Well, I think that this post fits better on the cafe society. I am starting a youtube channel project, but I want to record everything on a top-down view. I can make a rig that fits on my kitchen table pretty well, but I am worried about using it on top of the stove. How could I have a top-down view of the stove and pans above it without the danger of dropping the camera (which would be my phone on the beginning) inside a whole pot of tomato sauce or on a flaming wok? What about fogging and condensation?
What I’ve seen in television studios is a mirror above the stove at a 45 degree angle. If you point the camera at the mirror, you get a view of the contents of the pans.
Yeah the mirror would work well but watch for reversal effects. With a 45 degree mirror I believe front/back will reverse and it might mess up any narration.
If I were doing this, I’d put a glass port in the range hood. Put the camera above it with enough of a zoom lens to close in on the food, but with the camera far above it enough that heat isn’t a problem. Then you’d just have to clean the glass inside the range hood. Don’t be tempted to use a GoPro or other sports camera as their lenses are just too short, and they have a lot of fish-eye distortion. Get a camera like a Canon HF-R52. You can get one at Canon’s web site, refurbished for $187.49. It has built in WiFi monitoring and control via iOS and Android.
I am moving this to IMHO since it’s not really about cooking. So away from Cafe to the land of opinions we go.
I like the idea of a mirror. The problem, though, is still condensation of water over the lenses, mirror or glass…
A fan, maybe? Located just off set, blowing horizontally.
The examples I’ve seen in studios have the mirror several feet above the stove, so condensation isn’t a problem.
In my kitchen I’d just put it on top of the refrigerator, which provides a nice view.