[mrdonbrown]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned using a teleprompter yet. You can pick one up for around $100 and when combined with a little 7" monitor (another $100) attached to your computer, creates a nice setup for zoom calls where you can look directly at your partner. Also doubles as a great talking head setup for video production.

[__mharrison__]

I got a teleprompter when Covid hit. I do a lot of training and I use it mostly for "looking into the eyes" of my students.

I have a twitter thread describing my setup. [0]

Were I to do it again, I would get a slightly larger monitor for it. I don't know if it is causation or just correlation (I'm getting old) but my eyes have gotten a bit worse in the past bit.

0 - https://twitter.com/__mharrison__/status/1515078084600348677

[ldayley]

I second this! I’ve been using one of these as well, and I’ve noticed the positive impact looking directly at the camera can have on my conversations.

[robszumski]

Do either of you have a shot of what this looks like in practice? Google Images isn't giving me much. Specifically what the Zoom or Meet looks like from your perspective.

[mrdonbrown]

Sure, this is what I see [1] and you can see how it looks on the other side from my Twitch streams [2]

[1] https://i.imgur.com/4JPIHx1.jpg [2] https://www.twitch.tv/mrdonbrown

[KVFinn]

>I'm surprised no one has mentioned using a teleprompter yet. You can pick one up for around $100 and when combined with a little 7" monitor (another $100) attached to your computer, creates a nice setup for zoom calls where you can look directly at your partner. Also doubles as a great talking head setup for video production.

For anyone else confused about what a teleprompter adds here, it's that the two-way mirror lets you put a webcam 'behind' the virtual reflected screen, so it can be perfectly centered in the screen.

Though this just makes me want to tape or suspend a webcam to the middle of a regular monitor, so it could show actual size human faces.

[BeefWellington]

The Youtube channel DIY Perks has a video making essentially a homemade teleprompter mod for a laptop with very cheap materials.[1]

I've thought about getting a proper teleprompter but my issue there would be screen space and lighting. Has this worked well with a decently inexpensive webcam or do you use a full-on streaming/production type camera setup?

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AecAXinars

[mrdonbrown]

I haven't tried using the teleprompter with a webcam, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I use a Sony a6600 myself, with a Sigma 16mm/f1.4 prime lense.

Regardless, I recommend capturing in 4k, and running that through OBS so you can zoom/crop the image for ideal framing, optional of course.

[hammock]

Do you have a good telepromper recommendation? I have found it hard to search/find good ones at a good price.

[mrdonbrown]

I use the Caddie Buddy one [1], which is a bit more robust for bigger cameras. There are other options where you can use your phone or something, but I prefer using a mirrorless and a good sized monitor.

[1] https://caddiebuddy.com/teleprompter-for-ipads-androids-and-...

[dylan604]

Oh my! A teleprompter for less than $200! I haven't kept up with this market, but that's so amazingly affordable. I've long switched to tablet for the text, but this is easily 5x cheaper than what I still use from a purchase back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I'm guessing that mine is 5x heavier too. However, it is one of those things that once you have it, you don't need a new one so I've just never looked to see what is cheaper today