SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — Down on the show floor, I ran into podcaster Tim Chaten, who was using an iPod touch to record video.
Chaten had his iPod touch mounted in a home-made camera rig, complete with an external microphone.
It looks like a pretty good setup for shooting quick and easy videos.
Here’s how he put it together:
Chaten had three goals for his iPod touch video setup:
- Good sound quality, especially in noisy places.
- Able to hold it far enough away to get two people into the shot
- Portable and sturdy
Chaten uses an external mic, which needs an extension cord and headphone adapter. To hold the iPod touch at arm’s length, he uses a flexible case/stand from Thought Out Company called the NAJA King Form. It has a flex-arm that allows Chaten to hold the iPod touch at arm’s length when interviewing someone with the forward-facing camera. That way he can see what’s recording. No need for a camera operator!
He also uses the rear-facing camera for interviews, as in the photo above.
Here’s his equipment list:
- iPod touch – $229 to $399
- Any XLR microphone (Chaten was using a $30 Shure C606-WD, which is currently unavailable. Any XLR mic will work fine)
- iPhone XLR microphone and 1/8 inch headphone adapter – this $23.50 adapter allows the microphone to be plugged into the headphone socket.
- XLR cable – female to male – a $5 extension cable for the microphone
- NAJA King Form – this $41.99 flexible iPod stand and case allows the iPod touch to be held far enough away to get two people into the shot
The kit cost around $120 (not including the iPod). To extend battery life, he’s thinking of investing in a Mophie JuicePack battery pack. Chaten uses it to produce podcasts for his The Possibilities Production Network.
He has more info here: Turn An iPod Touch Or iPhone 4 Into A Mobile Interview Kit
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
