It seems like there are very few churches these days that are not interested in some sort of video production. Whether you're producing promotional videos for events, videos for introducing the weekly sermon topic, or using cameras to stream your service to the Internet, video cameras are becoming ubiquitous.
What many church staff often don't realize, until it's too late, is how widely video cameras can vary from one to another. For example, a camera that produces great results for creating video clips to promote a ministry event, or provide a sermon illustration may not work well for a single-camera shoot of your worship service.
Be warned that an inexpensive camera, which provides great looking posts for social media channels, can look terrible when projected on to large screens in your sanctuary.
Just as vehicles have specific purposes you wouldn't buy a Honda Civic if you needed to haul heavy loads video cameras are also designed with specific purposes in mind.
Important Features
So, if you wish to start capturing your services to provide them via YouTube or Vimeo for your congregation, what should you look for in a video camera?
One of the first considerations is, where do you want the camera to be placed in your room?
Most churches want their cameras as far back in the room as possible to avoid being a distraction or obstructing sight lines.
Optics and Zoom Capabilities
"With your camera located in the back of the room, you need a camera to be powerful enough that the resulting footage still looks good to the viewer," states Bob Caniglia, senior regional manager for eastern North America, Blackmagic Design.
"Optical zoom capabilities," adds Delix Joseph T. Alex, product manager PTZ Camera & IP Networking Systems for Panasonic, "especially at the rear of an audito-rium or sanctuary. It's important to get a clear shot of the stage and a tight enough shot of the talent."
HD, Full HD or 4K?
Image resolution is also an important consideration. "We would recommend at least an HD video camera," states Craig Harper, national manager for Sony Faith, Sony Electronics. "Resolution is the talk of the industry," says Alex, "at a minimum the industry has adopted Full HD (1920x1080) resolution. Now the industry is transitioning into UHD, sometimes known as 4K, which is 3840x2160 pixels."
And while 4K resolution (four times the number of pixels as HD) is becoming the new standard in resolution, whether it makes sense to go to that resolution for your cameras depends on how you intend to use your video.
While 4K cameras may help future-proof you, it may not make a substantial difference in the perceived quality level of a YouTube video. One advantage 4K does give you, however, is in editing service videos before they are uploaded. 4K resolution al-lows your editor to "zoom in" on an image during editing to create a close up with-out losing picture quality.
Low-Light Image Quality
Alex says that there is another feature that one should consider: the need for low-light image quality.
"Low light performance is especially important in a house of worship (HOW) environment, as different lighting sources and set attributes are manipulated regularly to complement the worship service."
Many houses of worship prefer to keep their lighting levels low, and older or low-er-quality cameras often do not perform well in low-light situations.
Make sure the camera you select can capture a quality image in the lighting levels you prefer for your service.
Why Not Consumer Cameras?
So that's wrong with just going to your local big-box store and plunking down a few hundred dollars for one of their consumer camera offerings?
"You can certainly get a camera for a low price that will meet your needs," says Harper, "but image quality, performance and range of features diminishes.
With higher-end cameras, you have flexible options and functionality, offering the ability to tailor the look of your production. Some of the benefits and features of these often more expensive cameras are options like; interchangeable lenses allowing you to achieve a range of looks and angles based on the requirements of your shoot, higher megapixels for higher quality imagery, a range of sensor sizes, the ability for high-speed shooting and ports or inputs to accommodate accessories like audio and lights."
Alex concurs with this thinking. "The requirements for a camera in a HOW environment, as we've discussed, typically are not found in a cheap' camera. Resolution and automatic capabilities may be there. But, what will be especially evident between a low-end camera and a high-end or high-performance camera, will be seen in the zoom capability, low light performance and interfacing.
These requirements are especially important for IMAG (image magnification) and situations where a live switcher come into play. Another important aspect is output delay. Many low-end cameras will have many frames of delay on the output interface causing a lip-sync issue between audio and video in IMAG situations where the live image is being displayed in the sanctuary."
The Needs of Streaming
If you are going to stream your worship service live to the web using one camera, there are a few additional aspects one should consider.
Both Alex and Harper state that Panasonic and Sony offer cameras that can provide a streaming output. This can be sent directly to the internet without the need for additional streaming equipment. "While an external live streaming device can be used with any camera," says Alex, "when you weigh in the additional cost, internal video streaming capabilities of video (with synchronized audio) is very attractive."
What About Multiple Cameras?
If you want to take your video capture or broadcast up to the next level, using multiple cameras and switching between camera shots throughout the service is a must. This brings additional camera requirements into play.
"Your cameras will need to integrate seamlessly with your production switchers, which for current technology means the ability to output in either SDI or HDMI," states Caniglia. SDI is the preferred option. "Cameras also need to be easy to learn and operate, as frequently the people who are going to run them will be volunteers." Operating a video camera in a multi-camera environment is fast-paced work; being able to zoom in, focus, pan and tilt quickly and easily is a must. This typically means the camera should be equipped with a "studio kit", which brings physical controls for the camera lens back to the arms of the tripod for fast access.
"The ability to shade' or color-correct' a camera remotely from a video control room is very important," adds Alex. "Otherwise, you'll have cameras that color and picture-wise look very different. When switching between multiple cameras, you want to make sure that the image characteristics between the different cameras are as close as possible." Obvious differences can create a very distracting video presentation.
"By investing in these types of features [such as 4K resolution] churches can effectively help future-proof their workflows and save costs over time," summarizes Caniglia. "Instead of having to replace or upgrade products again in a few years, they will benefit from the flexibility of having SD, HD and Ultra HD workflows at their fingertips, now.
TERMINOLOGY
- PTZ camera: A pan-tilt-zoom camera that is capable of remote directional and zoom control.
- Resolution: The number of pixels, or dots, in the horizontal and vertical direction.
- SDI: A type of professional connection to transfer video signals from the video camera to other video equipment, such as a video switcher.
- HDMI: A type of consumer-level video connection to transfer video signals from the video camera to other video equipment, such as a video switcher.
- 4K: A video resolution that has four times the number of pixels as HD.
- Ultra HD: Another name for 4K.
- Streaming: The process of transmitting video over the internet.