Which small upgrade should come first?

[tal.orbach]

That's just how little lighting you need to get a decent image with low iso. Adding lights overhead for a rim light (shoulders, top of grass), background (assuming you've got something nice behind you - hang a textured paper, wallpaper, etc) - can create even more depth and 3D feel.

Was this taken with your phone?
But also, didn't we say shutter speed below 1/125 are not a good choice?

[babygdav]

Every sample taken on a LG G6.

I don't have brighter bulbs for the desk lamps, but you can tell using two lower wattage bulbs, you can already film at the upper end of acceptability ( iso 200 1/60 th ). Prefer a bit more light to get that to uso 100 1/125, but not too difficult for you to do. Two desk lamps, maybe 60-100 watt bulbs.

These will be close to you, so you may wish to use cooler led/cfl bulbs to reduce the heat.

[tal.orbach]

I'll give your advice a few tries later today, maybe tomorrow. I'll let you know how it went.

[tal.orbach]

Stutter.
Did you use manual video mode?
Set the shutter speed to 1/125 or higher (e.g. 1/200 etc).
You'll need enough light for this.
Set the iso as low as possible for a good image (e.g. Iso 100 target than iso 1000).

Indoors, if you don't use manual video mode with a manual shutter speed, the camera can use a very slow shutter speed to compensate for the lack of enough light - stuttering looking video.

Also, are you recording to internal memory or sd card.
If sd card, their microsd card must be fast enough to handle the 4k write speeds. Typically it'll say UHS-1 OR U1 or better (U3, V10, etc). If the card is too slow, capture problems.

So, apparently the stutter was my PC's fault. The poor thing couldn't handle the 4K.
Now, I read in a few places, the rule for shutter speed in video (which is different from stills, in this regard) is that it should always be double the frame rate (i.e. 1/60, since my phone can only do 30 fps in 4K). This kinda conflict with your advice.
I'm attaching a couple of samples of what I was able to do with 4K and playing a bit more with the lighting. I think it's actually much better. Of course - any tips for improving it even more are always welcome.

[babygdav]

Typically, for video (E.g. News room) of talking heads, one would pick a desired iso (let's say 100) and bring the lights up to 1/125 brightness.

This, across video and film cameras, generally produces a very nice picture / image quality.

...

The 1/iso rule. So iso 1/100 is close enough to use 1/125.

....

Now, to get a "film" look, you'd https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Jum6TrC1o and use 24fps mode.

But, for talking heads, you can see blur of your heads moves too fast, and in the mouth. Nobody on YouTube, etc, cares about the image blur of film look for talking heads, so we ignore the 1/2 x iso (or 180 degree shutter angle rule here). E.g. Iso 100 would use a 1/50 shutter speed.

...

Interestingly, for motion, shutter speed controls shaky images.
This rule to stop unintentional picture blur says use 1/(focal length x 2). So if you're filming with a 100 mm lens, you'd set shutter to 1/200 or faster to prevent image blur when hand holding the camera.

.....

On electronic cameras, there is no physical rotating film shutter, so the speed mostly affects blur of moving objects in the image and little else. Feel free to go crazy and Set it up high if you've got lots of light.

E.g. Iso 50 1/800 isn't crazy for bright outdoors.

[babygdav]

The shutter speed of the 1/60 video is a touch too bright (skin on face a very little too bright, other colors blown out a touch). The 1/125 a bit too dark, but the colors are better saturated.

Adjust a touch - shutter, iso, to bring the exposure between these two samples. (E.g. Try 1/100 or 1/80)

Try to get your head located higher (up towards the top of the frame). Stand on a chair/box if need be.
Your head is so low, feels like you're sinking in the picture.
Eye level should be at/above the middle of the frame.

(No need to move the camera - the shot looks great, but like short Tom Cruise, simply need to move the eye level up in the image.)

Nice composition/angle - doesn't look "boring" and the eye enjoys looking at the art on the wall, the plastic figure on the opposite side.

...

Overall lighting is good for the person and background.
Nice, colorful, bright.

(Yes, you can always go crazy and light it like a fashion model magazine, but this isn't a "professional" shoot and doesn't need all the lighting to get that look. )

At most, it would be gentle additions (and I wouldn't even bother).
E.g. A touch of front bounce or fill to soften the shadows around the neck just a touch.
E.g. A very focused spot at low intensity just to shape the shoulders more. (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fg9VBLuzHGI 4:18)
BUT, keep in mind, now it's artistic choices in the look, not bad vs great. You're working with a very good image and slight changes merely alter the look (E.g. More like a video for a museum right now. Do you want it to look more like a news broadcast? Model shoot? Dramatic movie?)

For a talking heads, it's on the very nice end.

...

Playing 4k.
Try mphc or vlc.
Both generally can do something with 4k on older machines without much stuttering. But I suppose if the pc is simply too old, oh well. Convert to 2k...

...

Do remember you can adjust the gain and limiter by clicking the hd audio icon.

Try not to clip the audio (go above 0dB). A voice that records at -6 to -3 dB range is pretty good (adjust the gain up or down so when you talk, the meters average between those two numbers).

Limiter usually isn't needed, but can be helpful if you suddenly laugh or talk loud to keep the audio under 0dB.

[tal.orbach]

Interesting. I'm not sure that I get all of it, but I'll explore a bit more.

[tal.orbach]

The shutter speed of the 1/60 video is a touch too bright (skin on face a very little too bright, other colors blown out a touch). The 1/125 a bit too dark, but the colors are better saturated.

Adjust a touch - shutter, iso, to bring the exposure between these two samples. (E.g. Try 1/100 or 1/80)

I'll try to play with it a bit more to see what happens

Try to get your head located higher (up towards the top of the frame). Stand on a chair/box if need be.
Your head is so low, feels like you're sinking in the picture.
Eye level should be at/above the middle of the frame.

(No need to move the camera - the shot looks great, but like short Tom Cruise, simply need to move the eye level up in the image.)

Nice composition/angle - doesn't look "boring" and the eye enjoys looking at the art on the wall, the plastic figure on the opposite side.

I actually do want the frame a bit lower - this will put my head in the right place and hide the not-so-nice lamp behind me. (in these samples, I didn't really tweek the composition at all.)

Overall lighting is good for the person and background.
Nice, colorful, bright.

Thank you very much!

(Yes, you can always go crazy and light it like a fashion model magazine, but this isn't a "professional" shoot and doesn't need all the lighting to get that look. )

At most, it would be gentle additions (and I wouldn't even bother).
E.g. A touch of front bounce or fill to soften the shadows around the neck just a touch.
E.g. A very focused spot at low intensity just to shape the shoulders more. (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fg9VBLuzHGI 4:18)
BUT, keep in mind, now it's artistic choices in the look, not bad vs great. You're working with a very good image and slight changes merely alter the look (E.g. More like a video for a museum right now. Do you want it to look more like a news broadcast? Model shoot? Dramatic movie?)

For a talking heads, it's on the very nice end.

I'll give those a go, but yeah... I don't think I'd let that hold me back.

Playing 4k.
Try mphc or vlc.
Both generally can do something with 4k on older machines without much stuttering. But I suppose if the pc is simply too old, oh well. Convert to 2k...

It's simpler than that - I'm editing on another computer anyway, that has a dedicated GPU, so I'll just connect my phone to that one and do all of the work directly on it.

Do remember you can adjust the gain and limiter by clicking the hd audio icon.

Try not to clip the audio (go above 0dB). A voice that records at -6 to -3 dB range is pretty good (adjust the gain up or down so when you talk, the meters average between those two numbers).

Limiter usually isn't needed, but can be helpful if you suddenly laugh or talk loud to keep the audio under 0dB.

Audio here is shit, but that's fine. This isn't my actual audio. When I record actual videos I do use an external mic that gives pretty decent quality. Again, because this sample was only meant to test lighting and image quality, I didn't bother with audio.

[babygdav]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lt9v8eDKx7k
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gAAOfZA1h1Y
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ2XVMggIfk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wGOmon3gS00

Fyi. Alternatives to recording directly into the phone with a good external mic - eliminates the audio syncing required when using an external recorder (if you or someone reading this thread happens to be using an external recorder).

[tal.orbach]

Thanks. I'm recording to my PC, and syncing with DaVinci Resolve is a breeze. Actually, the only challenge therein is when my phone does not sync its own audio to the video.

[tal.orbach]

Also, I tried connecting my ATR2100 directly to my phone, both with a USB cable and with an XLR -> TRRS. Both options worked, but seemed to produce inferior sound, compared to recording to the PC.