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Recording dances in a very small space?
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If you look at my drawing (never said I was an artist):
The distance from Subject (a pole in this case) to the mirror is “A”
The distance from Image to mirror is “B”
The distance from Camera to Mirror is “C”When taking a picture to the mirror, you add A & C.
You do not add all three (A,B & C) as someone suggested in a private email. The mirror is simply providing a Copy of the image going to the Subject as if you were standing where the mirror is.In the case of what Runemist34 provided if I understand correctly,
A = 4
B = 4
C = 5 (if she had a usable mirror)So the actual Distance to Subject might be (A)4 + (C)5 = 9′
Move the camera further from the mirror will not change A or B for her but the total
(A)4 + (C)9 = 13′
If the camera is closer to the mirror it could be:
(A)4 + (C)3 = 7′Of course you must still be able to get your camera to capture the entire image in the mirror whether from distance or camera. If the camera is too close to the mirror it still may not help.
So you could get an increase from using a mirror. It is not an arbitrary doubling, multiplier or percentage or magic. Depends on actual distances. A simple bit of measuring and math will give you an exact figure.The issue she and a lot of people deal with, has to do with the camera and lens.
Consumer Video cameras are geared towards distance. Video is about action & movement (sports, animals) and expected that will be some distance away. That is why nearly all give zoom capability and often the zoom is on & advanced by default. You need to manually “zoom out” to get subjects that are closer. The lenses usually are zoom or telephoto although their size starts as a normal or Prime lens.
Consumer still cameras and even mobile/cell phone cameras are primarily geared for still photography. The main consumer use is close portrait (yes and selfies!) or objects which tend to be closer Distance to Subject. They have limited zoom (and often no optical zoom) capability to better focus on near subjects. The other main use here is landscapes which are very wide. The lower end cameras & phones often have a wide-angle lens, smaller than prime.
For the more technology minded, yes the digital image sensor also affects this.
Could get further into Focal Length, Depth of Field and more but it requires even more math.
Hope this helps.
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WebJunk, I’m not ignoring your reply but have not read it yet. Thing is that I had also started with some drawings and I don’t wanna read what you said before I’m done. Right now I’m so limited with time, but I’ll get back to this:)
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Lina. Sorry. Time is up.
You don’t get paid for the post (I don’t get paid either even with my pretty yellow Star) or win the trip to Barbados. -
Okay, so… my takeaway from this is basically I’m going to have to wait till I have a bigger space, lots of money for a camera with a different lens, or totally rearrange my room (which may or may not be possible or conducive to having enough space to pole at all) in order to actually record my dancing in a way that shows all of me.
I mean, I love hearing the science and stuff behind light bouncing and cameras, but… I had hoped there was going to be a bit more for suggestions on this one. I know there have been a few polers on here with very small spaces, and they do get videos out. -
I have kind of a small space, and currently I use a go pro so it’s less of an issue because it’s got such a wide lens, but before I got my go pro, I just had a basic Canon digital camera without any fancy lens or anything. I place my camera outside of my doorway, on top of a chair, and film from there (even with the go pro). It’s a little inconvenient to have to bring my chair into the hallway to set it up, and I also can’t close the door so my cats are always in the way, but it works well enough. I should add that my pole is close to the centre of the small room so that when you look through the doorway, the pole winds up being in the middle of the shot.
When I was using my Canon camera, it would often be a bit of a trade off – I’d have to think about if I would be focusing my dancing or training on the floor, or standing height, or higher, and then adjust the camera for that. Still would sometimes cut off parts of the shot, but it worked enough to still be a helpful training tool. -
Runemist34
Have you tried a webcam or can you use one? Almost all of them have a wide-angle lens. -
Thanks Lola!
Webjunk, I do have a webcam, but I haven’t seen much of a difference with angles and such. Also, my webcam is tethered to my computer when I want to use it… and when I dance, my computer is tethered to my stereo, which is in my closet (and one of the doors must be closed for me to have space to dance), so trying to figure a way of getting my webcam able to see me dance is tricky! That’s why I have been trying to use the Canon.
Eventually, I hope to have my Airport express hooked up to my stereo, so my computer doesn’t need to be connected to it directly (thus freeing myself of having to choose between music and a possible video I’d like to watch, such as one of Veena’s lessons or something). -
Sounds like you have multiple things going on.
Your stereo is hooked up to your computer which is hooked up to your Airport Express (I guess for Internet connection)? Does your computer not have wifi?
Also note that most webcams you have to zoom out (for full wide-angle) from the computer’s software. Have you done that? Almost any webcam should give you a much wider field than your Canon camcorder.
And so I understand completely, what is in the closet? -
WebJunk, I presume poor analysis of optics wouldn’t win me the trip to Barbados anyway? Or was that the “consolation-prize” 😉
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Maybe your prize should be a trip to the Abba Museum 🙂
I don’t think Barbados is a good prize regardless. Don’t remember anyone on here from there. But several people are from the Cayman Islands and there are pole studios there. Might be a great Winter trip.
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Webjunk:
The stereo, with speakers, is in the closet. Airport Extreme right now isn’t doing anything, but hopefully soon it will eventually be plugged in with the stereo, so I can access it remotely through the Wifi of my laptop.
I was using my webcam previously to record some other things I was doing online, but it wasn’t oriented to the pole, so I didn’t see what the wide-ness of the angle was for that.
Mostly on that one, the closet is very close to my pole (like, right next to it- maybe a couple feet) and, with current setup, very short cable from stereo goes to laptop, and slightly longer cable from laptop obviously goes to webcam… but with it all being so close to my pole, I don’t get a very good angle or distance for the pole.
As I said, the furthest distance I can get from my pole is across the bed, but… then there’s a bed in the way. My bedroom is the largest room in my house… but there is quite a bit of furniture! -
Is it possible to move the laptop and webcam (just for testing) to the best spot in the room? If so remember you will need to use the webcam software to zoom out. If that should work, there are USB extension cables. Note: You can go a max of about 16 feet in total USB length.
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