Hi Someone asked me how my two AZL GP30 are running. I thought I shoot a video showing how they run. Excelent by the way. The effort expanded to show a gallery of trains to show my traffic idea for a layout. I'm modelling an imaginary yard of Minneapolis - St Paul based on a DVD I have. The setting is mix of 35th Ave, University and Shoreham yard in mid 90s with a lot of SD40-2 and other SDs and GPs still running. It is BNSF and CP territory with a lot of UP, CN and WSC pass thru trains on trackage rights. And BNSF is mainly running old BN colors and CP is still running a lot of SOO and MilwRoad colors. I'm planning on expanding the yard and adapt it to ZMOD-standard so no ballast, painted track or hidden switchmotors yet. It is essentially a mock up so that I can run my trains. I'm also running standard DC Märklin track and trafo and one loop so I can only run one train at the time. Here is my link. I'm sorry about the out of focus parts, I'm trying to follow the trains with the focus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEvCNX6UqWI But I have two problems. I don't have a videocamera so I'm using a digital system camera with video capabilities (720p HD). I'm using the digital system camera instead of my small digital compact camera because then I can change focus and zoom while recoding. The problem is that I get a very narrow focus depth. Sometimes only one car is in focus. The rest is badly out of focus. I started with having the camera a little bit away from the layout and zooming in with a telezoom. Then I moved the camera closer and switched to a normal lens (55mm). That improved the focus depth a little bit. Then I moved the camera really close, switched back to the telezoom but now used the wide angle range around 30mm. That improved the focus depth even more. Also it works better if I shoot from the side instead of along the track, but I like that, see the train coming closer. But still not even close to the focus depth seen in Avels video in an earlier thread or any other videos I've seen here. This time of the year it is very dark in Sweden so I have turned on every lamp I have but I don't have any spotlights so the light is poor. That doesn't help either. That's the second problem. Any suggestions? What do you use? Mikael
Well, you at least have a tripod. That helps most. The main problem is your lighting. Less light means shorter depth of field and Z scale is already so small that hardly anything will be in focus. Get a flood light and bounce it off the ceiling - no harsh light. More light will mean better depth of field. A better camera could help. I just got the Canon VIXIA HF M400 HD camera and it has a touch screen that lets you lock the focus onto an object on the screen by touching it. I have noticed that if I can get the camera about 12' (4 meters) away and use the zoom, this can help some. Or put the camera within inches of the train with a lamp just above. Check out my videos up at the top of the forum. The last one was the new camera. Also check out the camera light ring idea. There are shots using the ring at the beginning of the video (Anaheim 2012). Hope this helps.
First thing, invest in more light. You don't have to spend a fortune. Stop in a home improvement store and get a quartz-halogen work light set on a stand. Often you can get up to 1000 watts worth of light for less than $100. Second, a better camera can help. Again, no need to spend a fortune; just look for the lowest-priced camera that gives you the option of manual control over aperture. This way you can stop the aperture down to its smallest setting (highest f-number) to increase the depth of field. Compact cameras are a good option because their smaller lens affords greater depth of field than the larger lenses of DSLRs. And still cameras with video capability are often better than video cameras as they offer more versatility for less money. This video was captured using a Canon compact camera (PowerShot SD400). It has no manual control of aperture, so I put as much light on the layout as was practical. The DOF isn't great, but it's not bad. The camera does, however, allow you to lock the focus, which is good because then the camera doesn't "hunt" as the auto-focus struggles the most under low light conditions. [video=youtube;24G4651Z4lg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24G4651Z4lg[/video]
Hmmm, locking the focus is a good idea. I need to tape the webcam to a tripod for smoother panning. I would also be good to use some basic video editing software.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm using a tripod and the camera is good enough atleast as a camera, a Nikon D90. It isn't known for it's video-capabilities though. I believe it is Nikons first systemcamera with video. I was wondering if a video recorder is better suited for the job. Interesting that a web-camera is better. I think I go for better light, get some spotlights. Mikael
As other says here, light is a key. Before I got my professional videolamps, I used cheap lamps used by carpenters. I guess you will find something on your local "gubbdagis"(grown boys kindergarden), Clas Ohlsson, like this: http://www.clasohlson.se/Product/Product.aspx?id=161762656 With your D90, it should be possible to set to manual aperture and set the value as high as possible. That should help a lot. The distance to the object could also be important. Longer distance and the DOF should be wider.
Clas Ohlson, never thought about that shop. That's an idea. They have everything a man could possibly need. No manual settings in video-mode as far as I know. Maybe it's time to find that old referens manual for the camera. Thanks Mikael
I post an update on this. I have not tested with better light yet. But we had a discussion the other day about the old war, how many megapixel do you need and why is a large sensor better than a smaller one given the same number of megapixel, e.g. DSLR or systemcamera versus a compact camera. Then it occured to me that the reason why my Nikon D90 is such a poor choice for shooting Z-scale is because it is a large sensor camera (even though it isn't a full size sensor as Nikon D700). With a smaller sensor the optics can be smaller and the focal depth is deeper at close range. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-frame_digital_SLR Then I also noticed after a year or so that even though the D90 can film in HD (1280x720) that is not the default setting. Default is 640x424. I found that out when I was trying to figure out the optimal format to save a video for YouTube. When I choose HD I always got a black frame. Well now when I have changed the setting I will have to try again.
