Technical Difficulties: Camera exchange
It’s been a rough week. Got a new camera (the purple/plum beauty above) and still no dice with making progress. If taking pictures of craters on the moon is your jam (it used to be mine), the Nikon B500 is your camera. If you’re looking to capture high quality video, not so much. I mean, things LOOK amazing on the little viewing screen as you’re recording, but when you upload to your computer for editing, it’s a grainy, blurry mess! No matter what settings I used or what tips I was given to increase my recording quality or correct issues on the production end, nothing seemed to work. It works best if you’re standing no more than two feet away from the lens. For a full-body recording shot, I need to be at least three feet away, maybe four in heels. Translation: I filmed a try-on of 15 outfits for nothing, nada, zilch! And all the work to fix the problems have come up empty. I changed my settings and recording a few additional test shots...still a mess. As a result, the camera has been returned to Best Buy.
At first, I was dismayed. Was it really this hard to get crisp, clear quality video without spending a thousand dollars? If there is, I’m determined to find it, because I refuse. I mean, I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE! Sure, it might be worth the investment if I’m serious about my plans for this blog, but the purpose of my blog is to have nice, quality things for a budget price. And therefore, I MUST find the cam that gives me excellent quality without having to plop down the equivalent of a mortgage payment. So, instead of giving this blogging thing the old heave-ho, I decided to get busy researching in a way I hadn’t researched before. And in doing that I came upon an idea. A camcorder.
The last thing I ever thought I’d buy was a camcorder. I had visions of Dads at school plays and walking around Disney World or any tourist destination intrusively recording everything in sight. After my experience with the Nikon B500, my rationalization was maybe I was asking too much of a camera to also give me HD quality video. Perhaps, what I needed was a camcorder whose main job was to record video versus taking pictures. But I didn’t want to have to lug around a chunky piece of plastic to get good video. The Nikon I returned was a chunky piece of plastic if ever there was one, so what did I have to lose?
Apparently, camcorders have gotten smaller and lightweight. When the sales person brought the box to me, it was much more petite than the box for camera I had just returned. There wasn’t a sample on the floor for me to view or play with, so I was suspicious, to say the least. All I had was a piece of paper printed off the Best Buy website. The sales guy had to go in the back and retrieve it from Narnia or somewhere and when I saw this tiny little box in his hand I suspected he had the wrong thing. I was wrong. The truth is that it’s so delicate, I’m almost afraid I’m going to break it just by holding it.
In any case, my camcorder idea hit pay dirt. Not only does it take amazing video (looks A-MAzing in the viewfinder), but it’s also turning out great quality video after uploaded to my PC. It’s still not the crystal clear loveliness I'm looking for, but it’s a 90% improvement from what I was dealing with before. I almost cried when I saw the playback off my Nikon and almost cried tears of joy after seeing the playback from my Sony.
My newest boo (literally fits in the palm of my hand)
The upside of this little fiasco with the Nikon is the camcorder, which cost $60 LESS, has outperformed the camera by far. It’s smaller, more lightweight AND has a viewfinder that allows for selfie-mode; a major feature the Nikon B500 camera lacked. Selfie-mode cameras start at around $400, so I took a step forward, here, but only after taking a major step back.
Yes, this has all been stressful, but when things are working well, I love what I’m doing, so I can’t quit. Working out the kinks is never easy. STILL working on the best lighting configuration with my new lighting.
Stay with me. I’m NOT giving up!