New Camera and Scenery Turntable

Despite my best efforts to remain a luddite, the universe has finally forced me to join the 21st century and get a smart phone. My old camera had terrible resolution, with dead pixels all over the place, and since wireless companies are disabling 3G cell towers, my old phone was becoming noticeably less functional by the day. So, I got a new smart phone that actually works, with a camera that's light years better than my Olympus C-4000 Camedia. (Rest in peace, old friend.)

I can also shoot proper video now, and one thing I've wanted to do for a while is film rotations of my scenery and models. I picked up this turntable at the hobby shop:

 

 

And I built a stage for filming. This was made from two sheets of black foam core board, with strips cut off of the ends and hot-glued in place to form the bottom supports.

 

I cut a disc out of the center, and measured the supports so the underside of the stage is slightly shorter than the height of the turntable.

 

 

When placed on top of the turntable, the disc sits slightly higher than the floor of the stage. I've kept everything loose so I can add card spacers to give the disc a little more height and ensure that larger scenery spins smoothly and doesn't drag on the stage.

 

 

As an added bonus, the stage is exactly the right size for my cutting mat, so I can use this as a backdrop for taking step-by-step photos. Once I have the kinks and editing worked out, I'll be able to make tutorial videos, too, something that's long overdue.

 

 

Here's my first foray into video production. I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

'Til next time!