I've been with quite a lot of gadgets in my life.
I've watch numerous unboxing video's too when i'm itching to get a new gadget.
I've watched even MORE reviews and hands on videos of gadgets that i'm really interested in.
But I've never done any videos myself with all the gadgets and toys i have.
So i thought, why not try one out for fun?
I've always like to try things I've never done before. So hell yeah!
Why not try something simple, like unboxing first =)
It'll be short, simple, doesn't need much preparation I thought.
And coincidentally, I have a new gadget with me that I've just bought.
It's kinda impromptu so ... I'll just make do with what ever there is here at my disposal.
Gadget/Subject:
My new gadget is a TP-Link Router with a cool model name: Archer C5.
The name's probably only cool to me cause of the old Fate/Stay Night Anime.
Location of the shoot and setup:
There I go, one sunday morning, I tried to pan out the location for the unboxing.
Took out my tripod, set it up with my lovely full framed DSLR, and tested the angle of the shoot first.
I realized very quickly that the ideal angle in my mind was actually not feasible.
I could not get a good view of only the table for the unboxing.
There was no way for me to arrange the angle without showing the background.
I am eternally camera shy too, there's no way i can have the camera facing me too.
What could I do? I thought to myself.
Well, since i couldn't do much about the location, I just aligned the table and the background furniture in parallel to each other.
Lower the angle of the camera to view the table and the background together.
The camera angle was so low that it was only about between a feet or two above the table, eventually.
Then doubling back again to check if the camera view is aligned to the lines on the table is as paralleled as possible.
ALERT: O.C.D detected!!
Conclusion for me is having it set up need and tidy as much as possible with none or few lines that is out of angle.
Camera Testing, Settings and Selection
As I mentioned above, I mounted my DSLR for the shoot.
I've learnt online that to take a video with my DSLR, I needed to:
- have my camera on fix focus where possible, so that the camera won't keep shifting focus especially when I move objects around.
- Turn of AUTO White Balance, so that the color won't keep changing thru out the video.
After setting that up, I tested a few shoot to check if I've got it right.
I sat next to the camera, in front of the table and shifted the router about.
I wanted to make sure that the writings on the box was readable when i showed it to the camera.
And lo and behold, something familiar happened that I've seen before in other reviewers.
The camera kept shifting auto focus and each shift took some time before it can focus correctly.
This took a lot of time. It means that when I move an object in for the camera to read the text on the box, I'll have to hold still and waste time doing nothing but waiting for the focusing.
How to solve this issue, I will have to move the camera several feet away from me, use a nice long zoom lens and zoom all the way in to the table, then set the focus to manual and position in infinity.
There is no 'several feet away' to place the camera.
There is no 'nice long zoom lens' for budget poor me.
There is no way i can set the focus to infinity with my lens.
There is no way the camera is going to pick up my voice from far to even sound clear or audible.
I'm shy, so i won't be speaking up loud, plus someone will think i'm crazy.
So how to solve this? By ditching the DSLR camera!
Took out my lovely action cam, Xiaomi Yi.
Mount it up, angle it like the DSLR did, low and ... very paralleled with the table lines ...
Focus is always on infinity for these camera's. Every thing is in focus now.
The field of view is ... err ... too much, so the camera is very close to the table, right next to where i'll be sitting.
I didn't need to care about any settings on the camera anymore.
All i needed was to mount it up, test it out, and hit it!
So, conclusion? Use an action cam. Period.
Lightings
Yep, next up is just lightings.
This one is the easiest for me.
The led down light of my selected location was so dim, my phone led could outshine it easily.
So my solution? Open the windows/curtain and let the sun shine in :P
Duh, it's the morning! Lucky me! :P
There is one thing to take note, the reflections from your light source.
In my situation, I've already calculated it when I picked out the location.
My camera was angled from a low position relative to the table, so the down light was not reflected on the table.
The sunlight source was behind me and on the right of the table, so lighting was already optimum for my location.
Next up, is the shoot.
The Shoot
The shoot was fairly easy.
For one thing, the box had very little contents in it.
No one was around to bugger me during the shoot.
And I'm already very familiar with gadgetry stuffs.
Since it's an unboxing video, it's suppose to be unopened when you unbox it. Isn't it?
So i did it in one shoot.
And walah, my video. My first try on unboxing.
Please forgive the audio ... :P, I'm shy and inexperienced.
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