After adding decoders, DCC and sound to my layout this month I felt it only prudent to try video as well. These two clips were made using the record feature on a digital camera.
In the first one, #103 leads a turn on the return leg from Cedar Branch to Hawksbill Station. #103 is approaching the grade crossing at Endor.
The second clip is of #103 easing in to the Hawksbill Station yard. Just as the engine clears the switch, a gray hopper decides to jump the track. This car was undergoing testing for a new set of trucks, anyway. [:I]
For what it’s worth, #103 is the first engine to receive a decoder. It’s a LokSound decoder which had to be wired in place as there was no plug. It worked perfect on the first try. The engine control is phenomenal!
Good stuff. Thanks for sharing. Other than is was not a steam engine, I liked it a lot. I just got a new camera. Maybe if I can ever learn how to turn it on, I could try that.
Not bad. For your next assignment, try shooting the same train from a couple of more angles at different static focal lengths (zoom increments) and then edit together a video. Draw a mental circle around your subject and draw a straight line axis through the middle of the circle. Do not step over the line you’ve drawn to set up a shot for any reason.
For extra credit, try a couple of very slow zooms or pans but don’t make us seasick. Please use a tripod if you are going to use camera moves. Looking forward to seeing your results.
Thanks, Brandon. I’m not sure what the prime mover really is. It was programmed by Litchfield Station as a GP-9 or GP-7, so it seemed to be the correct one.
The only thing objectionable about the LokSound decoders is the quality of the sound of the prime movers. All other sounds are crisp and clean. This is true of all three decoders, each with a different prime mover.
In simple terms, let the subject do the movement rather than the lense. Shoot the same scene at a couple of different angles. Shoot a tight, low angle shot from the side of the wheels and rails, a medium head on shot of the train coming toward the camera and maybe another high shot from a slightly overhead angle. Now use these shots to augment the video you’ve already got. Stay with each cutaway shot for at least 3 seconds so you don’t jar the viewer.
Yes, it’s either an EMD 567C, which GP9s had, or a 567B, which GP7s had. The difference between the two is that the 567B has a max RPM of 800, while the 567C has a greater max RPM of 835. Also, the 567C has greater horsepower in its 8, 12, and 16 cylinder applications than the 567B. In the 6 cylinder application, however, the horsepower was the same in both the 567B and 567C, 600 horses. It was later succeeded by the EMD 645 in 1966 as EMD’s standard prime mover.
I can pick out a difference of 25 RPM on a diesel but only if Im driving it.
Good work in the video!
There is a certain distance that the camera will see very well. Try to keep it within that area. That is called Depth of View. Your train 10 feet away might be blurry but be focused from say… 6 feet down to 2 feet or so.
Camcorders always focus on the first item they see. That little peice of foam before the track might ruin your shot of the engine. The camera might focus perfectly onto that foam instead of the engine.
I have shot a few videos onto youtube until I shut down my account due to non-hobby content from spammers. The best comments came from videos that were the camera not moving at
With this sort of encouragement I’ll have to try some more clips somewhere down the road. I’d like to get some scenery finished and try it again in the exact same spot. [:D]
The camera is a still picture digital model with the ability to record short clips. The clips download in Quick Time formated video. Do any of you know of any free software for editing these clips?
Check your computer. You might have one and not know it. Window Movie Maker came with my computer when I bought it.
Also, you might be able to focus your camera manually - check and see if there is a manual/autofocus option. That will enable you to focus on what you want.
Depth of field is controlled by your camera’s apature setting or “F” stop. The higher the f-stop the greater the depth of field. Unfortunately there’s no free lunch. If you increase the f-stop you have to also either increase the exposure or increase the ambient light.
Free software will edit about halfway through and quit. Then display a note saying if you want full function editing send money to…
I use Roxio 7 full version. Note that 7.5 and 8 are already out and since they are not cheap (@$140-) I try to maximize the lifespan of my Roxio software. I can pull video off my camcorder and turn out .wmv’s with this Roxio software. The recent Windows Media Upgrade to version 11 really makes it worth while as it displays pretty much everything the camera sees.
Things like “WOW! Where did that worn spot in the ballast come from!?”
I find .AVI Quicktime clips to be a problem. I can run them but have to reconfigure the Roxio for a shot at producing clips in qt.
In time I plan to replace my aging Sony Camcorder with something that features optical zoom instead of digital and has “Bigger” lens capable of seeing more of track.
My video editing skills are not that great. I can chop out bad parts, fade in a title and produce a .WMV that is somewhat decent. I live in a noisy area and sometimes the camera picks up a nearby car going by with loud music that totally destroys the sound coming from a engine being videotaped. I may move to a peice of land that is out of earshot and over the hill or two away from any roads someday.
You have gotten such good advice and encouragement, maybe I should try posting my 1st attempt using my Canon digital camera. I almost kept it in focus and experimented with sound. Need some steam and smoke!
In it, a BLI heavy mike carries a coal train upgrade on a friend’s railroad in Central Arkansas in what turns out to be a approaching storm of some strength outside of the railroad room. early in the video the train appears to be working hard and that is because of a almost 4% S curve grade it was coming off of just to the right of the camera’s view. The humming I think came from the Air conditioner or the SEB under the camera, not sure.
Here is a link to the Hosting Railroad that ran the Mike’s coal train.
If you own a Mac with OS X.3 or above you should already have a simple video editing software program called i-Movie. This program outputs Quicktime files for posting on the internet.
I’d like to make a slight correction and a clarification on Safety Valve’s post. The term is depth of field rather than depth of view although it may be called that in other countries. In simple terms, under low light conditions, the depth of field causes items in foreground and background of the frame to be out of focus and your subject to be sharp. In outdoor bright sunlit scenes, depth of field is not that critical because there is plenty of light available. This is why everything from up close to infinity appears to be in focus.
If you do decide to get serious about shooting video, look for a camera with a lens that has manual focus. This will eliminate the constant “hunting” mentioned by Safety Valve that causes a moving subject to go in and out of focus as it passes through the frame. By placing the camera in manual focus, you can pick a point in the frame that you want in focus on and it will stay there instead of constantly trying to update and compensate because things are moving. Manual focus mode disables the portion of the camera’s brain that set focus on the wrong thing like the piece of foam in the foreground or a piece of lint on the lens. Most lenses that have manual focus will also have manual iris and a manual electronic shutter. When you are shooting a scene with more than enough available light, you can trick the camera by adjusting shutter speed and iris and limiting the light that enters. This will give you the capability to direct the viewer’s attention to the subject you are shooting by softening the focus on everything else.
