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Camera placement for piano recordings

A project log for Ultimate practice room

Convert the X stand included with most keyboards into a table stand with isolation from the floor.

lion-mclionheadlion mclionhead 06/30/2019 at 08:100 Comments

The lion kingdom has used the traditional narrow depth of field DSLRs like on Guutube, telephoto lenses, normal lenses, cheap camcorders, & action cams.  The best cameras for piano recordings have been fisheye action cams.  Even better are dual action cams for hiding each edit.  

This shot of Josh Wright showed the power of a wide angle lens.  There's a lot more going on than in the traditional telephoto shot.

The first action cam shot lions ever saw in a piano recording was this shot of Denis Matsuev.  They didn't defish it.

The standing position was challenging because the tripods don't go high enough to get eye level shots.  The gopros needed some custom extensions.  Only then, it became clear that the best position was close to the keyboard, negating the tripod extensions. 

The best format is 4k 16:9.  Then defish in software.  The keyboard should be diagonal.  The defishing process widens the keyboard, making the paw movements bigger.  

Lighting is still unsolved.  It might require investing in proper LED panels instead of the CFLs of the last 10 years.

The gopro 4 was useless for landscape photos because it's front focused.  It's better for closeups like this.

The gopro 7 has a wider depth of field.

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