How To Video Yourself Playing Pool?

7forlife said:
Do you have a table at home or do you plan on going to the pool hall?
Do you have good lighting at the pool hall or home and what's the condition of the cloth?
Is money a factor or is common sense more of a factor?

At home or the pool room the phone/ipod route is a good cheap way to go. The apple products take great video but know that apple saves files in AVCHD and not AVI this could be an issue for depending. Next is they save the files in 100% raw format so expect a 15 minutes session to be up to about 1 gig.

You can use other manufactures in that you can now save the data to a sim card of larger space, keep in mind you will need card readers to view on you computer, again I don't know what your plan is.

Phones are going to have some issues when comes to focusing and capturing light through the lens and crap like that, that's why lighting or table cloth becomes an issue (i.e. if you've ever watched a stream from joe blow and see a bright glare on the table) and here is a nice little tripod that can be use at the pool hall or at home sometimes depending on layout, they are also able to attach to tripod for more hight. (http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...Xphone+tripod.TRS0&_nkw=phone+tripod&_sacat=0)

If you are going to be doing this at home I say use your laptop and a webcam, I suggest the logitech C920 or so series. (here is what it looks like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5wAZRiwZm0) that way you save it straight to the hard drive, view it right there and maybe even on the TV via HDMI.

Now again, I don't know you or what you plan is or what you're hoping for or expecting or what you knowledge about this stuff is, soooo.

Lastly you can go the camcorder route, this could be hard or easy. You could over think it and spend the next 3 months looking for one or buying the most expensive one thinking its the best. Again, don't know you so don't know how you're going to approach this.

This is the camera I currently use (http://www.amazon.com/Canon-VIXIA-Image-Stabilized-Camcorder/dp/B006UMMPGE) in my world this was a win cause I was bought with the intention of capturing my daughters taekwondo, her singing or plays in school and family vacays, oh yea and some pool. I use this tripod (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bower-Profe...885?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4adc89ee65) with it. I tape some of my friends games burn to dvd and give to them from time to time. I shoot everything in 1080 but my practice in MP4. The cam records mp4 for 30 mins a pop so it works great as i spend about that much time on a particular exercise. I use a 32gig card and that get's me 3 hours easy of 1080p but 1080p is not small so expect the same size files as using Apple or i guess shooting in HD anyway.

Don't want to be bother with all the above, just want to record yourself and view it on your own time as easy as pie. Go get a tripod, make a Ustream account, buy the device listed below (wifi connection needed, a good wifi signal) and shoot to your hearts delight and have Ustream save all your data then watch it on the computer when you have time.
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Broadcaster-Streaming-Calling-Recording/dp/B009C98NQS
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed, thoughtful reply. I should have said the videos will be taken at home and I have plenty of additional light that I can provide to avoid low light issues. The cloth is traditional green Simonis 860 in good condition.

I appreciate your pointing out a number of different ways to make it work. As you note, the laptop or tablet with a webcam approach is pretty straightforward and the camcorder very flexible given the other potential uses for it. HDMI output to a TV would be a plus. You have given me a lot to consider.
 
Dockter said:
I use my Iphone 6 because the camera is pretty damn good on it. I always put it on a table near the pool table I'm shooting on and let me tell you it becomes a pain in the ass. I ordered this today, I'll let you know how it works if you're interested.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OM8TTG2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00
Click to expand...

One of these setups seems to be the way to go with a phone, and a couple of people have suggested similar setups above. I will be interested to see how you like this unit. It seems to have a number of other uses even if you move on to a different video system. I have tried leaning my phone against something on a table next to the pool table and that doesn't work too well for me either.
 
Things to consider

I've got a Toshiba camcorder that I mounted to my wall on a plant hanger to get it out to near the center line of my table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoiSQeNsmh8

Some things about using a camcorder:

1. Try to find one where you can manually focus, though this seems to be a rare feature these days. The auto-focus on my camcorder is a pain in the ass and messes up a lot of videos.
2. Not many come with remotes these days. Still, try to find one that has a remote. That way you don't have to worry about moving the camcorder and messing up the field of view just by turning the thing on or pressing record.
3. I haven't been able to find a camcorder with a wide enough view to let me mount it closer to the table and still get the entire width of the table, like with a half-table view for one-pocket. Part of that is because my basement ceiling is only 7.5 feet high.

Sometimes, I'll strap a GoPro to my head and shoot that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwzDEurt4uU

Some things about using a GoPro:

1. Get the app that lets you control it remotely. It's pretty much a necessity I think. I have it for my iPad and my iPhone. There's probably a version for other phone and tablets as well.
2. The GoPro will fisheye everything. You can see that very clearly in the video. You either live with it or you find something else.
3. I don't know what else. The GoPro is extremely small and lightweight. I'mnot sure it has any competition in those areas.
4. The thing eats through batteries. I suggest getting an extra battery so you never have to stop for two hours waiting for the thing to recharge.
 
NobodySpecial,
The fisheye term is what I see as the curve, it’s not an issue if the contents good. I’m reconsidering videoing any of my shooting, possibly for comic relief though. You answered the thoughts about the Gopro I was having; that works fine, good shooting by the way, thanks
 
NobodySpecial said:
I've got a Toshiba camcorder that I mounted to my wall on a plant hanger to get it out to near the center line of my table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoiSQeNsmh8

Some things about using a camcorder:

1. Try to find one where you can manually focus, though this seems to be a rare feature these days. The auto-focus on my camcorder is a pain in the ass and messes up a lot of videos.
2. Not many come with remotes these days. Still, try to find one that has a remote. That way you don't have to worry about moving the camcorder and messing up the field of view just by turning the thing on or pressing record.
3. I haven't been able to find a camcorder with a wide enough view to let me mount it closer to the table and still get the entire width of the table, like with a half-table view for one-pocket. Part of that is because my basement ceiling is only 7.5 feet high.

Sometimes, I'll strap a GoPro to my head and shoot that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwzDEurt4uU

Some things about using a GoPro:

1. Get the app that lets you control it remotely. It's pretty much a necessity I think. I have it for my iPad and my iPhone. There's probably a version for other phone and tablets as well.
2. The GoPro will fisheye everything. You can see that very clearly in the video. You either live with it or you find something else.
3. I don't know what else. The GoPro is extremely small and lightweight. I'mnot sure it has any competition in those areas.
4. The thing eats through batteries. I suggest getting an extra battery so you never have to stop for two hours waiting for the thing to recharge.
Click to expand...

I bought a wide lens on ebay, you should look into it. They're cheap enough to where you can get two, why you ask? Because some manufactures don't get the job done well enough (it's cheap, duh) so what happens is you get that fisheye effect or as you zoom in the camera catches the edge of the lens. I forgot the details about what made me choose the one I did, but I can tell you that I spend some times on youtube doing my research.
All I know is I saved a bunch a money by switching to Ebay.
 
7forlife said:
This is the camera I currently use (http://www.amazon.com/Canon-VIXIA-Image-Stabilized-Camcorder/dp/B006UMMPGE) in my world this was a win cause I was bought with the intention of capturing my daughters taekwondo, her singing or plays in school and family vacays, oh yea and some pool. I use this tripod (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bower-Profe...885?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4adc89ee65) with it. I tape some of my friends games burn to dvd and give to them from time to time. I shoot everything in 1080 but my practice in MP4. The cam records mp4 for 30 mins a pop so it works great as i spend about that much time on a particular exercise. I use a 32gig card and that get's me 3 hours easy of 1080p but 1080p is not small so expect the same size files as using Apple or i guess shooting in HD anyway.
Click to expand...

How does your camcorder work for the taekwondo and school plays? I imagine the motion and the lower light are where it has to work hardest to get a good picture.
 
it's works excellent. It's take crystal clear videos and great pictures (i'm sure other cameras do it too, there's a "photo" button on the touch screen LCD that takes a pic while you're taking video. Phones do this too now). I only reason for wanting to change it is because there is another model "in the same line" that offers wifi and a remote and also some thing to consider is internal storage. This will affect the price significantly naturally, you just have to decide what matters to you. See i'm into tech a bit so internal storage although nice was not needed, so my 32 gb SD card is more than enough, 3-4 hours easy. Oh did i mention on one battery, saved a bunch of money "like over $100" by going to third party batteries, which one key feature is that it's coded so the camera actually recognizes the battery, some companies don't do this so although it works you have no idea how much battery is left cause that is something built into the device and battery.

My biggest problem with this whole thing is not shooting but converting, I actually have to compress the file tremendously in order to put on dvd when giving a friend. See the dvd is 4.5 gb and one set could be like up to 15 gbs, but thankfully because i'm shooting in HD I don't lose much quality by compressing the file.
 
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