A few years ago a TV show invited me to come by their set and take a look at their video projection system.  The producers complained that the projector looked dingy and they feared they would need to spend $10,000 to $100,000 to solve the problem, replacing the whole projector,…

Things I Like: Nearly every day I use pCAM, a iOS app developed by Hollywood 1st AC David Eubanks.  I started using pCAM way back in 1998 on the Palm Pilot platform.  Eventually I traded in my flip-phone for an Android but would carry around a iPod Touch around just so I could…

Or… “Things you need to know before buying your first camera.” I’ve heard it said that some churches purchase three PA systems before they get the right one for their needs and space. The way the story goes… the first PA system is purchased when a congregation builds a new…

Humheads (sound/audio engineers), Sparkies (electrics), Rug Tuggers (convention expo workers), Vidiots (video engineers), Nail Benders (carpenters), Laundry Lepers (wardrobe department), Squints (lighting) … One thing is for sure, people in the technical arts trade have always found endearing terms to describe their colleagues. The terms are meant to poke fun at our associates with, well, a wee…

Many churches doing Imag on a budget turn to the Blackmagic Design’s ATEM as their switcher of choice. It’s an affordable option with a great deal of features. The Journey We purchased ours almost 4 years ago for use in an all-volunteer, 5-camera Imag setting.  We launched Imag after being…

It’s 8:55 AM and your church service is about to start. Before your livestream begins your AVL team’s camera operator zooms in and frames a the tightest shot he can framing your worship leader’s microphone grill and adjusts the focus barrel on his lens. The camera operator then zooms out…

Can you imagine having to listen to the same person for 5 hours? Even if it was a great speaker – that’s a long time. Now let’s make things worse by starting that listening session early on a Sunday morning. Ugh! But, that’s exactly what some of our tech people…

Even people that work with video cameras all the time are often confused with the function and the interdependent relationships iris, f-stops, aperture, depth of field, gain, shutter and lighting levels have on each other. In this post I will attempt to unravel these terms and discuss how their functions…

Things I Like: Aside from the Bible, if I could make only one book required reading for those involved in church tech and performing arts it would be Francis A. Schaeffer’s Art and the Bible. Schaeffer offers “a Christian perspective” on the arts.  Not just arts within the confines of…

One of the questions I often see posted from Church Tech people, particularly regarding new video camera purchases or recommendations is, “I am thinking about getting new I-Mag or sermon capture cameras for my church auditorium. Will the (insert: large sensor camera model du jour) work well in this application?”…