Since we have been hunkered down at home, I figured I would share our streaming setup for the online classes we are currently teaching.
Panasonic LUMIX S1 with 24-105mm F4 L-Mount S Series Lens – This camera is admittedly overkill for streaming online classes. Oh, but it works so well and the video quality is amazing! Most folks do not have the streaming upload speeds that really allow you to take advantage of the video this camera is capable of in the first place. With that in mind, there are many capable DSLRs and mirrorless cameras that will certainly be more expensive than a decent web cam, but loads cheaper than the Panasonic LUMIX S1. And the video quality you get using a decent camera, versus of a web cam, is well worth it in my opinion.
Elgato Cam Link 4K – This little gem allows you to turn most DSLRs and mirrorless cameras into a web cam. The video quality coming out of DSLR and mirrorless cameras generally blow web cam quality out of the water. Most DSLR and mirrorless cameras will work with the Elgato Cam Link 4K as long as the camera has an HDMI out and the output is clean HDMI. The video below provides the details you need to verify whether a camera will work or not.
Saramonic Vmiclink5 Professional 5.8G Wireless lavalier Microphone System – This lavalier system has performed flawlessly but there are cheaper systems on the market that work just as well. This system comes with a two transmitters (mics) and one receiver. The receiver is capable of handling three transmitters (I believe). In most cases, unless you are co-teaching or doing an interview, a single transmitter/receiver is enough. Another solid option is one of the many cardioid condenser mics on the market. We have the Audio-Technica AT2020 in both USB and XLR versions. In fact, we use multiple Audio-Technica AT2020 XLR mics for a our podcast, Tea with Dr.G and Coach C.
Huion Inspiroy WH1409 V2 Wireless Digital Graphic Drawing Tablet – What a sweet little addition to my streaming setup. There are smaller options but this tablet lies on the desk in front of you and provides plenty of real estate to write, draw and interact with slides or a digital white board. It also comes with a series of physical buttons that can programmed to perform specific actions/commands (i.e., scroll up/down, advance to next or previous slide, open a program, etc.).
Fovitec 2500W Fluorescent Lighting Kit – It’s not critical, but lighting helps quite a bit. These kits come in 1, 2 and 3 light kits. We generally have a single softbox on to our left and just slightly in front of us. We have also been using a Neewer Advanced 2.4G 660 LED Video/Photography Light to provide a little backlighting.
Jarvis Standing Desk Bamboo Top – We have been using this desk for a few months and love it. It is 72 inches wide and nearly 3 feet deep, so there is plenty room to load it up with a desktop, a couple of monitors, drawing tablet, etc.
Impact 7 ft HD Wall-Mounted Boom Arm – Mounting a camera to a desk or tripod may result in a bit of shake if you tend to move around a lot when you present. Unless you have a tripod sitting on a concrete floor and/or you can keep your hands off your desk entirely while you present, a wall-mounted boom arm may come in handy. This particular arm reaches up to 7ft from the wall and handles a pretty substantial load. For instance, the Panasonic LUMIX S1 is a heafty camera but the Impact Boom Arm has no trouble holding that beast when extended.
CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR Gaming PC – Similar to the Panasonic LUMIX S1, this desktop is overkill for simple streaming. However, if you want to record and edit 4k videos, you will need something with a little more umph and this desktop provides that.
LG 32MA68HY-P 32-Inch IPS Monitor – We have two of these monitors setup on the Jarvis Standing Desk. These monitors are not high-end, but they are relatively cheap and provide ample visual space. If you do not have a couple of large monitors, you really don’t know what you are missing. With a couple of screens, I can view and draw on slides using the Huion tablet, see the video of everyone in class, field questions from chat and look something up on the web, all without closing and reopening windows.
Zoom and Microsoft Teams – One of is using Zoom and the other Microsoft Teams. Both are pretty useful and excel in different areas.
Ok, I think that is it for now. Happy Zombie Apocalypse!
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