Shifting up a gear

Having appeared on a glut of podcasts over the last couple of months, I decided it was time to do something about the video and audio quality. I’d previously been using my phone mounted on a tripod but it struck me that the camera I use for my aviation photography does pretty decent video and it gave me a brilliant idea. I decided I would mount the camera on a tripod and record videos with it.

It turns out, though, that once you go down that road, there is no end to it. First off the bat, in order to record straight to the computer, I needed a long HDMI cable. But then it transpired I needed a video capture card, a microphone and capture software.

But then, I had to ensure I could see myself while filming, so I bought a portable monitor to put on a small trolley next to me. It turns out, though, that picture quality is only really as good as the lighting, so of course, lighting was procured. I was all set. Or so I thought.

I set about recoding a video only to find my wheezy old Dell OptiPlex couldn’t cope with it and the power supply fan was howling like a Vulcan bomber. I was advised I would need a graphics card. So, the graphics card arrived only to discover that the power supply unit on Dells doesn’t have extra power leads, so I had to send it back and get an entirely new computer. It also transpired that the microphone was crap, so I’ve got a specialist podcast mic now.

I was almost ready to go then it transpired that the Nikon kit lens wasn’t optimal for this kind of work and it wasn’t sharp enough. So now I have a 35mm prime lens off Ebay. The only thing still to arrive from Amazon now is a microphone boom arm, not because I particularly need it, but because it looks good.

After all this faffing I basically have an amateur TV studio in my house, and it’s overkill for occasional appearances on other people’s podcasts. So that’s why I’m now going to record my own views for my YouTube channel.

I’ve already recorded three videos, and I’m getting the hang of setting it all up. You’ll now see a marked improvement in video and audio quality. The plan is to do policy talks to augment policy pages on manifestoproject.org - the first of which features above on the subject of NHS reform. Having resolved all the hardware problems, I now have to work on presentational skills and post-production, but it’s all falling into place. I’m going to be filming at least two videos a week, as well as short video blogs for X.

With any luck this might form the basis of a new income stream, which has become especially urgent now that I learn this Substack is subject to age verification thanks to the Online Safety Act. I’ve appealed to Substack, but if they won’t lift the restriction, it may become untenable.

Though all this additional expense was entirely of my own volition, it has put me in a bit of a bind this close to Christmas, so if you would like to donate, I would be most appreciative. My first major long form video will be on the matter of ECHR withdrawal so please subscribe to the channel.