Samsung has launched two new cameras at the IFA electronics show in Berlin. The ST550 gets an LCD display on the front for self portraits while the ST1000 gets three different wireless sending options and GPS built in. Get more details on both cameras at http://www.which.co.uk/digitalcameras
Sansung has finally launched the long awaited i7500 Galaxy mobile phone at the IFA show in Berlin. The new smartphone is the first non-HTC Google Android based phone and its the smallest yet but still boasts a 3.2 inch touchscreen. Get all the details at http://www.which.co.uk/mobilephones
We went along to the launch of the Sony Alpha 230 DSLR to find out just what makes the new digital camera a good choice for people wanting to make their first jump up to a digital SLR. Get all the…
We take a look at the new version of Dyson’s revolutionary handheld vac, the DC31. Get all the latest product reviews at http://www.which.co.uk
Canon invited us down to their showroon to take a look at their first touchscreen camera, the Ixus 200 IS and see its little brother the Ixus 120 IS.
Check out all of the latest camera reviews at…
We went along to the launch of the new Canon G11 and S90 Powershot cameras, the successors to the very popular G10 camera, to see why a drop in megapixels could lead to a better camera. Get all the latest camera reviews at http://www.which.co.uk/digitalcameras
With a bit of spare time on my hands I was browsing the on-demand video this evening and a very strange title caught my eye - ‘Bikecar’.
I read the summary and it sounded vaguely interesting so I thought I’d give it a go. I’m glad I did because it is a really great film.
Basically, it seams film-maker/snowboarder JT Fountain decided to build a pedal powered car (roof, trailer and all), pick up three of his mates and cycle/drive 900 miles to snowboard all the best peaks in four different states.
It’s low budget and really basic, but the sory is great and the guys are real characters. Definately an inspiring film for any budding videographers.
The trailer below isn’t the best ,but if you get a cance to watch the film then take it.
Which? takes a look at the new Windoes Mobile smartphone from Toshiba that boasts a massive touch screen and a 1GHz processor. Get all the latest mobile phone reviews at…
The Giga Juke system from Sony is a one-stop solution for your music needs, not just in your living room, but all around your home. We take a look to see how well it works. Get the full review and…
Well it looks like we’ve got some good news for a change with recent data from video service provider Brightcove showing the number of videos uploaded to newspaper websites grew by a massive 1500% in the last year.
In an article on Mediapost.com, Brightcove claims that after looking at 187 of the US newspaper sites it serves video for, video uploads “grew from an average of 186 per month to 638 in 2008.”
And even better, Brightcove claims that most companies are managing to monetise the content with advertising.
Lets hope that media companies can take full advantage of the opportunity and use this growth to help them through this difficult market rather than shying away from all things new/digital and retreating to ‘core products’ as has often been the case recently.
Posted by Angus Farquhar (09/04/09 - 18:11)
With the G20 protests taking place just a few miles from where I work and my cycle route home taking me directly past them, I have been lapping up all the media coverage of the events, both official and unofficial. But once again it wasn’t the mainstream media that gave me the best look at what was gong on down there.
Several times on the BBC News Channel I saw the same footage of a guy jeering at the police with blood running down his face. It did look disturbing in it’s own right, but it was twitter that brought me the other side of the story with a Tweet from @CurrentUK.
The article on Current.com didn’t provide all the news but acted as a channel for people to post what they could see was happening.
So amidst all the personal accounts from both sides of the fence comes two amazing peices of video from right in the thick of things that capture exactly what happened before and after the guy was struck by the police (warning: clips contain very strong language and violence) .
Now I will admit that the BBC reporters were in the crowd at the protests and did get some good footage but the best way to get the full picture was to see through the eyes of the protesters themselves.
Published by Angus Farquhar (02/04/09 - 13:49)
Sometimes all you can do is marvel at the incredible talent (and vast amounts of spare time) that some people have.
This is a genius bit of editing.
Link courtesy of @scobleizer
Posted by Angus Farquhar (12/03/09 - 12:10)
When all the hubub started last year after Canon launched the 5D MkII and Nikon launched the D90, everyone got really excited about these new tools that were coming available to the video journalist. But it soon became clear that they both had some serious issues when it came to video.
Firstly the 5D is way too expensive for anyone who isn’t a full-time snapper (especially with budgets shrinking as fast as they are at the moment). The Nikon D90 ticks the budget box but it doesn’t have an audio input so the sound wont be up to scratch. On top of all that neither camera can do continuous auto-focus for those moments when you just need to point and shoot.
But it looks like Panasonic have stepped up to provide the ideal solution for the video journalist with the launch of the DMC-GH1. Bargain price - check; audio in - check; continuous focus - check.
Based on last year’s G1, the GH1 is a micro four thirds camera so combines the compact size of a bridge camera with an image sensor nearly as big as a DSLR and a range of detatchable lenses to suit whatever you need.
It’s compact size makes it almost pocketable and definately something that can be stuffed in a bag and left there until it is needed.
Not happy with putting 1920x1080 HD (AVCHD) video in to the camera, Panasonic has gone one step further and designed a lense specifically for video.
The video lense has a 14-140mm focal length (28-280mm 35mm camera equivalent) which is more than enough for most jobs, but also comes with a motor suitable to continuous focusing and that is quiet enough to prevent any noise being picked up by the on-board mic as is so often the problem with compact/bridge cameras.
I’m hoping to get my hands on the GH1 soon and can’t wait to see if it can deliver the kind of image quality and depth of field that the D90 and 5D can.
If it lives up to expectations this really will be the camera that every journalist - not just video journalist - on a modern news team should be provided with.
Posted by Angus Farquhar (11/03/09 - 20:33)
Thanks to impressive press facilities we managed to publish 8 videos directly from the show with another 8 following when we got home, which just shows what you can achieve with some good planning, a journalist who can think on his feet and some decent portable kit (HP laptop, Premiere CS4 and Sony EX1).
I’ve only been doing this a few years and always want to improve so would love to hear any comments anyone has, good or bad.
Posted by Angus Farquhar (07/03/09 - 11:36)
Yesterday I tried to articulate how I feel about the demise of newspaper websites in a comment on my post about the closure of the Rocky Mountain News, but today Paul Robinson over at Vagueware has posted something that is much more eloquent than I could ever have put it.
Paul expresses exactly my feelings on how newspapers have failed to make money from the scarey new online world - in fact they have spent years undermining their ability to make money out of their websites by jealously trying to protect their dying print publications and failing to think creatively.
“Phone any regional newspaper title in the country and speak to their ad sales team. The conversation will result in them offering you a rate card for the print edition. Sound sceptical about the costs and benefits. They will offer space online for free.”
I’ve seen that happen so many times it is scary - despite the online team (ghetto’d as we were) pleading them not to.
“In essence to secure the advertising for the print edition, they have in the past completely undermined the business they need to survive in the future. They have told every one of their advertisers that online adverts are not worth paying for.”
And now these businesses think that after years of getting consumers accustomed to free content and advertisers thinking that there is no value to online advertising (despite the fact that an online eyeball is demonstrably more valuable than a print one) that they can now start asking consumer to pay for their content!
“News websites will slowly shut down and become adverts for the print and subscription-only content via the new technologies sure to become dominant in coming years. Except of course, the audience won’t care. They won’t sign up. Why would they if even a few websites remain free and open for business?”
Exactly. I’m a very dedicated reader of the Guardian and it’s website, but there is almost zero chance that I would sign up to a subscription website model unless they come up with some new very compelling model.
Paul does offer some potential solutions to the whole that newspapers have dug themselves in to, but I have to say I’m sceptical about their ability to listen. There are too many people with vested interests protecting the current model even if, ultimately, it means the demise of their livelihood.
Without a wholesale restructuring of everything from business models to bonus structures and hiring policies many companies will simply stick to protecting a smaller and smaller ‘core’ business instead of innovating and embracing fully this new age we find ourselves in.
Trained as a sound engineer, I stumbled in to text journalism, but knew it wasn't really me. Then I found video.
I started producing videos for motorcyclenews.com and gradually expanded to make the site one of the leading motorcycle video producers in the world with a top 50 Youtube UK channel fed by content produced by print journalists and photographers, all trained by myself.
I now work for which.co.uk where I have set up full in-house online video production capabilities from scratch and now produce around 200 videos a year.
Feel free to email me at angusfarquhar at googlemail dot com or find me on any of the networks below.
