Filming yourself casting

[alhughes]

Hi all
Looking for recommendation's for a camera that I can use to watch myself casting but also good enough to see the loops, and that wont break the bank.
Cheers
Alan

[Graeme H]

Hi Alan,

Most current smart phones have great cameras on them.

Try yours first before laying out more money. If it works, all you'll need to buy is some sort of tripod or other mount for the phone.

Cheers,
Graeme

[alhughes]

Thanks Graeme I'll try that

[Lasse Karlsson]

Most important thing to catch loops on film, is a contrasting background to the line colour and enough light on the line.

Mobile phones have been able to make quality clips for a long time, its the other stuff that matters more.

This was shot with a Samsung s10



Same phone, but different conditions



Cheers
Lasse

[Jason Borger]

FWIW, the slow-mo video used to create the illustrations in my last book was shot with two iPhones (2017 vintage). As Lasse pointed out clearly, the keys are the right light and background.

In addition, there are some inexpensive apps out there in both the “i” and “a” operating system worlds that can allow you to have granular camera control, if you feel the need.

A standard tripod and a phone mounting system (like a glif) can do wonders and means you don’t need a convenient table, etc., from which to shoot.

A piece of advice to avoid “interpretation errors”: if you want to know what your loops really look like, you need to shoot as close to 90 degrees to the “plane” of the loop as reasonable. This can help to avoid “interesting” discussions about loop size/shape/structure (trust me on this).

A ladder can also be a surprisingly useful tool for certain casts. Drone, too, that’s another step entirely. And then there is motion capture, which doesn’t care about camera angles, but might be a bit much…

[Lasse Karlsson]

A piece of advice to avoid “interpretation errors”: if you want to know what your loops really look like, you need to shoot as close to 90 degrees to the “plane” of the loop as reasonable. This can help to avoid “interesting” discussions about loop size/shape/structure (trust me on this).

Spot on!

This is very similar loops, different camera angles though..

Cheers
Lasse

[Jason Borger]

Thanks, Lasse!

And those two shots show something else that is actually interesting, minus the quotes.

The side-arm shot—while not allowing the loop to be seen clearly from top to bottom (fly leg to rod leg)—is still revealing in terms of what the line is doing as the loop unrolls. So, could be a useful shot to understand what’s going on with certain aspects of either a side-arm or elliptical cast.

Anyway, place the camera to get the image you need, or move your position so the camera can see what you need it to see. Just don’t shoot a nearly side-arm cast from the side and then say, “look how tight my loops are!”

[James9118]

Anyway, place the camera to get the image you need, or move your position so the camera can see what you need it to see. Just don’t shoot a nearly side-arm cast from the side and then say, “look how tight my loops are!”

Look how tight my loops are!

[Jason Borger]

So tight. Being SL I should have seen that coming sooner rather than later.

Anyway, place the camera to get the image you need, or move your position so the camera can see what you need it to see. Just don’t shoot a nearly side-arm cast from the side and then say, “look how tight my loops are!”

Look how tight my loops are!

James casting at WC ST27.jpg

[VGB]

IPads even have tools to make you a better caster