News from jswami.info |
News from kkswami blog |
Below you will find a loving description of the recent travels of HH KKS in Europe as told by Kushal Mehta from the Bhaktivedanta Manor in England.
Also see the accompanied youtube video that goes with the story :
If you cannot see the reader above, please visit library108 @ scribd.com
If you cannot view the youtube video, please visit library108 @ youtube
At Oreilly.com they have reviewed the new Edirol R09HR and M-Audio Microtrack v2 field recorders.
Here’s a quick rundown on some of the physical changes in the new models. Both M-Audio and Edirol continue to upgrade their products via free firmware updates. Visit their sites (M-Audio; Edirol/Roland) to make sure you have the latest.
Lighting is very important for recording a good quality video. When I look at the videos I’ve recorded and uploaded, it is very easy to tell the difference between when I’ve used my own lighting and when I’ve relied on the ambient temple lighting.
If you shoot mostly during the day and the temple has lots of windows then you may not need to add lighting. This was the case when I did my recording at the Laguna Beach temple. The dallas temple is just the opposite. There is mostly just mood lighting and all the temple pillars and other features are dark.
The easiest lighting option is a video light. This is a light that connects to the hot-shoe on your camcorder and lights up whatever subject is directly in front of the camera. These are generally cheap. Find one that uses LEDs for lighting to extend the life of your batteries. I’ve used the Sima SL-10L in the past. These sell on ebay for around $20 to $30.
But watch out. The light is quite intense (due to it’s small size) and is directly in line with the camcorder. This can be quite annoying. Also, the light is only so bright and so both it and the camcorder must be close to the subject. I found this fairly useless for recording a lecture since the speaker would be disturbed by the bright light directly in their line of sight to the people sitting in the temple room.
Traditional video lighting is bulky, power consuming and very very hot. Recognize these lights by their use of a halogen, tugsten or quartz bulb. The quality of the lighting is incredible — there is a reason they are used in professional settings. Your subject probably won’t be too happy being lit by these for a 40minute class though due to their heat.
With the right bulbs, fluorescent lighting is a good compromise between light quality, heat, and cost. I use the SP2700 Professional Photo Umbrella by Square Perfect ($140). This kit comes with two sets of lights, light stands, and umbrellas. I’ve been very happy with this light kit. The bulbs are large/powerful fluorescent bulbs that operate at 5500K (nice clear white). I’ve had very little issues with color balance. Using the light stands, I can position the lights above the line of sight of the speaker. I generally just use one light which is plenty. I only have two reservations with the kit. If I get real close, I can hear a quiet buzz from the lights. This hasn’t been an issue for me but may be an issue for other users. My other complaint is that the bag is completely soft. So, I keep each piece of equipment in it’s original cardboard container which provides the necessary structure to keep the bag stiff.
LED LightingIf you have money to burn, check out LitePanels. These are flat panels with many LED lights and are meant to be used in studio lighting. A single 1 square foot light runs about $2000. Quite a bit outside of my budget — that is for sure.
Get the right lighting for your budget. Play around with it and see how the lighting improves the video captured by your camcorder. If your subject is already well lit then skip the lights.
A decent resource for reading up on lighting is at mediacollege.
I found this interesting aritcle on dandavats.com about starting your own webcam stream from your home or temple. I did not check the article and/or the references. Somebody out there who wants to is welcome.
It has been some time now that many temples have been sharing their regular programs in real time with the rest of the internet world, a coplete list of which you can find here: http://www.krishna.com/en/taxonomy/term/18 ( last member of the “club” being Iskcon Montreal, Canada. )
This wonderful service for devotees can now be extended to all temples and preachers with the help of several websites that offer free streaming, both live and on demand (recorded shows). I have tried some of these broadcasting tools and have found them very simple, practical and efficient.
RSS News feed