That was wonderful video and seeing places I have visited. Your expertise as a videographer was perfect. A friend and his wife took this very same cruise back in the summer, but not sure if it was this ship. I shall tell him about your video.
Hi Dennis, I watch a LOT of travel videos. And even make some myself. You are clearly a skilled videographer and editor. This video stands out as one of the best videos I have seen period! The quality of content is amazing and something to aspire to. I will be watching this again and again to learn more. Your panning and tilting is nice and slow and smooth. I find it hard to do this when there is so much happening on a trip like this. I keep having to tell myself to slow down, take my time and sometimes just wait for the right moment. Anyway this is beautiful to watch. I appreciate your equipment list. I use an iPhone 11, GoPro 10 and DJI Pocket 2. Pete
Hi Pete, Thanks for the very positive feedback. Makes the six weeks of editing worthwhile. I have a friend that blogs and he was very interested in how I did it, so I’ll just copy and paste that response to this email. I retired in 2013 and at that time was a one person photography/video department for a large corporation. Originally I was an English major and because I’ve always been somewhat dyslectic, I became a good story teller and trainer because I know how difficult learning was for me. Just a few other facts that I didn’t mention to my friend below. By the way, if you type Dennis Hellawell into the RUclips search, you’ll be able to see a shorter video of my first river cruise on the lower Danube. That was all still photos that was edited in Apple Keynote. That trip was in October 22023. - Shoot lots of stills and video - If it’s a really great situation I shoot multiple still and video takes. - Especially with panning, I have often panned too quickly. You can speed up a too slow pan but slowing down a fast pan almost never works. What helps me, I try not to pan by moving my arms. I hold the camera, both hands, close to my body and do all my rotating from my hips. - Be ruthless in your editing. Even if you really put a lot of effort into getting a shot, if it’s not really good, don’t use it. Obviously there are exceptions to this but not many. - It’s really challenging organizing so many photos and video clips. I had a separate folder for each day. - When adding music, be sure the end of the music ends when the clip ends. People really don’t notice when you fade the music up at the beginning. This video was a learning experience. That certainly slowed me down but subsequent videos will move along faster. And I was learning better shooting techniques. One thing I hadn’t planned on but I shot and edited in HD, 1920 x 1080. Then I used Topaz Video AI to upscale to 4K. The final output was 28 gigs and it took about 7 hours to upload to RUclips, and I have an excellent wifi connection. Also the Topaz is very processor intensive. My MacBook Pro started to over heat immediately. I got and $80 laptop cooling unit on Amazon and that fixed the problem but the encoding was still time consuming. As I had hardly edited any video since I retired in 2013, I had to relearn a lot of the editing process. I used Apple Final Cut Pro. I edited on a 2017 27” iMac but I might soon upgrade to a M2 Mac mini Pro. I also used my MacBook Pro for most of the Topaz processing. I still have a lot of high end photography gear but after my 1st river cruise on the lower Danube a year ago, I made some dramatic changes. At 76 my health is good and I have 20/20 vision with my glasses but viewing things through a small view finder, or off the barely visible LCD screen in bright light, I struggled. Almost everyone else on the cruise were using their cell phones. I could see their viewing screens from several feet away better than I could see my own camera’s. I did some research and even though I knew cell phones were becoming better all the time, I discovered that the new iPhone 15 Pro was an incredible piece of equipment, both for still photography and video. Very stable for hand holding, very good in low light, software has many professional features and three lenses. The only thing it really lacks is a long telephoto functions which I didn’t need unless I was going to shoot wildlife. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is essentially the same camera but larger and bulkier. Optical performance is the same. There’s a new iPhone 16 but reviews are ho hum. The good news is that the 15 Pro will be cheaper. So 90% of the trip was shot on the 15 Pro. I put it on a lanyard and it was always right there around my neck and in my shirt pocket. No lens swapping. The second new piece of equipment that I used was the Insta360 X3. It’s a 360˚ camera that when used on a black selfie stick the camera erases the stick. I carried two sticks one that folds to 9 inches and extends to 45”. A second is 14 inches and extends to 9.8’. Because the lenses are super wide angle, when it’s on the tall stick especially, it really looks like a drone shot. The sticks mostly disappear but you’ll often see the shadows. (I do have two drones but as you know every country has different rules and regs and I didn’t even bring them along). I since upgraded to the Insta360 X4 because the higher resolution allows you to zoom in on undistorted images. The Insta cameras come with free editing software for a cell phone, tablet and/or my desktop computer. There is definitely a learning curve to achieve good results but the potential results are great. Obviously I wouldn’t use it for everything but it provides some great advantages and unique perspectives. There are tons of RUclips tutorials. This one is pretty good for getting a sense of the possibilities: ruclips.net/video/Wfn-fzwQwAc/видео.html The really great thing is that all the equipment fits into a small over the shoulder sling bag and the weight is minimal compared to conventional equipment. I always shoot at maximum resolution on the iPhone and Insta360 camera so you need large SD cards. Both Final Cut Pro and the Insta 360 Studio software has royalty free music and with one exception I got all the music from the software. I also got a small number of copyright free images from Wikimedia Commons. I’m happy with the results but with everything I learned, I’ll do even better on my next trip. Will start researching for my next trip now. Hope this wasn’t too much information. Dennis Hellawell
@@dennishellawell5541 Hello again Dennis. My positive feedback was well deserved! You have confirmed my suspicion that you have an audio visual background. I'm sure it was quite a challenge to catch up with and learn the latest technology. No, it wasn't too much information at all, very interesting details to learn. I especially liked your tip to slow pan with the hip. Tried it today and it works like a charm! Six weeks editing? Oh boy I think I have put in a lot of time if I spend four hours! Have to say though the extra effort shows clearly in your video. It is, however, taking me longer as I learn more and incorporate more of the cababilities of the software. I currently use the free CapCut (it has never crashed) and may upgrade to the paid version. I always film in 4K now and am seriously impressed with your upscaled to 4K video. Sounds like a huge amount of processing to do that but I have to say your video looks so good on my 65 inch TV! Like you, I have the traditional DSLR Canon T3i, and a pocket Canon point and shoot but after seeing side by comparisons with my iphone 11 pictures I transitioned to 95% iphone. I also find the screens so much better for framing, taking the pics or filming and the results are always superior to the camers. As you said, a lot smaller and lighter too! I like your neck lanyard idea for the phone, I currently use a small wrist strap which gives me a lot more confidence about dropping or losing the phone during tricky filming conditions. We cruise a lot! I'm not ready for the 360 yet because I heard editing was tough and I haven't exactly mastered regular editing yet. I originally posted my videos on RUclips so that I could watch them easily and conveniently on my big TV in the living room. But then it got to be more than that if some got thousands of views and some dozens of views. It got to be a challenge. My personal favorite videos have some of the fewest views and I have no idea why. When editing I am often torn between including less interesting clips because that was OUR trip and my primary motivation for posting and what I think will be more interesting for random viewers. I watched your riverboat slideshow and it is good but have to say it lacks the pristine quality images of the iphone, assume it was regular camera gear? Also it made me realise that still shots are good for that special sunset but video makes for much more compelling viewing. 4K uses a lot of the phone memory so I use a small lightning to SD card reader to transfer the files to a micro SD memory card. One last thing I am from the UK and curious about the construction project timelapse? I see it is in Wales and the construction company is from the UK. I am living in in Round Rock Texas, just outside Austin. Are you in Oregon? Regards Pete
@@pjg54g Hi Pete, First of all my normal email is: dennish1@mindspring.com if you want to get in touch. Constantly checking RUclips comments is not convenient. Obviously I didn’t work eight hours a day for six weeks. Probably ⅓ of the production time was relearning software and techniques on RUclips. Maybe ½ of the time was pre-production prep. Every still was edited in Photoshop. All the audio was improved and cleaned up in Final Cut. I was amazed at how effective Final Cut is at correcting poor exposure and low saturation and I didn’t even shoot in ProRes. I also did quite a few re-edits of my 360˚ files. I’ll probably shoot more in ProRes in the future, I’ll experiment. I don’t expect I’ll shoot in 4K though because of file sizes and processing time and in light of how good Topaz Video AI is at upscaling. I hear what you’re saying about including less than top quality footage for the sake of accuracy and/or completeness. But for my 14 day cruise a lot of stuff had to be cut to make the final time manageable. I figure might as well cut the less interesting, lower quality stuff. It still turned out longer that I would have liked, but considering it was a two week trip, it still only averages about 5 minutes per day. Sometimes one has to come up with creative workarounds. I needed dramatic shots to introduce each day. I found most of them on Wiki Commons and credited it on the intro screen. Likewise the short clip in Schönbrunn Palace segment which I got permission from Lindsay Holiday to use about Maria Theresa. An excellent, fascinating detail that fit perfectly. I’m lucky I came across it. I’m past the point of everything having to be my work. I only care about the finished product. Also the fairly impossible task of working alone, not being able to be everywhere at once and being a one person production team on your vacation. You just have to do your best. After this trip I’ll probably be a little more effective with my shooting with this experience under my belt. The lanyard and shirt pocket is especially good because you always have both hands free when you’re not shooting. You might have to get some shirts with large double pockets. Do some research on RUclips about the Apple 15 Pro. I think most people feel that this version has the breakthrough advancements for pros or serious enthusiasts. Also about editing Insta 360. At the beginning it’s challenging but fun. It is a little confusing at first because it is shooting everything at once. Although the phone editing app has an automatic mode, which can product some pretty good stuff, playing with editing in 360 studio a bit and you’ll get the hang of it. While you’re shooting, do not rotate the camera. You do that later in editing. Just to practice, advance the play head every 5 or 8 seconds, rotate the image 360˚ and decide what direction is most interesting. Set the direction with a keyframe and move the play head another 5 or 8 seconds and repeat. Plus you can easily do several versions. Lastly, I don’t know anything about that time lapse in the UK. It’s not my stuff. Unless there is another person with the same name and spelling. Actually my last name is English. When I google it there is a Linkedin hit for a Dennis Hellawell in Worchester, GB. Must be the guy. Regarding low viewership for some of your favorite posts … send me links to a high and low viewership post and I’ll see if anything pops out. Anyway, stay well, Dennis Hellawell, Sutherlin, Oregon
I’m sailing in April on the Luna in a single cabin too. Thanks for sharing. Was your sailing full? Some have said if not sailing full the upgraded at check in. I’ll be happy either way.
Actually I think we only had 122 passengers. I didn't try to upgrade. Actually I didn't really find out how many guests were on the cruise till a couple of days into the trip. I had them disconnect the mini bar and slide it into the corner so I'd have a little desk to set up my lap. Have a great trip. If you type my name into the RUclips prompt you can watch my trip on the lower Danube on an Avalon ship. Look for the picture of the cat on the roof.
I think I booked about five months out. A rep at vacationstogo.com found me the single. Also made great flight reservations. Three flights round trip from Portand, Oregon. Have a good trip.
Please revisit the spelling and punctuation of your many titles. You lose a lot of credibility when “it’s” should be spelled “its” in most cases, plus some word misspelling. I really enjoy the style of this video, but I cringe at slides containing an error.
Thank you. I do appreciate your feedback. My friend and neighbor brought the it’s versus its to my attention. I must admit I’ve never been a good proofreader, but I did try hard to avoid such errors including the umlauts in German spellings. I did just go through the show again but couldn’t find any other misspellings. I wouldn’t be annoyed if you pointed them out to me - obviously, not your job. Unfortunately, because of technical issues, producing and uploading video, it would probably take ten or twelve hours to update the correction(s). The finished video was over 28 gigabytes and it took seven or eight hours just to upload the video to RUclips. That notwithstanding, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that my first public RUclips posting has garnered almost 5,000 views in one month. I’m a single, 76 year old, retired veteran, so I don’t think I have much “credibility” to be concerned about. I do appreciate your concerns though, accuracy and attention to detail is a good thing. Thank you. For me, the thought of the wrong person becoming our next President is what I would consider to be cringeworthy. By the way, it’s ”misspellings”, not misspelling” in your note. I guess we all make mistakes. Again, thank you, Dennis Hellawell, Sutherlin, OR
Great Video! We are travelling on Luna Sep 2026 🥰 We can't wait
Thanks for the kind words. You'll have a great time. Wish you didn't have to wait so long though.
Beautiful video. Thank you for showing the trip, and not just the food you ate every meal like others on utube
Thanks for the positive feedback. I wanted to try to convey what the cruise is actually like.
That was wonderful video and seeing places I have visited. Your expertise as a videographer was perfect. A friend and his wife took this very same cruise back in the summer, but not sure if it was this ship. I shall tell him about your video.
Thank you Phil. Always nice to get such a nice compliment. Happy travels!
Hi Dennis, I watch a LOT of travel videos. And even make some myself. You are clearly a skilled videographer and editor. This video stands out as one of the best videos I have seen period! The quality of content is amazing and something to aspire to. I will be watching this again and again to learn more. Your panning and tilting is nice and slow and smooth. I find it hard to do this when there is so much happening on a trip like this. I keep having to tell myself to slow down, take my time and sometimes just wait for the right moment. Anyway this is beautiful to watch. I appreciate your equipment list. I use an iPhone 11, GoPro 10 and DJI Pocket 2. Pete
Hi Pete,
Thanks for the very positive feedback. Makes the six weeks of editing worthwhile. I have a friend that blogs and he was very interested in how I did it, so I’ll just copy and paste that response to this email. I retired in 2013 and at that time was a one person photography/video department for a large corporation. Originally I was an English major and because I’ve always been somewhat dyslectic, I became a good story teller and trainer because I know how difficult learning was for me.
Just a few other facts that I didn’t mention to my friend below. By the way, if you type Dennis Hellawell into the RUclips search, you’ll be able to see a shorter video of my first river cruise on the lower Danube. That was all still photos that was edited in Apple Keynote. That trip was in October 22023.
- Shoot lots of stills and video - If it’s a really great situation I shoot multiple still and video takes.
- Especially with panning, I have often panned too quickly. You can speed up a too slow pan but slowing down a fast pan almost never works. What helps me, I try not to pan by moving my arms. I hold the camera, both hands, close to my body and do all my rotating from my hips.
- Be ruthless in your editing. Even if you really put a lot of effort into getting a shot, if it’s not really good, don’t use it. Obviously there are exceptions to this but not many.
- It’s really challenging organizing so many photos and video clips. I had a separate folder for each day.
- When adding music, be sure the end of the music ends when the clip ends. People really don’t notice when you fade the music up at the beginning.
This video was a learning experience. That certainly slowed me down but subsequent videos will move along faster. And I was learning better shooting techniques.
One thing I hadn’t planned on but I shot and edited in HD, 1920 x 1080. Then I used Topaz Video AI to upscale to 4K. The final output was 28 gigs and it took about 7 hours to upload to RUclips, and I have an excellent wifi connection. Also the Topaz is very processor intensive. My MacBook Pro started to over heat immediately. I got and $80 laptop cooling unit on Amazon and that fixed the problem but the encoding was still time consuming.
As I had hardly edited any video since I retired in 2013, I had to relearn a lot of the editing process. I used Apple Final Cut Pro. I edited on a 2017 27” iMac but I might soon upgrade to a M2 Mac mini Pro. I also used my MacBook Pro for most of the Topaz processing.
I still have a lot of high end photography gear but after my 1st river cruise on the lower Danube a year ago, I made some dramatic changes. At 76 my health is good and I have 20/20 vision with my glasses but viewing things through a small view finder, or off the barely visible LCD screen in bright light, I struggled. Almost everyone else on the cruise were using their cell phones. I could see their viewing screens from several feet away better than I could see my own camera’s. I did some research and even though I knew cell phones were becoming better all the time, I discovered that the new iPhone 15 Pro was an incredible piece of equipment, both for still photography and video. Very stable for hand holding, very good in low light, software has many professional features and three lenses. The only thing it really lacks is a long telephoto functions which I didn’t need unless I was going to shoot wildlife. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is essentially the same camera but larger and bulkier. Optical performance is the same. There’s a new iPhone 16 but reviews are ho hum. The good news is that the 15 Pro will be cheaper. So 90% of the trip was shot on the 15 Pro. I put it on a lanyard and it was always right there around my neck and in my shirt pocket. No lens swapping.
The second new piece of equipment that I used was the Insta360 X3. It’s a 360˚ camera that when used on a black selfie stick the camera erases the stick. I carried two sticks one that folds to 9 inches and extends to 45”. A second is 14 inches and extends to 9.8’. Because the lenses are super wide angle, when it’s on the tall stick especially, it really looks like a drone shot. The sticks mostly disappear but you’ll often see the shadows. (I do have two drones but as you know every country has different rules and regs and I didn’t even bring them along). I since upgraded to the Insta360 X4 because the higher resolution allows you to zoom in on undistorted images. The Insta cameras come with free editing software for a cell phone, tablet and/or my desktop computer. There is definitely a learning curve to achieve good results but the potential results are great. Obviously I wouldn’t use it for everything but it provides some great advantages and unique perspectives. There are tons of RUclips tutorials. This one is pretty good for getting a sense of the possibilities:
ruclips.net/video/Wfn-fzwQwAc/видео.html
The really great thing is that all the equipment fits into a small over the shoulder sling bag and the weight is minimal compared to conventional equipment. I always shoot at maximum resolution on the iPhone and Insta360 camera so you need large SD cards.
Both Final Cut Pro and the Insta 360 Studio software has royalty free music and with one exception I got all the music from the software. I also got a small number of copyright free images from Wikimedia Commons. I’m happy with the results but with everything I learned, I’ll do even better on my next trip. Will start researching for my next trip now.
Hope this wasn’t too much information.
Dennis Hellawell
@@dennishellawell5541 Hello again Dennis. My positive feedback was well deserved! You have confirmed my suspicion that you have an audio visual background. I'm sure it was quite a challenge to catch up with and learn the latest technology. No, it wasn't too much information at all, very interesting details to learn. I especially liked your tip to slow pan with the hip. Tried it today and it works like a charm!
Six weeks editing? Oh boy I think I have put in a lot of time if I spend four hours! Have to say though the extra effort shows clearly in your video. It is, however, taking me longer as I learn more and incorporate more of the cababilities of the software. I currently use the free CapCut (it has never crashed) and may upgrade to the paid version.
I always film in 4K now and am seriously impressed with your upscaled to 4K video. Sounds like a huge amount of processing to do that but I have to say your video looks so good on my 65 inch TV!
Like you, I have the traditional DSLR Canon T3i, and a pocket Canon point and shoot but after seeing side by comparisons with my iphone 11 pictures I transitioned to 95% iphone. I also find the screens so much better for framing, taking the pics or filming and the results are always superior to the camers. As you said, a lot smaller and lighter too!
I like your neck lanyard idea for the phone, I currently use a small wrist strap which gives me a lot more confidence about dropping or losing the phone during
tricky filming conditions. We cruise a lot!
I'm not ready for the 360 yet because I heard editing was tough and I haven't exactly mastered regular editing yet.
I originally posted my videos on RUclips so that I could watch them easily and conveniently on my big TV in the living room. But then it got to be more than that if some got thousands of views and some dozens of views. It got to be a challenge. My personal favorite videos have some of the fewest views and I have no idea why.
When editing I am often torn between including less interesting clips because that was OUR trip and my primary motivation for posting and what I think will be more interesting for random viewers.
I watched your riverboat slideshow and it is good but have to say it lacks the pristine quality images of the iphone, assume it was regular camera gear? Also it made me realise that still shots are good for that special sunset but video makes for much more compelling viewing.
4K uses a lot of the phone memory so I use a small lightning to SD card reader to transfer the files to a micro SD memory card.
One last thing I am from the UK and curious about the construction project timelapse? I see it is in Wales and the construction company is from the UK.
I am living in in Round Rock Texas, just outside Austin. Are you in Oregon?
Regards
Pete
@@pjg54g
Hi Pete,
First of all my normal email is: dennish1@mindspring.com if you want to get in touch. Constantly checking RUclips comments is not convenient.
Obviously I didn’t work eight hours a day for six weeks. Probably ⅓ of the production time was relearning software and techniques on RUclips. Maybe ½ of the time was pre-production prep. Every still was edited in Photoshop. All the audio was improved and cleaned up in Final Cut. I was amazed at how effective Final Cut is at correcting poor exposure and low saturation and I didn’t even shoot in ProRes. I also did quite a few re-edits of my 360˚ files. I’ll probably shoot more in ProRes in the future, I’ll experiment. I don’t expect I’ll shoot in 4K though because of file sizes and processing time and in light of how good Topaz Video AI is at upscaling.
I hear what you’re saying about including less than top quality footage for the sake of accuracy and/or completeness. But for my 14 day cruise a lot of stuff had to be cut to make the final time manageable. I figure might as well cut the less interesting, lower quality stuff. It still turned out longer that I would have liked, but considering it was a two week trip, it still only averages about 5 minutes per day.
Sometimes one has to come up with creative workarounds. I needed dramatic shots to introduce each day. I found most of them on Wiki Commons and credited it on the intro screen. Likewise the short clip in Schönbrunn Palace segment which I got permission from Lindsay Holiday to use about Maria Theresa. An excellent, fascinating detail that fit perfectly. I’m lucky I came across it. I’m past the point of everything having to be my work. I only care about the finished product. Also the fairly impossible task of working alone, not being able to be everywhere at once and being a one person production team on your vacation. You just have to do your best. After this trip I’ll probably be a little more effective with my shooting with this experience under my belt.
The lanyard and shirt pocket is especially good because you always have both hands free when you’re not shooting. You might have to get some shirts with large double pockets. Do some research on RUclips about the Apple 15 Pro. I think most people feel that this version has the breakthrough advancements for pros or serious enthusiasts.
Also about editing Insta 360. At the beginning it’s challenging but fun. It is a little confusing at first because it is shooting everything at once. Although the phone editing app has an automatic mode, which can product some pretty good stuff, playing with editing in 360 studio a bit and you’ll get the hang of it. While you’re shooting, do not rotate the camera. You do that later in editing. Just to practice, advance the play head every 5 or 8 seconds, rotate the image 360˚ and decide what direction is most interesting. Set the direction with a keyframe and move the play head another 5 or 8 seconds and repeat. Plus you can easily do several versions.
Lastly, I don’t know anything about that time lapse in the UK. It’s not my stuff. Unless there is another person with the same name and spelling. Actually my last name is English. When I google it there is a Linkedin hit for a Dennis Hellawell in Worchester, GB. Must be the guy.
Regarding low viewership for some of your favorite posts … send me links to a high and low viewership post and I’ll see if anything pops out.
Anyway, stay well,
Dennis Hellawell, Sutherlin, Oregon
I’m sailing in April on the Luna in a single cabin too. Thanks for sharing. Was your sailing full? Some have said if not sailing full the upgraded at check in. I’ll be happy either way.
Actually I think we only had 122 passengers. I didn't try to upgrade. Actually I didn't really find out how many guests were on the cruise till a couple of days into the trip. I had them disconnect the mini bar and slide it into the corner so I'd have a little desk to set up my lap. Have a great trip. If you type my name into the RUclips prompt you can watch my trip on the lower Danube on an Avalon ship. Look for the picture of the cat on the roof.
Looks like you got a single room! That is what I want. How far ahead did you make your reservation?
I think I booked about five months out. A rep at vacationstogo.com found me the single. Also made great flight reservations. Three flights round trip from Portand, Oregon. Have a good trip.
Please revisit the spelling and punctuation of your many titles. You lose a lot of credibility when “it’s” should be spelled “its” in most cases, plus some word misspelling.
I really enjoy the style of this video, but I cringe at slides containing an error.
Thank you. I do appreciate your feedback. My friend and neighbor brought the it’s versus its to my attention. I must admit I’ve never been a good proofreader, but I did try hard to avoid such errors including the umlauts in German spellings. I did just go through the show again but couldn’t find any other misspellings. I wouldn’t be annoyed if you pointed them out to me - obviously, not your job. Unfortunately, because of technical issues, producing and uploading video, it would probably take ten or twelve hours to update the correction(s). The finished video was over 28 gigabytes and it took seven or eight hours just to upload the video to RUclips. That notwithstanding, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that my first public RUclips posting has garnered almost 5,000 views in one month. I’m a single, 76 year old, retired veteran, so I don’t think I have much “credibility” to be concerned about. I do appreciate your concerns though, accuracy and attention to detail is a good thing. Thank you. For me, the thought of the wrong person becoming our next President is what I would consider to be cringeworthy.
By the way, it’s ”misspellings”, not misspelling” in your note. I guess we all make mistakes.
Again, thank you, Dennis Hellawell, Sutherlin, OR