Planning a setup for semi-professional reviews

[zocki5]

Hey guys, 

Im looking forward to get myself started with reviews on Youtube, focusing on large scale Lego and Megabloks construction kits.

I did an extensive amount of research during the last couple weeks, but in some points I still couldnt figure out how to pull them off properly.

So, I want to set myself a rather high standard right from the start, because some of the sets I want to do a review on, havent been featured on Youtube yet (or at least not in an enjoyable way), i.e. as the only one to do it, I dont want to dissapoint.

One guy, whose videos I have been watching for a couple years now, "Jangbricks", is my main "inspiration" in that regard.

Heres the link to one of his most recent videos:

Within the first minute you can see THE single most interesting (and to me inexplicable... ) lighting / filming technique for me personally: The item spin.

 

Now, for Q1:

How does he do that? I mean, there is no visible transition from that turntable to the background. I have seen a couple videos on how to build your own turntable for photography, but they were always very small in size and intentionally left visible / standing out in some form.

 

Q2: Might there even be a softbox or some other lightsource mounted under the turntable? Because there are no shadows visible beneath the vehicle. Or is this achieved with light coming in from a dfferent angle (like from the sides)?

Ive seen specifically designed photography tables with some kind of diffuson stuff going on. 

Closest thing I could imagine for myself is something like this: 

https://www.amazon.de/Aufnahmetisch-Stative-Komplette-Studioset-Fototisch/dp/B00KXNIXKI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478610062&sr=8-1&keywords=lichtplatte%2Bmatt&th=1  

Still no turntable though...   (Sorry that it is in German btw)

 

(Q)3: My choice of camera and lens.

Sony Alpha 6300
And some sort of zoom lens for, who guessed it, zooming in, like the Sony SEL 55210.

Constructive criticism, suggestions and other feedback is greatly appreciated!

And everything else like audio, tripod and editing is pretty self explanatory, even for me.  

If I missed something, well, I missed it and will add it onto this post, if I can remember to do so.

Thanks in advance!

zocki5

[bgibbz]

I don't know much about photography / videography, but I imagine that he used a green screen. That white background looks artificial, so more than likely he used a green turntable and green background, flooded it all with light, and chroma keyed the green to be white. Personally, i think you may be better off trying to shoot B-roll like Brandon from LTT does. I imagine it isnt as easy as it looks, but i personally think that it looks quite a bit better.

[zocki5]

12 minutes ago, bgibbz said:

I don't know much about photography / videography, but I imagine that he used a green screen. That white background looks artificial, so more than likely he used a green turntable and green background, flooded it all with light, and chroma keyed the green to be white. Personally, i think you may be better off trying to shoot B-roll like Brandon from LTT does. I imagine it isnt as easy as it looks, but i personally think that it looks quite a bit better.

Thanks for your answer, but I personally dont think that he uses a greenscreen. How do I know? Well, if you use the Chroma Keyer, it would only make sense that green bricks are also affected and turn white or seethrough or what ever. At least I think that it works that way, not sure though if you can restrict the Chroma Keyer to background only.

 

[Bsmith]

11 minutes ago, zocki5 said:

Thanks for your answer, but I personally dont think that he uses a greenscreen. How do I know? Well, if you use the Chroma Keyer, it would only make sense that green bricks are also affected and turn white or seethrough or what ever. At least I think that it works that way, not sure though if you can restrict the Chroma Keyer to background only.

 

good chromakey software works only on a destinctive tint of colour, like the birght green that get's used alot or some kind of bright blue that you sometimes see.

chromakeys aren't limited to a single colour, you can set it t whatever you want, allowing you to switch if needed.

the spinning effect is sadly also a mystery for me since the light seems soft, to come from all directions in equal amounts.

[AkiraDaarkst]

57 minutes ago, bgibbz said:

I don't know much about photography / videography, but I imagine that he used a green screen.

Dontcha just love it when someone replies and the first thing they say is "I don't know much" and then takes a wild guess.

 

1 hour ago, zocki5 said:

 

OK let me reply bit by bit.

 

First of, the guy is probably using a lighting box used for product photography and video.  It can be cheap boxes like this that you can find on eBay

 

Or a bit more elaborate boxes like this

 

Or more expensive setups like these

 

[zdog16]

He's not using a green screen. If he was using a green screen there would be reflections of green on the model. Even if the keyer was set correctly and it didn't take it out chunks of the model there would still be reflections of green in the semi-reflective plastic. These can be removed and recolored in post if you really want to sit in-front of your computer for hours but based on they type of channel and his production value, I don't think he is doing that. My guess is he's using a light box/turntable of some sort. It looks like it might be home made/jury-rigged based on the fact that the turntable appears to be turned by hand. You can probably get a similar effect by shining a white light through a clear or translucent material and then set it up on some sort of rotating base. You'll probably have to support it at the edges so there's not a dark spot in the middle. 

 

You could also get a similar effect purely by having enough lights. You can cancel out all shadow if you try hard enough, but I don't think that's what he's doing. 

[AkiraDaarkst]

The guy who produced the video could be digitally masking out the turntable when he edits the video, or he could be using a very small turntable that is blocked out by the object being filmed, or has a color that matches very closely to the background and with proper lighting can become nearly invisible.  Alternatively the guy could be filming the product on a very large white product table and actually moving the camera around the object instead.

 

You can use tabletop camera dollies like this (comes in various shapes and sizes) and spin the camera around the object.

[zdog16]

1 minute ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

The guy who produced the video could be digitally masking out the turntable when he edits the video, or he could be using a very small turntable that is blocked out by the object being filmed, or has a color that matches very closely to the background and with proper lighting can become nearly invisible.  Alternatively the guy could be filming the product on a very large white product table and actually moving the camera around the object instead.

 

You can use tabletop camera dollies like this (comes in various shapes and sizes) and spin the camera around the object.

I have never found a tabletop dolly that moves as smoothly as seen if the video unless it's on tracks like a proper dolly. And even then you have to level and balance the tracks. 

[AkiraDaarkst]

As for the camera, the A6300 is a nice camera but you want to use a 55-210mm zoom lens?  My concern would be less about the lens being a zoom lens and more about the focal length ranges.  The A6300 is an APS-C sensor camera, and I think even on the 55mm end it may be a bit too tight.  Think about the distance between camera and subject, for product filming you'll probably want the camera to be close.

[AkiraDaarkst]

12 minutes ago, zdog16 said:

I have never found a tabletop dolly that moves as smoothly as seen if the video unless it's on tracks like a proper dolly. And even then you have to level and balance the tracks. 

There are very pricey ones that do their job reasonably well.  The one on the photo is just a cheap example.  But of course you'd want to use those dollies on very smooth flat surfaces and not just any table you have at home that may have tiny dents and wear&tear with use.

 

Otherwise you can find floor track mounted dollies.  Maybe the guy who did the video used a floor track mounted dolly system.  You can even put table top dollies on small tracks, it just depends on their wheel system.  The one in the photo example I shared cannot be mounted on a track as it is, but if each wheel were doubled up then maybe it can be mounted on a track.

 

I'm giving examples of how things can be done and not saying that it was done using exactly these tools.

 

Alternatively, instead of using a dolly, perhaps putting a big turntable under the product light box will be easier to achieve the shot. 

Instead of moving the camera or putting the turntable directly underneath the product, put some sort of turntable under the product display and rotate that instead.  With a large enough product display surface and a tight framing of the scene, the edges of the display surface will never be seen in the video.

Edited November 8, 2016 by AkiraDaarkst

[bgibbz]

1 hour ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Dontcha just love it when someone replies and the first thing they say is "I don't know much" and then takes a wild guess.

 

Give me credit for putting the disclaimer

 

 

Fair enough, but you would be shocked by how many questions can be answered by guesswork. When ever someone tries to solve a problem, it is helpful to have as many possible solutions on the table as possible. I was simply providing a possible solution. Granted, I probably wasn't correct, but regardless it certainly isn't damaging anyone. In fact, I very intentionally used ambiguous language when I posted to allow my post to offer an idea rather than a solution. 

[zocki5]

First off:

Thank you guys a lot for all the replys!

Now, to get into more detail:

I already looked into the topic of lightboxes, but they seem to be rather small overall (on the other hand there are entire tents, but that is kind of overkill for me) and wouldnt fit larger models.

I think that this kind of setup would be the closest resemblance to the stuff Jangbricks is using in his videos, since there always seems to be a slight underglow effect (just watched another one of his videos where there were quite many white pieces used on the bottom of the set and they were slightly shining in a very suttle yellowish colour, suggesting there might be some kind of lightsource beneath).

 

Moving onto the item spins:

I found this:

https://www.amazon.com/Iconasys-360-Product-Photography-Turntable/dp/B00O2E6OZA

The one flaw is, that it has an electrical motor in it, which wont allow for anything shown in the video.

 

But I think, that the most convenient and cost saving method would be to cut a hole into a normal table, but leave some kind overhang in it to be able to put in a diffusion plate and attach wheels on the outside of the bottom.

So you can shine a light through it and it could incorporate into the table smoothly.

Though the railing around the object doesnt seem like that bad of an idea either.

Ill see what I can do regarding that.

 

Lastly, @AkiraDaarkst, do you have any recommendations?

I have to admit, Im not to sure when it comes to evaluating lenses, I was nore concerned about the body first.

As I said, I wont need to get any farther than approx. 3 meters away from the stuff I want to film, but I would like to have the ability to zoom in close, for example when filming from almost straight above. 

 

Ok, that should do it for now.

As said, thanks very much for all the information!

Feel free to add more.

zocki5

 

 

[Mihle]

From what I have seen in the video, I think he have the hole light box on a turn table.

On the start of the video, he is turning the table with the right hand while the left is in the shot, but later in the video when he turns it around and moves the camera up/down an zoom, he probably are turning the table with the left hand, and using his right on the camera.

[AkiraDaarkst]

2 hours ago, zocki5 said:

 

OK here's what you can start out with.

 

Camera and Lens

Why not start out with the camera and the 18-50/55mm'ish kit lens that it comes with.  See if the zoom and focal length range covers what you need.

 

Turntable and display surface

Get one of those dinning table turntables you can find in a general store. They're probably going to be cheaper than that turntable on Amazon.  OK don't go away yet, I'm not finished.  Sure the ones you find in a general store for dinning table use are probably made of wood or some type of plastic or glass and doesn't come with that white glossy finish for photography.  That's fine, you'll only use that turntable as the base.  You'll be putting another surface on top of that turntable.

 

See if you can find acrylic plastic boards in a hardware store or something local, or look online.  For example, on eBay you can find such boards for very cheap prices depending on the size.  Sure they may come from China, but they will be fine.  They should arrive from the seller with paper protection on both sides that you have to peel away.  You can even buy black if you want.  (I've bought a couple from eBay myself for photography.)

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40x40cm-White-Photo-Acrylic-Reflection-Mirror-Board-Display-Platform/252469485921?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40148%26meid%3D85722bfb581e40a181a9fb112915ca1e%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D252330984280

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Meking-White-60x60cm-Acrylic-Reflective-Reflection-Background-Boards-For-Photo/291768800001?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40148%26meid%3D1de2fe861848411c96ce24fe5f48660f%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D322271527557

 

Their glossy surface, combined with proper lighting, will let you achieve the style you want.

 

This is one of my photos from long ago, using those acrylic boards I bought from eBay plus a white photo reflector for the background.  These are test shots for an ad I was preparing to shoot.  (One side of the acrylic board is glossy and the other side is more matte'ish so if you don't want strong reflections...)

 

Yes, that red liquid is actual wine and not colored water.  I didn't have anything on hand that would actually look like the texture of wine, so I used what was left in an already bottle.

 

 

 

[AkiraDaarkst]

Here's what you can do with a macro lens, black acrylic board, a small flower, and an insulin syringe with a water+glycerin mixture.

 

 

Or a macro lens focusing on the tiny droplets of water+glycerin mixture with an image in the background that gets focused through the droplet.

[zocki5]

@AkiraDaarkst

Damn, you have literally blown my mind...

And Im really thankful for that!

Ill definetely look into those acrylic board pieces.

Ill wait with purchasing the camera until early January 2017 though, so I may be able to snatch one for less than a grand. Ill keep this topic open until then, for some progress documentation. 

That said, a big "Thank you" to everyone else who shared their thoughts! 

Nice coming back to the forums after almost two years and still have the "kind" part of the community active.  

Bye for now, 

zocki5

[AkiraDaarkst]

16 minutes ago, zocki5 said:

snip

Glad I could help.  You don't have to spend $150 dollar or something on that ready made turntable, you can find some DIY ways of doing things.  Those acrylic boards from eBay are cheap and if anything happens you can replace them easily.

 

When I first entered the industry I learned a lot of great tips and tricks from those who have been working for far longer, I'm just passing on the wisdom gained.  There are many areas of production where you can save money (unfortunately cameras and audio are not included).

[xQubeZx]

Lens wise the 18-105 f/4 is probably a better choice than the 55-210 as you will get a some wide angle too. For really closeup stuff the 30mm macro could be a good choice. That is probably what lenses I would pick for something like this. Sure the 18-105 is a bit more expensive but it will work in pretty much all situations which is good. 

[zocki5]

@AkiraDaarkst Yeah, I wouldnt have wanted to use one of those anyways, so Ill see what solution I can come up with that fits my needs. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us here and keep it up! ;D 

@xQubeZx This particular lens really looks quite promising. As said above, Ill see if I can snatch one in early to mid January next year, when prices are a bit lower. Thanks for the info!