Yesterday evening I went for nice walk around Little Bennet Regional Park. I had a late start because I had… bathroom issues… let’s just say I was driving there, and I had to turn around because I drank too much coffee. After getting to the park, I was able to walk around for several hours, but the hike bled into the evening which honestly got me a little nervous. I was pretty deep in the woods, but fortunately I had all the gear needed to push through and finish up quickly.
I have this little el-cheapo head lamp that I used, and fortunately I had enough cardio to run through the woods for a couple of miles without a problem. What was once a easy stroll became a evening trail run. As I completed this hike, I really appreciated the amazing low light capabilities of the FX3, but to be honest, I felt like I probably could have done most of the hike with either my phone or a go pro. While the quality of the FX3 is superior, the stabilization of the new go pros are just rock steady.
Whatever it is, I just love the visual quality of the FX3… it has that film-like quality. But it’s without a doubt a pain in the ass to vlog with… and even harder to do a trail run with.
As I create more videos on YouTube, I’m testing out more content and directions. I just published a 30 minute long form video that shows off a Tonal Workout. The goal was to ride the Tonal search terms and give people an authentic look at the Tonal workout before buying. It’s too early to tell if it’s working or not, but it’s definitely not breaking out yet. You can watch that video here.
To experiment further, I’m testing the other end of the spectrum, creating shorter form content about Tonal, more focused on sharing learnings. I just created a video last night about 3 things I wish I knew about the Tonal before installation, which ended up being 2 minutes long after editing. In some ways, I hope that the shorter form content will perform better because it takes less time to plan/edit/render. Less time is also better because most of these tests will probably fail.
When I was working on AddThis, I learned that testing variables meant that you needed to understand what levers you’re “pulling” to trigger different results. In addition, I learned that most test variants were disposable, so it’s best not to waste too much time and test things that are wildly different. I’m hoping to apply this learning to my YouTube videos because on average, it takes at least an hour to plan/edit/render each minute of video.
This is a screenshot from my latest video talking about the Tonal. It has 3 tips and includes on additional tip from one of the viewers. The talking head style videos are the easiest to create because I have a setup that doesn’t require any building/tearing down. The lighting is controlled as well, so I don’t have to worry about messing with the settings. The background/set is pretty bland, but I want to focus on delivering content first, and then I’ll add additional things to the stage for visual interest in the future. I’ll be publishing this content in a couple of weeks, since I have a bunch of other videos scheduled for release.
In addition to testing my own content, I’ve been helping Annie create her YouTube channel as well. She is focused on talking about plants from a overhead view. In her latest video, we experiment with a shorter video (2 minutes) that talks about the availability of the Monstera Peru at Home Depot. I’m hoping that it does well because of the search term and the seasonality of the topic. The goal is to have the video grow organically from search. You can check out her latest video here.
Hopefully one of these tests works. I’m going to keep playing around with YouTube for a couple more weeks and see what happens. I don’t think it’ll turn into a paid career anytime soon, but I’m learning a lot.
As I create new content on YouTube, I realize that I have a lot of skills that I’ve learned over the years to help me test and find an audience. Since I have a little more time on my hands right now (by choice), I’m going to be publishing more videos. While I want the general direction to focus on health and fitness, I think it’s easy to try new things while my channel is still very small.
My latest video is actually a long form video that demonstrates an entire work out on the Tonal Smart Gym. I created another video about Tonal that performed better than average, and it was just me talking to the camera. The funny thing is that I didn’t spend much time on that video. I simply talk about things that would have made the Tonal smarter. You can watch the video here.
This newer video was a little more complex because I used 3 cameras to shoot it. This required me to edit a little more to make sure that the angles captured what I wanted as well as getting the audio right. I had two microphones (one pointing at the Tonal, and another lav mic on me wired to my iPhone). If anything, this took more effort to put together, in addition to taking the thumbnail photo at the top.
I’m not sure if this video will perform well, but I certainly enjoyed making it. I’m going to test out some more content around the Tonal soon, so stay tuned. Until then, check out some of the screenshots below—you can get an idea of the angles I used.
I was avoiding trying to buy a new camera, but I had to do it. While gear doesn’t help make better content, I think it can help you with inspiration and explore. Similar to buying Porsche or Ferrari, it won’t necessarily make you a faster driver… but there’s nothing wrong with owning it and appreciating the sport.
Since getting this setup, I have shot about 5 videos, mostly in a vlog or studio format, and I have had phenomenal results. At first, I was using the stock cinetone 10 bit settings, but I’ve now gone full Slog 3 with cinema grading… and I have been so pleased with the results. The FX3 punches way above its weight class and rivals images that come out of an Arri. I definitely don’t need anything this powerful, but it’s just so much fun to use.
We’ll geek out on the specs a little more in a future post, but I just wanted to express how amazing this machine is. It takes a little work to get the look I want, but I am very satisfied. Now it’s time to focus on story telling.
In the mean time, make sure to watch my latest vlog on YouTube that was shot exclusively on the FX3. It documents a recent walk around Glenstone. These are some screenshots pulled from the video.
I’m not sure what compelled me to do this today, but I wanted to do a quick comparison between my iPhone 7+ and my Nikon D600 to see which one did slow motion better.
Same shot, but from a different angle on the iPhone 7+.
While my Nikon was outfitted with a 35mm f1.4, I had to shoot at 720p in order to get 60fps. While I lost a lot of resolution, it doesn’t look terrible. On the other hand, the iPhone boasts awesome slow motion performance, but the feeling isn’t as cinematic.
James showing off his Vape Nation skills in slow motion video.
Now I’m really curious to see what it’ll look like show with my 58mm. In addition, I think it would be cool to try doing a portrait photo with a light pattern casted from some window blinds… or maybe even play with a prism to get a cool rainbow effect running through the smoke.
More importantly, I’m thinking about using this kind of stuff for b-roll when I make a real video in the future. Anyway, enjoy!
Photos of my bike with an updated Surly touring frame.
I can’t believe it’s been about a year since my bike accident last year. For those of you who don’t know, around this time last year, I got in a nasty bike accident last year which left me with stitches, a concussion, two chipped teeth, and a damaged bike. It was pretty rough because it overlapped the time when I was shutting down Flare and transitioning to a new project. Thankfully, I had insurance and a strong support network here to help me out.
I made a fast recovery… and when I was able to ride again, I made a video that documented my crash as well as an issue I had with my bike. This all happened last year, but I’m finally getting around to sharing this video one year later.
One of my first vlogs on youtube I created last year.
Anyway, everything is okay now. Since then, I get my bike serviced once a month to make sure all the parts are in working order. I also got a full face helmet along with a GoPro to document my daily commute.
By the way, since last year, New Wheel (the company that sold me my e-bike), replaced my damaged frame free of charge. I had to twist their arm, but they stood by their product and rebuilt my bike after the rear wheel dislodging. So, if you’re in the market to get an electric bike in San Francisco, I’d recommend them.
So, I ride super conservatively now and I avoid questionable conditions.
HOWEVER, Google Maps managed to navigate me through a really sketchy path. I would say this felt as sketchy as walking around in the Tenderloin at night. I really wish there was a checkbox on Google Maps that says, “Avoid Sketch AF Routes”. Since I’m sharing some crazy videos, here’s another one…
Sketch AF bike route by Google Maps.
#neveragain
While I love San Francisco, there are times that I’d like to get away from the craziness. I live in Bernal Heights now, and it’s pretty safe/clean… but all you have to do is walk a couple streets down the hill, and it gets seedy.
Okay to lighten things up, here’s one more video of another bike ride. This is a time lapse of a bike ride I did with Patrick from Sausalito back to Bernal Heights.
Timelapse video of a 56 mile bike ride from Sausalito to Bernal Heights.
Hopefully you won’t get too dizzy watching it. It kind of starts smoothing out once we go over the Golden Gate bridge. Next time I’ll see if I can run these kinds of videos through a hyper lapse filter to remove all the jittering. Enjoy!
