Category: Making Videos

Focusing on all of my efforts around the art of making videos and social media. Camera, lens, and equipment reviews. I also share tutorials on anything I have learned over the years.

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Camera Test: Tamron and Sony Lenses

I continued to test my A7C camera with lenses purchased used on eBay. This video morphed into a bit of vlog – I shared my thoughts on some hand-held tripods, sticky floors (not a typo), and buying used camera equipment.

Waiting over a month to get the A7C was a little bit daunting because I wasn’t sure if these used lenses worked 100% (I test them on a cropped sensor Sony A5100).

I started with the Sony 16-35MM F4 lens, but I ended up spending more time with the Tamron 28-75MM F2.8 (which I really liked).

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Camera Test: Sony A7C

I finally got the Sony A7C that I ordered in September. I did some out of the box tests to see how everything looked and sounded.

This is a no shame video. Didn’t comb my hair, I had a cut on my nose that wasn’t pretty… but no time for vanity, needed to get some testing done.

I used a Sony 20MM F1.8 Lens and the 28MM-60MM kit lens that came with the camera (I have a few others to try out).

I also tested a Deity D4 Duo that I bought 4 months ago that I never got a chance to use.

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Plague Vlog: More Fun With Lights

Gorcka found a deal on two small LED lights ($20.99 total and they came with stands) that I thought would better balance the light in my vlogs.

I messed around with the lights to remove shadows and added some color cells for fun. Ben wants to do a Halloween-related show with the red lights… I am going to have to come up with some ideas for that.

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Plague Vlog: Too Much Gear

I have been buying camera and recording gear for years. I bought things, realized I didn’t like or need it, and then shoved it in a camera bag and forgot about it.

I started going through all of this stuff to take inventory and get ready to sell some of it… and turned it into a little vlog project.

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Plague Vlog: Let There Be Light

Gorcka and I made a LED light for filming last week – which would have been a really cool project to film, but I got all wrapped up in the making and didn’t set up a camera.

That homemade project shined a light on how messy my garage was which resulted in this video.

…Meanwhile Allison shares a story about a recent Zoom call.

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What’s In My Bag?

I wanted to film a video this weekend and have been toying around with trying to do something with two cameras (I am usually not that creative). I thought a “what’s in my bag” video would be a good way to try out this idea…

… and I needed to clean out my gadget pouch anyway.

If you have questions about anything you see, feel free to ask questions on Twitter (It is the only social media I am using these days).

For those of you interested in what is in there:
Bag: Peak Design Everyday Backpack (30L)
VAVA USB C Hub 9-in-1 Adapter
Amazon Fire TV Stick + Controller
Anker USB C to C cable
Anker USB A to C cable
Anker USB C to Micro USB
3-in-One USB Cable (Micro, C, and Lightning)
30W USB C charger
40W USB C + USB A Charger
Fitbit Charging Cable
AUKEY USB C Power Bank, 20000mAh Portable Charger USB C
Logitech MX Anywhere 2S Wireless Mouse
Rocketbook Executive Sized Reusable Notebook
HDMI Connector adapter
Ethernet Cable
JBL Clip 2
HDMI to VGA converter
USB Storage Stick