This video is my tribute to Martin Luther King Junior… I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
I shot this video Dec 2018 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, site of MLK’s famous speech, while facing the Washington Monument. I used a Panasonic Lumix GH5 with Panasonic 12-35mm lens.
This Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K uses Micro Four Thirds lenses, like the Panasonic 45-175mm power zoom lens. The BMPCC 4K is enclosed in a Smallrig cage, and is sitting on a Sirui SH25 tripod. When shooting outside in bright daylight, adding an external monitor with sun shade can really help you achieve better quality video. Here you see the Lilliput 7 inch monitor is attached to a connector on the top rail of the Smallrig cage.
The Smallrig cage helps attach accessories securely while you are handling the camera, like recording media, microphones, lights, and handles. I just received the Smallrig side handle that holds the Samsung T5 SSD media securely inside the handle grip.
I have also tried attaching the Blackmagic 7 inch Video Assist, but I consider that to be too heavy with batteries to securely attach to the Smallrig cage, if you are handling this rig in the field.
I am meeting with more and more people that are re-inventing their work lives, and adapting to online life. I have been recommending audio and video gear, digitizers, switchers, lighting and computers. If you need some advice in that area, feel free to reach out and and contact me.
Do you have a Blackmagic Design Mini Pro or Mini Pro ISO? Many people have lamented that they can use either the multiview option, or the program view, but not both. Blackmagic Design came up with the ATEM Streaming Bridge as an accessory to the Mini Pro and ISO that allows you to use Ethernet to stream your video signal to another monitor. This lets you show the program view to a monitor and projector, while using the multiview from the ATEM Mini Pro.
The ATEM Streaming Bridge also gives you HDMI and SDI ports as output options, and SDI and Ref input ports. It has a USB-C port for firmware updates. It requires a power adapter, which is provided.
Setup was fairly easy with the ATEM Streaming Bridge. I went to the Blackmagic Design support link, and downloaded the latest ATEM Switcher 8.5.3 Update. This software applies updates and additional functionality to the ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Streaming Bridge. Network settings for the Streaming Bridge are set up here. In the ATEM Switcher software, the ATEM Streaming Bridge is selected as a stream choice (the update adds to Facebook, Youtube, and Twitch settings that are there.
This product allows you to record and mix in one location with the ATEM Mini Pro or ATEM Mini Pro ISO, and display the program locally or remotely on monitors or projectors. It could be an essential accessory for many producers.
Are you adapting to a new style of working from home? Most of us probably already have a computer. Are you considering building a home studio? By adding a few consumer components, you can expand into home video production.
Your computer should be of recent vintage, and probably most computers from the last few years will work fine for video production. If your computer is a laptop, or an all-in-one computer, like the iMac, you have a built in webcam. If you have a desktop computer, you can add a USB webcam, like Logitech or other brands. This will give you HD quality video and a good microphone.
Adding a second monitor to the computer will also increase your options. Downloading OBS (free Open Broadcaster Software) or WireCast (paid subscription) will turn your computer into a video editing studio. Using PowerPoint or Keynote will all you to create and share presentations.
Adding a USB video digitizer like Elgato Cam Link 4K or Magewell, or countless other products on the market allows you to import the video from your DSLR or mirrorless camera. Adding a Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro and Blackmagic Design Video Assist 7 inch monitor/recorder.
For audio, most people start with the computers built in microphone. If your voice is too far from that mic, you may want to upgrade the audio input. Some computers may have a mic or line input jack, so you can plug in an external mic. Otherwise, there are USB mics for Macs and PCs. I have used the Rode NT microphone and others.
You can add these components bit by bit, as you understand what your needs are in the virtual world. Luckily, most of these products have been getting cheaper to acquire.
The new year is starting up with the government starting to distribute the $600 stimulus payments. Mine showed up in my credit union checking account. The political discussion around the changes to the economy due to the virus and shutdowns, and the lack of small businesses and gig workers ability to earn income during this pandemic, shows that we have a culture of Haves and Have Not.
The ones that Have, don’t seem to want to support those that Have Not. There has been this discussion of $600 versus the illusionary $2,000 stimulus check. The lower amount seems to be a pittance, considering the period of time that the many people have been struggling for income. I keep seeing store closures in the San Francisco Bay Area. I see that the statistics show many small businesses failing. They have just announced a second round of PPP loans, which will give small businesses only a couple of months of payroll support.
For myself, AV production employment last year stopped in February 2020. The last corporate event show that I worked as camera operator was Startup Grind, in the Fox Theater, Redwood City, California. Basically almost all corporate AV production work shut down in March 2020 for the entire year. Normally, I would get calls to work two to four shows a month, working as a camera operator, technical director or video engineer. All of those crew calls disappeared.
Many of us that work in the AV production had to adapt, scale down, and work on smaller independent projects and live stream events. I am just starting to get requests to bid for 2021 events. The big question for this year is… Will we have a live audience or is it just a live streamed virtual event?
What do you do when societal reality changes? This health crisis has direct impacts on our work and personal life. For the last few years, I have enjoyed being called up for freelance AV production gigs to work as a camera operator, or a video engineer at a live broadcast. Now that corporate events, conferences and festivals are no longer part of the new normal, a lot of my work has disappeared.
What to do in the vacuum? Of course, there is filing for unemployment, the SBA Payroll Protection Program, and extending your credit, while waiting for support from the government. There is also spending time with LinkedIn, and job boards to look for work. There is time to tweak resumes, and add details to websites.
To expand the work possibilities, I am focusing on live streaming, live camera editing, and video editing projects. I will post my progress as it develops.
How we get by in a crisis… Sell gear! In the last month, I have sold my Blackmagic ATEM Production Studio 4K, three Blackmagic HyperDeck Studio Mini recorders, two Blackmagic Studio Display 4K cameras, a Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera, and all of my SDI cables.
Luckily, there is a market for used Blackmagic Design gear on eBay and Facebook Marketplace. Because of the nature of these times, people are buying used gear because all of the suppliers are backordered for AV equipment and anything live streaming related.
Over the last year, I speculated and bought AV gear that I knew there was a demand for, that I wanted to be able to operate professionally at corporate events and conferences. I was hoping I would be able to rent out the AV gear more, but that was not the case. I was working as a camera operator or technical director on-call for AV production companies that supplied all of the equipment for the event. Since there hasn’t been a market for rentals, I sold that gear, which had decent resale value.
This gives me a chance to get newer AV production gear, like the Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro video switcher, when it is shipping in a couple of weeks. I can use the ATEM Mini Pro with the two cameras that I have left, and computers to create a professional looking show…
When I use the Blackmagic Design Studio Camera 4K, it doesn’t have any recording media. So, I send the signal from the camera through an SDI cable to the Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Studio Mini, to record the video to SD card. This can be a video signal from any video cameras SDI or HDMI port (converted to SDI). The SDI video signal passes through the HyperDeck Studio Mini into my Blackmagic Design ATEM Production Studio 4K. So, the recordings and video switching are done by the Technical Director, or whoever is running the Blackmagic Design ATEM switcher, who may be behind the screen and the stage, or at front of house.
The Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Studio Mini is designed so that three of them can fit horizontally in a 1U space on a rack (attached to a Teranex shelf to mount in the rack). If you were doing a three camera shoot, each of the cameras would be sending their video signal to a separate HyperDeck recorder. This would allow the editor to select any camera angle they like to use, that might not be in the live broadcast recording. Or you might have two cameras with their inputs being recorded on their HyperDeck Studio Minis, and output the video program mix to the third HyperDeck Studio Mini. The back panel features SDI In, two SDI out, HDMI out, USB-C, Ref In, Ref Out, Remote In, PoE+ Ethernet and power.
In my case, I use the HyperDeck Studio Mini for video inputs, and use an Atomos Shogun Flame to record the video program output. Sometimes that video will be output through the ATEM AUX to video projectors. Sometimes that video signal will be output via SDI or HDMI, then scaled down and output to a computer for live streaming.
The Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Studio Mini can also be used as a video input source, playing a movie to a projector or a large video monitor or video wall.
Blackmagic Design recommends using the SanDisk Extreme Pro, and other expensive XC I and XC II SD high speed cards. This is the only negative point about the HyperDeck Studio Mini, the cost of the media. If I purchase four of the SanDisk Extreme Pro SD cards, at $75 each, a terabyte of storage costs $300.
When I use the Atomos Shogun Flame, and record to a 1TB SSD, the cost is about $100 to $200 a terabyte, which is much cheaper than SD card prices per gigabyte. I can also edit immediately on the 1TB SSD drives, using a caddy plugged into a USB 3.0 port on a computer, instead of taking the time to transfer the file to a hard disk. An SD card may take up to 30 minutes to transfer the files to a hard disk before you can work with them. I have five 1TD SSD cards that I use with the Atomos Shogun Flame, as this is my preferred recording device.
I have tested the SanDisk Extreme Pro, SanDisk Extreme, PNY and Lexar brands (shown below), and found these SD cards have formatted and recorded properly on the HyperDeck Studio Mini. Other SD cards may also work, but of course, your mileage may vary…
