NBTMV - update on video recording setup, now with Sony Alpha NEX-3 and external mic

In this video I provide an update on my video recording setup at home. For the last few months, I have been using the same setup, recording the videos with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 digital camera, which has been performing very well but that it doesn’t have an external microphone input and I thought I could improve the sound quality of the video recording by using a camera with an external microphone so I began searching and I found this website called snapsort.com where you can put in various features that you want in the camera for example external microphone, low light sensitivity, a small form factor, specific price points, etc. and the site recommends cameras mathing the features you want. When I put everything I wanted, snapsort.com showed Sony Alpha NEX-3 as a top choice. I checked it out on amazon.com and they had a good price for a Sony Alpha NEX-3 with a 16mm wide-angle lens, so I bought it along with an external microphone (model Sony ECM-SST1) for recording my videos. Here are some photos of the camera and the camera on a tripod in my video recording setup.

Sony Alpha NEX-3 with external stereo microphone (front view)

Sony Alpha NEX-3 with external stereo microphone (back view)

Sony Alpha NEX-3 with ECM-SST1 external mic mounted on tripod for video recording

Other than the new camera with external microphone, the rest of the video recording setup is the same with three-point lighting system and a black muslin sheet as background.

I recorded this video with the new setup and I think it does sound better with the external microphone. You can judge for yourself by comparing this video with previous ones.

Here's some more information to help you...

Here are links to the camera and external microphone and some accessories:

How I record videos at home

How I record videos at home

By now you’ve seen a few of the videos I have posted and I think I should briefly describe how I record these at home. That way, you can do the same, if you want to...

You have probably noticed how I raise my hand to turn the camera off at the end of my videos. That’s because there is no one in the room helping me with the recording. Luckily the digital amera I am using - - a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 model - - seems to work out best at arm’s length, so I can reach the start/stop button easily.

Besides the digital camera, which I already had, all I had to do is spend about $40 to buy were three clamp-on lights from the local hardware store. I bought two 10-inch ones  for the Key and Fill lights and one 8-inch one for the backlight - - the Key light with a 100W equivalent Compact Fluorescent Light bulb is at 45 degrees to the left in front of me, the Fill light with a 60W equivalent bulb is at 45 degrees to my right, again, in front. The backlight is slightly behind me, to my left. I clipped on white handkerchiefs in front of each light because the light was too bright otherwise. I think the light is still not that great, as one of my friends already told me, so I plan to tweak it either through camera settings or by moving the lights back some more.

For the backdrop, I clipped on some dark sheets on a bookshelf behind me. I sit on a bench and put the camera on a tripod on a small desk placed in front of me.

Behind the camera desk, I put a small LCD TV facing me that I connected the camera’s Audio-Video output to the TV. That way, the TV becomes my monitor to check on what the video looks like. The camera displays the recording time, so that display on the monitor also cues me when my time’s up.

With all that set, I sit down, turn the camera on, make sure I appear centered in the monitor, then press the Start button and start recording... that’s all there is to it. :-)

Here are some more things to help you get going...

Here are links to some the items I used for my setup. Of course, you probabaly already have a digital camera that can capture video, but, if not, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 was great... or consider the newer DMC-LX5... and you may want to get an AC adapter (model number DMW-AC5PP) so that the battery does not run out while you record video. And you need a high-capacity SD memory card to record those videos as well.
You know, with Amazon's free shipping for orders over $25, I would have definitely ordered what I needed from Amazon instead of running around local hardware stores :-)