related video on the tripod. Check out the tripod through my affiliate links: https://amzn.to/30770zJ https://bhpho.to/36AP7Mn   As an affiliate of these shops, I earn from qualifying purchases!  MKCOMPACTLT Specifications: Load Capacity: 3.3 lb / 1.5 kg Weight: 2.0 lb / 921.0 g Max Height: 51.6″ / 131 cm Max Height No Center Column: 40.6″ / 103 cm Min Height: 15.4″ / 39.1 cm Folded Length: 15.7″ / 39.8 cm Materia...

Over the years, I’ve flip flopped on the subject of kit lenses. Should you buy one with your camera? Should you keep the ones you have?  Canon EOS M5 with the 15-45mm kit lens. about the subject. In the above video, I use the Canon EF-M 15-45mm f3.5-6.3 standard kit lens with the Canon EOS M5 out in winter nature at my favorite state park. I go over most of what I say here and show photos taken with the lens. I currently have two of the 15-45mm kit lenses. One came as a kit with the M50 and the second came with the used M5 that I bought on eBay. My other M50 I bought as body-only. I did have another 15-45mm when I owned the M100, but sold that long with the 55-200mm telephoto kit because all of that came as a 3-piece set. Breaking it up would have made it less valuable. The point is that I’ve kept a kit lens around lately. This hasn’t always been the case, but more and more I see the benefits of lower cost gear. The Canon M50, 15-45mm lens, and  Boya mic  attached for video work. I us...

This is probably a few years in the making. Since getting the Boya microphones and the Canon EOS M50 camera bodies, I’ve been looking for a shorter 3.5mm cable that connects them together. The cable that comes with the microphone is okay, but I’m now on my third potential replacement in a quest for a shorter, less fiddly, cable. The cables being tested. Links are potentially affiliated in this article, I earn from qualifying purchases!  on the subject. I haven’t had a ton of time with the latest cable purchase, but so far so good using it in a previous video and this related video. I bought two of them and used one for the filming camera. The main goal here was finding a cable that was short enough to not get in the way and have a 90 degree right angle bend on each end of the cable. I also didn’t want it to interfere with the camera or microphone in any way. I found out with a previous cable that I needed the cable’s camera connection to come back a decent amount so it wouldn’t touch...

I’ve been going chronologically through my photos for posting on Instagram and came upon one from 2008 in Tokyo Japan that evoked an emotion.  I’m tempted to buy an old used G series camera again to mess around with. Looking further into it I noticed that there were multiple pictures of the same overall subject that told a visual story about the area. The camera used (Canon G9) wasn’t anything special, but it did the job.  Links are potentially affiliated in this article, I earn from qualifying purchases!  What do you often do when you see a subject you want to capture? One goal might be to get one great photo. Maybe that means photographing it from different angles or featuring aspects of the subject in many photos until one clicks? The images had a mixture of different focal lengths. The intended focus or theme for each individual photo was also different. Whether or not there was intent, we could be creating a visual story with multiple images. It gave me a glimpse into what I was ...

Today we’re looking at my Canon EOS M50 b-roll settings. Basically, any situation where I’m going to do stationary video clips. These settings seem to be the best so far given the M50’s limited configure-ability. To do vlogging or more active styles of videography, only a few changes would need to happen such as enabling image stabilization. The camera is adjusted so that I can quickly switch to hand-held work as well. The goal here is to make videography easier and faster to manage as a solo content creator. My related video on the topic. Settings might be slightly different in there. The first step with the M50 is to turn off the easy mode guided menu system. This allows you to access more features and settings in the camera. I always have the cameras in the standard menu. The M50 defaults to a simple interface that doesn’t allow you full access. The next step, in my case, is to put the camera into video mode. Change the main physical mode dial to the video setting. While you can rec...

The Canon EOS 90D is the latest in a long line of higher-end APS-C EF+EF-S mount DSLR cameras from Canon. While I’ve tried out the 80D , I don’t recall that much about the camera. So I’ll be going into this with a fresh perspective. Given that mirrorless cameras have started to really advance and expand in the market, we are seeing somewhat of a return to DSLRs with this camera and the new 1DX series body just released. Nikon got in on it with their D780 as well.  The Canon EOS 90D. This camera and the mirrorless EF-M mount M6 Mark II both have the new, densely packed, 32.5 megapixel APS-C sensor. They also added full sensor 4k video recording (yeah, even 24 fps with a firmware update…). Are these DSLR cameras still worth checking out in 2020? Let’s take a look at the 90D. If my article or video ends up interesting you in the 90D, here are my affiliate links to it: Amazon.com , B&H Photo Video , or eBay.com . As an affiliate of these shops, I earn from qualifying purchases!  Check...

I like trying to slowly improve on how I work. In the software industry it’s called iterative development. The same ideas can be applied to video production. In this case, over 9 years of making YouTube videos I’ve usually had to setup a camera and take it down for any recording I did at home.  The compact recording setup. That takes a good deal of time that could be avoided with a dedicated recording setup. The constant slight changes also introduced unwanted variability to the result. Links are potentially affiliated in this article, I earn from qualifying purchases!  Here is my related video on YouTube about the change. Basically, I’m referring to the type of videos where I’m talking to the camera or recording some type of mixture of content where a lot of it will be voiceover, but I still want my face in the video sometimes.  While I can’t totally dedicate a camera to this type of recording, I can often have one of my Canon EOS M50 bodies for that task. There isn’t t...