Remote control video mode

bashima

I have a Nikon D3100. I want to take videos of my classes which are 1 hour long. My professor doesn't allow us to turn video recording on except every 10 minutes. Is there any way to start a video without touching the camera, like with a remote? Thanks in advance - this is very urgent.

ohyeahar

I have an ML-L3 remote which works for stills. I've never tried it for video so I'm not sure. I'll test it out tonight when I get home and let you know.

Could you start the video recording at the beginning of class and just leave it running for an hour?

On a separate but semi-related note, would it be more effective for your studies if you just recorded the audio of the lecture rather than video? Most professors allow this and you can just put your recording device on the professor's desk and pick it up when dismissed. All smartphones these days can record audio.

I’m just thinking that video recording all your lectures seems overkill, especially since they’ll probably be of poor quality. You wouldn’t be able to pan your camera around to follow your professor as he paces back and forth. You’ll likely keep the camera stationary on a tripod near the rear of the room so you risk having people trip over it or steal it. Since it’s probably going to be wide angle shot from far away, you may as well just record audio-only.

Now, if your professor allowed his lecture to be video recorded and you can get a dedicated cameraman to operate the camera, then it would be a different story.

bashima

@ohyeahar
Thanks a lot. It's true that it will be much easier if we only have audio but our professors write a lot on the board, and we need the video of the board along with the audio of our teachers. Can you please check if the remote works on your video? If it does then that's perfect. I can't leave my video turned on for 1 hour as the Nikon D3100 has video limit of 10 minutes.

ohyeahar

@bashima
Unfortunately, the ML-L3 doesn’t work for video. Pressing it with the camera in Live-view just captures a still image.

I’ve an idea for you and it’s less battery intensive on your camera. You don’t even need a remote, and you’ll probably be able to read the board better.

- Set your camera on a tripod or anywhere where it’s stabilized. Compose the shot such that it captures the entire board that your professor will write on.
- Manual focus so that the board itself is in focus. If you want, you can let the camera auto-focus first and then just switch to manual focus and don’t touch the focus ring. It should stay focused on the board.
- Shoot at whatever exposure settings you want. I would shoot at a relatively low ISO (i.e., below 1600). Maybe stop down the aperture a bit for maximum sharpness; don’t worry about using a long shutter speed. You might capture your professor as a blur, but it doesn’t matter; you just care about what’s written on the board.
- Set your camera to take a shot periodically for the duration of the lecture. If your professor writes/erases a lot, then set it for every 5 minutes. If not, maybe every 10 minutes will do. This depends on your professor’s tendencies.

At the same time, also record the audio of the lecture with your phone or whatever.
What you end up with is a full audio of the lecture along with a few pictures of the board that has everything your professor has written down.

bruto

I have a D3200, not a D3100, but as far as I know there is no internal setting for time lapse photography, and you'd need an external device to do this automatically.

Am I missing something here? A hidden setting, perhaps?

Assuming the D3100 resembles the D3200 (the instructions are not very informative), when you set the "Remote On Duration" in the menu, it resets the timer to zero with every use of the remote. So, for example, if you set the timer to five minutes, you can take a picture every 4 minutes and 59 seconds forever, and thus an interval timing remote would do the job.

My other question would be whether firing a DSLR periodically would be upsetting to the class. You'd have to put it on Live View to keep the mirror up, and I wonder if the battery would last long enough.

ohyeahar

My bad. Didn't know that there's no time lapse function on the D3xxx cameras. I have a D5100 and just assumed this was a common feature, so take the advice of @bruto.

As far as succeeding in your class, I think your time would be better spent if you just take simplified notes. You don't have to write EVERYTHING that he writes. Pair your notes with an audio recording and it should be more than sufficient.
If you can't write fast enough, surely you can type fast enough, so type it into your laptop. If you don't have a laptop, then use your smartphone. Pecking at your phone's screen is generally frowned upon, so pair it with a Bluetooth keyboard and use that.

I just feel like using your camera for the purpose of taking notes isn't practical. Use your camera to shoot interesting stuff, not lectures. Hehe!