camera equipment

Smartphone Video Sample in OV&P Studio

Timely Smartphone Tips

Hi everyone, we’re thinking of you with care and curiosity at this challenging time. How are you feeling and responding in relation to the current world crisis caused by Corona? Whether anxious and uncertain or determined to move forward positively, we’re sure it’s playing on your mind to some degree. Perhaps the conversation includes questions about doing business online?

Either way, your online presence, in terms of your personal and business brand, is more important than ever for connecting with others. And connection is key in order for you to contribute your valuable services and perspectives to your community. With virtual communications replacing in-person meetups everywhere, photos and videos are fundamental to conveying your message in a compelling, authentic way that benefits you, your business and your prospective clients.

Online success requires sharing fresh imagery of yourself and topics related to your brand on a consistent basis. Professional photo and video shoots are pivotal for positioning your brand as premium, particularly when it comes to profile pictures and promotional content on your website and online platform. There is also value in shooting and sharing smartphone photos and videos for general social media and blog posts, provided that you’re empowered to showcase your brand and do it justice.

So, we’d love to support you in learning how to shoot and share meaningful, better quality photos and videos, simply with your smartphone. For this reason, Naomi has added two brand new BONUS videos to her Smartphone Shooting Tips online course which she’s offering for ONLY $27 (70% SAVING) until midnight on Sunday 22 March 2020 to inspire you to take action.

Smartphone Video Equipment Samples
 
Above is a thumbnail from one of the new bonus videos in the course that demonstrates sample equipment, and the top image is from the other bonus video that features various samples of smartphone videos, to give you ideas for your own videos. The core content lessons in the course are geared to help you boost your online presence by learning the following:

* Insider tips to shoot and edit your smartphone photos
* How to take better videos of you presenting to camera
* 5 essential tips to help you present effectively on video
* Plenty of ideas for value-rich photo and video content

In a nutshell, this course can be your kickstart to leverage the capability of your smartphone camera. For your complete peace of mind, it includes a full 30 day money back guarantee in case you’re not entirely satisfied, which we sincerely doubt will happen. CLICK HERE to sign up and start shooting and sharing photos and videos that represent you and your brand engagingly.

P.S. If you feel it can benefit people you care about, please share this post with them and help us to help you. Thank you! 

Dave and Naomi Estment - Co-owners of OV&P

View From The Top

Standing at the top of a 50m tower is definitely not your average angle on life, but all in a day’s work here at OV&P, as part of the ongoing capture of a 15-story construction project by our valued clients at FWJK. The skinny, temporary tower has been erected in Illovo, Johannesburg, in order to provide a platform for Dave to create a time-lapse video that combines spectacular aerial perspectives shot from our drones with vibrant ground-based photos and videos.

I joined him under some duress recently, since our fabulous freelance cameraman, Chris (pictured below) who usually accompanies Dave up the tower, wasn’t available. Can’t pretend I wasn’t stressed . . . and frankly scared! It took longer to climb with me, thanks to stopping a few times for me to rest and reinforce my courage. Apart from moral support, two people are needed to carry kit and complete various tasks like downloading images, replacing memory cards, as well as setting up and repositioning the camera.

Cameraman Chris Duys on 50m Tower

The innovative time lapse setup – provided by Action Gear – utilises a GoPro camera mounted inside a mini, all-weather pelican case that includes a tailor-made cutout to accommodate the camera lens. A small solar panel is attached to the outside of the case, powering the camera battery to facilitate taking thousands of photos over extended periods, with intervals selected as required.

This can contribute a special element to an ongoing visual legacy that showcases great work. It is particularly powerful for long-term, large-scale projects that involve expansive perspectives – and height really helps for maximum impact. How about your legacy? A 50m tower is a rare exception to the rule, but what do you do to share the story of your work and how it serves your market? To discuss ways to do this via compelling, creative photos and videos, give us a call. We’re standing by to help.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro, photographed by Naomi Estment

Drone Technology Marches On

It’s been challenging getting my DJI Inspire booked onto aeroplanes, due to its size and controversial looks, which caused airport security to give me a hard time – as if I were about to highjack the plane or something sinister like that. To address this issue, it was time to look for a smaller drone that could up the game technologically and produce even better imagery.

The Inspire has served us faithfully for the last three years, producing world class HD video at up to 120 frames per second for amazing slo-mo footage that has blown our clients away. However, in my opinion, the image quality of the photos could be improved, particularly in low light. Don’t get me wrong, the images are more than acceptable for the purposes required, but I’ve been hoping for DJI to provide a new, large sensor camera on a smaller frame that would improve the video quality even more and produce higher grade photographs. Guess what? A couple of weeks ago DJI launched the Phantom 4 Pro. My prayers were answered.

Just in time, because we are doing a long-term time lapse video of a massive development project by Fortress Income Fund on the old Clairwood Race Course, near Durban. Fortress is one of our esteemed, long term clients who is leading the way in the warehousing and logistics industry, and since this is a 3-year construction project, we’ll be doing quite a few trips in the foreseeable future. Their compelling visual portfolio will include traditional ground based progress photos and videos, as well as regular aerial coverage.

It was a pleasure to check in at the airport yesterday with my Phantom 4 Pro, which performed perfectly during the morning to capture this early stage of development. Here’s one of the aerial photos that I took, to show you the image quality:

Aerial View of Fortress Construction Site

The Phantom range of DJI drones have been the most successful in the short history of stabilised flying film and photo platforms, but they have always been the bridesmaid to the amazing Inspire range of professional DJI drones. That has just changed, as if the engineers at DJI sensed my dilemma and worked overtime to deliver a new Phantom that fully qualifies as a professional filming drone, good enough to be used in Hollywood feature films. 4k video at 50 FPS and a bit rate of 100 Mb/sec! Yes please. It is half the size of the Inspire, ideal for hand luggage in its discreet carry case that holds 4 batteries and all the bits required for shoots.

The tech specs and smart functionality are mind blowing, enabling even more precise flying and route planning than before. The inspire doesn’t come close – sorry Inspire 🙂 My favourite features on this little powerhouse include a camera sensor (ALMOST 5 X BIGGER than previous ones), manual aperture, shutter, ISO and exposure control, manual and auto focus, plus a host of setting options. The bit rate of 100 Mb/sec ensures that all the data is accurately captured and the new route planning functionality such as Tripod Mode, Draw, Tap Fly and obstacle avoidance will certainly assist me in complicated route planning and camera control.

Thank you for the new P4 Pro, DJI. And thank you Action Gear team for your support. May technology keep marching on . . . I love it!