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Best Camcorder / Camera for Low-Light Tesla Coil Videos

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LAN_403

HV Enthusiast

Mon Aug 05 2013, 03:09PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

Just curious to see what thoughts you had one what a really good low-light video camera would be for Tesla Coil videos - at least in your experience.

I've tried a Canon DSLR Rebel I have (about 4 years old) as well as a Canon HD Camcorder (again about 4 years old), but not particularly happy with either in low-light situations.

Was thinking of upgrading and trying something new.
Maybe even the Hero 3 as I could also use that for other things.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Bjørn

Mon Aug 05 2013, 05:42PM

Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058

Hero 3 Black is a great camera with some flaws, it is not very good in bad light.

Here is a comparison between Hero 2, Hero 3 Black, Sony RX100 when filming in really bad light, Sony RX100 is a great camera and has full manual control of all parameters even when filming.

HV Enthusiast

Mon Aug 05 2013, 05:48PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

Thanks Bjorn! Great comparison. I will look into the Sony RX100!

Mads Barnkob

Mon Aug 05 2013, 07:29PM

Registered Member #1403 Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968

I got a feeling it is out of the price league, but I like my Canon 5D mk3's abilities to work in the dark :)

HV Enthusiast

Tue Aug 06 2013, 01:10PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
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Posts: 3068

Thanks Mads! The Canon 5D is sweet, but yes, above my budget. I may end up going with the Hero 3 anyways. I only need for a little bit of product photography, but can use it with my kids for outdoor action photography such as kayaking, hiking, biking, etc...

TheBoozer

Tue Aug 06 2013, 09:39PM

Registered Member #1535 Joined: Wed Jun 11 2008, 11:37PM
Location: Northeastern Pennsylvania - USA
Posts: 117

I've never been completely content shooting videos of coils. I think I've realized that the solution is to spend a ton of money, and that's just not what I wanted to do....

Years ago I settled for a Sony HDR-CX100 and I would only call it fair. The high speed recording sucked...

I've borrowed a few cameras trying to find the holy grail, but I have not. One person shot my coil with night vision. I didn't care for that too much, but it you are curious as to what that looks like, here it is :

Rich

Intra

Thu Oct 03 2013, 02:29PM

Registered Member #2694 Joined: Mon Feb 22 2010, 11:52PM
Location: Russia, Volgograd (Stalingrad).
Posts: 97

It's not so important, which CMOS type of matrix you will be use. You shouldn't use CCD, it can't give good result. First thing is the lens speed. It must be <1:1.4-1.8 If it not, you take tiny spark and dark ambient. In 1:1.4 spark will be bright and ambient will be able to see. Canon EOS 100D and ~$500 lens will be fine. See for example "Tesla Music Band - David Guetta - Baby When The Light" video on my channel. It's on 1:1.4 lens speed. In compare with "Tesla Music Band - Dmitry playing guitar", it's on 1:3.5 lens speed.

nixie

Thu Oct 03 2013, 03:55PM

Registered Member #3908 Joined: Tue May 24 2011, 09:40PM
Location: Gilbert, Arizona USA
Posts: 68

I believe sound is just as important as the video when recording tesla coil performances.

I'm using the latest hi-end Canon DSLR with an equally good lens. Although it does make for excellent low light video recordings with minimal noise/artifacts, you must use external microphones to achieve a sound recording to equal the video quality. The camera manufacturers never disclose these important details. News crews know it all too well. You can spend $2k for a good camera, and you're left with smartphone quality audio if you use their built-in microphones.
The audio noise (background hiss) level is pretty high on some cameras I looked at, so you have to research it carefully. Microphones won't fix that.

Eric's latest dubstep video was recorded using this camera along with remote studio condenser microphones on suspension stands. Placed with a spread of 20' from a 40' wide audio source. A balanced line converter at the camera converts the XLR signal to a single-ended output at the camera's remote microphone input. AGC is disabled to help recover the dynamic range that makes a coil performance so spectacular in the first place. Of course, if you're listening to it on a smartphone speaker then it does not matter

. Headphones will provide the channel separation and bass depth of the original performance.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

Patric

Thu Oct 03 2013, 07:00PM

Registered Member #2899 Joined: Wed Jun 02 2010, 06:31PM
Location: Deinze, Belgium
Posts: 255

Most cameras will do. Use dim light in the room and be carefull! This is taken with a very cheap camera (Canon A710 I think) and very much compressed.

redruM69

Fri Oct 04 2013, 03:09AM

Registered Member #31557 Joined: Tue Aug 06 2013, 02:38AM
Location:
Posts: 58

EasternVoltageResearch wrote ...

I've tried a Canon DSLR Rebel I have (about 4 years old)

Have you tried a better/faster lens on that Canon? A good lens and that should film nicely in the dark

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