Working on the YouTube Channel

 Sunday:

Now that I have the Canon 90D, I've been kitting it out a little bit, readying for some serious video stuff for YouTube. When I was doing stuff before, I was struggling with the 500D to get usable footage. It wasn't the smartest camera when it came to things like focus and light. So I didn't do all that much stuff back then, instead focusing on larger videos with smaller snippets of video. Lots of editing and fixing in post. 

But that's changed now. I can think in the current and work on things and see results. I've been recording snippets for upcoming videos, and even have started a few new episodes. I think I'm going to get happy results from it. The tests so far are proving very positive. 

I haven't used the camera much as a camera, I must say. I've taken shots, but I haven't really gotten serious just yet. The video aspect of the camera is so much better than my old one was that I'm captivated by it. That'll pass, and when it does I'll have a fantastic camera to take pictures with. The few car shots I've done I've liked very much, and plan to do another run tonight while I still have everything setup from today's shoot. I'm getting into shooting the more conventional 45° angle, which requires a little different approach than the straight 90° angle shot I like shooting so much. But this camera just gets such great detail that I want to shoot that way. 

Last night I was working on some footage and discovered that it had some focus issues going through it. I figured out the problem later, and am going to try again in a day or two. Now that I have the 90D I'm really wanting to do great stuff with it. I don't want to put anything half-assed up and call it a day. 

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I'm going to compress this process into this one post so that my blog doesn't get filled up with tech info that might not interest most slot car fans. 

Tuesday: 

I just ordered a few things to go with the camera to help make better videos; a light kit and a field recorder. The light kit will have two flat LED lights with stands, and the field recorder mounts right on the tripod under the camera and will be able to hold up to 4 microphone inputs. Both of those things should be here Monday. 

I know it might seem light I'm diving headlong into something suddenly, but this is something I've wanted to do for a long time now, and I'm finally at a technical level to be able to pull it off the way it's been rolling around in my head all these years. In the nineties, I had a working system that could make digitally shot and edited movies with sound effects, music and everything. And with what I just ordered, I'll have a considerable amount of options at my disposal. I won't be using it for just the slot car videos. I'll be doing a lot of other stuff that'll put this gear to work. Suffice it to say I'm very excited by the possibilities.

Once that stuff arrives, I'll need to go through testing to get familiar with the system, which means I'll likely be re-shooting all of those snippets that I've made so far. They'll make good test material, so they'll be easy to shoot while I focus on the gory tech stuff. 

I have microphones, but I suspect I'll be adding more in the near future. Once this recorder comes I'll begin testing and find out which mic is going to work best for what I'm doing. I think I know which one that will be, but I'm going to test others on the chance I find something even better.

Regarding the lights; every one of my videos has lighting applied to it to make the picture clearer, even if it's just standard house lights. I've been waiting to get a set of actual photo/video lights, and found an affordable pair that I can expand if I need to. They're energy efficient, light, don't take up much space and can be mounted virtually anywhere. 

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Wednesday:

I just ordered a couple of slot cars.  I did have one of them on my list, and one of them is an impulse buy. Both of them should come in the next few days, and they'll both round out some of the race teams that have been forming in my collection. I'll also be using them as test subjects for my new video gear. 

I just recorded a 28 minute long video that was not able to be uploaded. I think I hit the maximum, so I'll have to pay attention to that and make my takes shorter, maybe around 15 minutes at the most.

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Thursday:

I got a call while I was at work today from the camera shop saying my gear has arrived. I got off too late to pick it up tonight, so I'll go first thing in the morning so I can have some time with it before work. I think I should be okay with what I have here, but I'll ask the guy at the shop if he carries accessories for the Tascam as well as for the lights. 

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Friday:

I got up early and was down at the camera shop when they opened up. Got both things and didn't get any other accessories, except for a couple of batteries for the lights. I'm going to go to the music store tomorrow and pic up some mic cables. 

So, the stuff! Yes, it's glorious. I'm very impressed with the lights, actually much more impressed than I was expecting to be. There are two of them, and they're each about the size of a laptop computer....just larger than an iPad. Anyhow, the light quality is pretty great, and very even. The color temp on the lights works great too, and matches up nicely with my camera settings. These are going to be extremely versatile. I'm already thinking of getting one more. Nice that there's already room in the bag for one mroe light fixture. 

I haven't tried the Tascam yet, as I need time to get it going and don't have it right now. The lights take no time to test, but the Tascam is going to be a bit of a beast. I have to go to bed early tonight, but I'll be up early tomorrow and will start on it then. 

Tuesday:

Ha....yeah, I kinda thought that would happen. Once I started messing around with the Tascam it was full test mode the whole way. I have been on the setup now every waking minute of the day. It's been so crazy that I have made well over 50 videos that go over the discovery process with all the new gear I have. Oh, and that's not the end of it. Sunday, while recording a video, I turned the crank on my tripod and it broke off right in my hand. On Monday I went down to the camera shop and got a great deal on a Rollei C6i tripod. Totally great and a real tripod, not like that cheesy thing I had before. I never liked that old tripod. 

I've been testing all of my mics with the system, getting the best levels I can out of them, and seeing which ones will work best for what I need. I think I have it down to an Audio Technica ATR35s lav mic for the wide shots and racing coverage, and an AKG C1000S for standard shots. There were others I decided not to use, but they may pop up in the future. I also just picked up a USB power pack. It wasn't expensive, so hopefully it'll work. 

I also got two cars in the mail today. I'll need to get some pics of those asap and get them on the track. I have a four-day weekend coming, and no plans. So I'm doing some racing and some video shooting. 

A few weeks later:

I've gone through a lot of the system, done numerous tests and experiments, tested mics and settled on what works best for various situations, and overall got a general handle on the whole thing. I've added more things, small things, and feel like I've got a working kit now. I added a USB battery, another light, another external hard drive, and a few other things that needed replacing. 

Today: 

I uploaded this review of the NSR Porsche 917/10K box set, shot on the new equipment. It was very fun.

April 30th:

I have almost completely outfitted my kit, which I affectionately am calling the "shooting match". It's the phrase that keeps popping up whenever I'm trying to explain the thing and not call it the "rig". I solved my microphone situation by buying a new one that didn't cost much and sounded great, plus it had a cold-shoe mount for going on the camera. A Rode Videomic GOII. Very nice, clean near-field mic. I also added one more lens: a Canon EFS 18-135mm. While considered the "kit" lens for the 90D and 80D, it's hardly a "kit" lens in the true sense of the word. Kit lenses tend to be inexpensive, low-quality bashers that get you started. This is no basher. It's big, strong, effective throughout its spectrum, and very well built. It's what I'm using to shoot all of the shots of the cars on the right side of the blog now. 

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About the YouTube Channel

So I'm going to start shooting these ideas I've been sitting on, and all slot car related stuff will go on the main channel, and other stuff will go on my secondary channel, which I'll be opening up soon. That'll have my new music channel, which will have my stuff and things I'm involved in. So, bands I record, shows I film, anything I'm doing, etc. So it's going to be a holding facility for a whole bunch of various stuff. 

I probably won't be cross promoting the two, since they won't need it, and anybody who wants to could make the connection. And as more things happen, more channels will happen. 

New Box Set of Cars: NSR L&M Porsche 917/10K Laguna Seca 1972

 When I was a kid, racing slot cars on Saturday mornings with my brother, I'd spend my weekly allowance on a new slot car, hoping that I would find that special car that could win it all. It also needed to be pretty much indestructible, as the inevitable demolition derby would occur at the end of the session. Those tended to be a winner-take-all format. Loser lies in a heap of plastic and metal. 

One of the strongest and fastest/best cars I had at the time was an L&M Porsche 917/10K. It was brutally fast, which made it the target of my brother's ire. It stayed at the top of the heap for weeks, even though he and I both bought other cars to try to beat it. It lasted what seemed like an eternity in our format. Win or Wrecked. 

Which brings me to today. I'm not afraid of buying collector sets, provided they're something I'm actually after, and not just sets to collect, if you know what I mean. In other words, I'd just as easily buy these two cars as singles out of the set. Either way, doesn't matter. The set comes with a very nice box that'll look good in my bookshelf. 

NSR L&M Porsche 917/10K

I love that I can buy a car that brings back so many memories of when I was a kid. Just a larger, much better detailed format. I feel like I've grown up a little bit.

NSR released this body style not long ago, and I waited until they had a nice looking livery before buying one. The first two that came out didn't interest me, and there were a couple of "test" cars, painted one color, but that didn't interest me either. Then this collector set came out. 

To get the big question out of the way: just one. The side view mirrors. 

The size/shape of the car is more in line with the 908, which is to say both are larger than the 917. The 917/10 has about as much nose as the 908, but a little more tail, although that little bit is mostly a thin bit sticking out the back. So I'd still consider it a short-tail in my world. It'd match up with the 908 better than the 907. 

Out of the box, both cars ran well, with the #6 needing a tire scrub to get the dust off. I lubed/oiled/set the chassis and did all my standard setup stuff, and they are both running very well. The #7 is as smooth as butter and really grips the track. Once I understood what was doing it, I gave the #6 the same treatment and it hooked right up. The two are going to be fast cars, that's for sure. 

Link to video.