Videography

When I made the move from 35mm single-lens-reflex cameras to a digital version, I had only photography in mind. I had no wish to have a D-SLR that also captured video.

In fact, when I did my research on which brand of camera to buy, I went with Nikon because they had a model that shot still photography only. The D90 was just out and had a lot of improved features, but I chose the D80 because, unlike the D90, it had no video capabilities.

I had a video camera already, though I rarely used it. At the time, video was not my concern nor was it part of the hobby that I enjoyed. I had a Sony Handycam, which I used for special occasions but only made short videos that I almost never watched again.

Over the years, and now that we had kids, DW bought some smaller point-and-shoot cameras that she used to document the lives of our daughters. Using the video mode on those cameras, she was able to capture our kids' first steps, which was pretty special.

We still have that file, on an external drive, but again we almost never look at the footage.

On impulse, in 2011, I bought a Flip pocket video camera while I was waiting in line at our local Chapters bookstore. It advertised ultra HD, and plugged into a USB port when you wanted to download the video. It was only about $120 and I thought that with its size, I could carry it around for when I wanted to capture a quick moment.

I quickly forgot about the camera. That summer, I mounted it to my bike and rode around the city, but I never used the footage after I downloaded the clips: instead, they sat on a hard drive until I stumbled upon them, in 2024, and decided to make a video for my YouTube channel.

The quality of the video isn't great and without image stabilization, it's hard to watch.

As I've upgraded my D-SLR cameras, it was impossible to get one that didn't also record video, but by then, I was open to the feature. It was nice to be able to quickly switch between action and still images, even though I rarely switched into video mode.

Not until I started up my YouTube channel, that is.

When I wanted to start documenting our vacations, DW and I researched a camera that could handle the elements and had the stabilization that my Flip and D-SLRs lacked. We were heading to Mexico, in 2019, and we wanted something that would work well in the beach and in the water.

That was my introduction to the Insta360 cameras. I bought the Insta360 One X and made fairly decent videos of our time in Mexico, as well as my solo trip to South Korea, a couple of months later.

When we acquired our kayaks, in 2020, I mounted the One X to the deck and was hooked with being able to shoot video while I paddled. Over the years, I've upgraded to the One R, the X3, and just this year, the X5 (I think DW will leave me if I buy any more of these cameras).

I became a videographer with these cameras, still opting to put my D-SLRs aside unless what I wanted to capture needed a telephoto lens, but even then I still rarely used my Nikons—I upgraded to a D7200 in 2015 and added D750 in December, 2019—to capture video.

The D-SLRs were a backup to the Insta360 cameras.

This year, when I decided to sell my Nikon D7200 and many lenses for a lighter system, I chose a camera that was not only compact and light but also had fast and sharp focusing, and great video capabilities. As many of you know, I went for the Sony α6700.

When I go kayaking, I'll sometimes throw the α6700 into a dry bag and take it with me on my paddles. If there are birds to capture, I have something with a great reach (my 70–350mm lens gives me the equivalent of 525mm at its maximum zoom).

For example, here's a heron I captured whilst paddling around Petrie Island, a few weeks ago:

Sony α6700 | 350mm | f/6.3 | 1/2,000 | ISO 6,400

Of course, I still have my Insta360 cameras for capturing the kayak adventure, but the Sony has been used as my B-roll camera, for getting video of subjects that the 360-degree lenses just can't see. I had never thought of using the Sony α6700 as my main camera.

That is, not until our trip to Lake Superior.

For much of the videos I made of our trip, the Insta360 X5 was my camera of choice. I have the dedicated wireless lav mic, so I get better sound quality in windy conditions. I brought my X3, which I used as a backup camera, should the battery on the X5 die or if I ran out of video-storage space (both of those scenarios happened on the trip).

I also brought my Insta360 One R, with the one-inch sensor lens, which I used for B-roll shots and for a couple of hikes. I had the Sony α6700, but I was using it for still shots. I tended to use my smartphone for impromptu video shots, rather than my mirrorless camera.

Except for one time, when the Sony α6700 was the only camera that I used to capture video.

On our hike to Orphan Lake, I decided that I'd perform a bit of an experiment. I left all of my Insta360 cameras at our campsite and took only one camera.

Actually, two cameras: I always have my smartphone on me but I had no intention of using it on the hike, unless something went horribly wrong. And nothing did.

I brought my α6700 with the kit 16–50mm lens and a RØDE microphone for better sound capture.

I know that there's a lot that this camera can do in terms of videography but I haven't taken the time to get familiar with how to get the most out of the video capabilities, so I simply put the camera in Auto mode and let it make all of the decisions for exposure, frame rate, and other settings.

I kept the RØDE mic attached for half of the hike but really, I only needed it for the intro and outro of the video that I made. The camera kind of looks stupid when you're wandering through the wilderness with a bobbing piece of fluff on top of it (I had the wind muff—or dead cat, as it's also called—over the mic), and I was carrying my camera bag, into which I should have tossed it after the intro.

When I put the video together, I saw that it wasn't bad at all. The camera has built-in stabilization but I was disappointed with the camera shake. I was able to fix some of it in post-production but if I want to use it for more video in the future, perhaps a gimbal is something I should consider getting.

Here's the video, which was uploaded to my YouTube channel last Friday. The only time the Sony α6700 wasn't used was when DW took some video of me taking a photo, using her smartphone.

What did you think? Should I use this camera for making more videos? If you liked the video, please give it a Thumbs Up and subscribe to my channel.

There are still three more videos to come out from our vacation but I don't think I'll mention them in a blog post. I've talked enough about DW's and my trip, and it's time I moved onto other subjects.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about a club that I've returned to after more than 15 months of absence. Stay tuned.