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Tangents

Amsterdam – a short travelogue shot and edited on the iPad 3

July 24, 2012

Amsterdam – a short travelogue shot and edited on the iPad 3

Visiting Amsterdam for a few days with my daughter, I decided to see how well it would work to shoot and edit a video clip on the iPad 3.

Even though I had my Nikon D4 (B&H) with me – a camera which is far more suited to shooting video – I decided that it might be fun to shoot and edit on the same device. While I could’ve shot the video footage more easily on my iPhone 4s than the clumsily large iPad, I wanted to edit on the same device, and the iPad offers a lot more real estate when you edit the clips in iMovie.

The iPad 3 was … interesting to use as a video camera. Even though it offers stabilization of the image, I think the shape of the iPad just means it will be more prone to camera shake than a D-SLR that you can cradle in your hand. There’s no easy way to brace the iPad.

Then also, I think I looked a bit of a dork shooting the video on an iPad. Especially with the Nikon D4 dangling off my shoulder.

The real limitations of the iPad came in that you can’t control exposure or focus. Also, you have a single focal length. Even with that, it was a fun challenge to work around these limitations to come up with a short clip that stands on its own. And for me, it is a wonderful reminder of the few days during which my daughter and I explored Amsterdam.

related link: workshop view: Amsterdam, July 22

edited to add:

Dick Mulder from The Netherlands, emailed me this helpful comment about locking focus and exposure:

Just saw your articule about making a movie using your iPad. I discovered (i.e. Without reading the manual ;-) ) that focus and exposure cán be controled (however a little/limited). When the scene I like to photograph or film is pretty bright, the exposure is mostly too dark (as usual like using a camera at program mode.).Therefore I point the iPad to a darker area of the scene and press on the screen at something which is also at the distance as my subject is. The trick I found out is that you should keep your finger pressed on the display until it shows a blinking square. After releasing your finger you’ll see an autofocus and exposure-lock text at the bottom of the screen, YES!!! :-)

Don’t know if you’re allready known with this feature, but it did certainly helped me out with exposure-problems.

 

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