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PRONSTOOR AMBITFUL MINI TELEPROMPTER
SONY ZV1 JJC LENS RING ADAPTER
SONY ZV-1 CAMERA LENS ADAPTER - or for CANON G7X MKII OR MKIII
(Amazon US) https://amzn.to/3sWXuvU
What is the best budget mini autocue under $100 and does it work with the Sony ZV1 camera, the Parrot teleprompter app AND Zoom calls?
This is my review and unboxing of the Ambitful or Pronstoor mini teleprompter, a budget prompter under $60. My challenge is can I fix a teleprompter to a Sony ZV1 camera (or something like a Canon G7X Mk ii or mark 3)?
I show you how I've set up my teleprompter, and use the Parrot teleprompter app to put words on the screen with the remote control included.
0:00 Best teleprompter for Sony ZV1 camera and Zoom? Ambitful mini budget prompter + Parrot app! REVIEW
0:53 Unboxing a Pronstoor or Ambitful mini teleprompter, with tripod thread, phone holder, cold shoe mount, lens mounting ring for DSLR or smartphone and remote control.
1:59 How to mount a mini teleprompter onto a Sony ZV1 camera lens (also works with Canon G7X Mark 2 or Mk iii)
3:31 Parrot teleprompter app: how does a prompter or autocue work?
Ambitful teleprompter test and review
6:30 Using Chrome Remote Desktop and Mirror Page App to reverse image a computer screen onto the autocue.
7:22 How to send a Zoom call in front of my camera to have a Zoom meeting in my eyeline so that I can look at the camera during the call
TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)
THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!
So in real life, on the phone the writing is all mirrored
when I put this in front of the teleprompter and you can see that the mirrored writing is reflected in the glass so it reads the right way around
I can't say that.
Right way around
Under here is the tripod thread and there's a metal... OHHH
this is the Pronstoor or Ambitful mini teleprompter
it's a prompter that you can clip onto the lens of your DSLR camera or as you will see with my experiment, maybe you can also clip it onto a Sony ZV1 camera or even a Canon g7x mark ii or mark iii
I’ll be showing you as much of this teleprompter as possible to show you how it works, how it fixes to the camera and what kind of teleprompter apps you can use with the supplied remote control
this is how the Ambitful mini teleprompter arrives
let's see what's inside the box
look at this!
if I told myself when I was a child that I would be unboxing an actual autocue I think I would have been very excited and it's like a matte plastic
if I give it a flick...
so it sounds less than premium but it looks pretty good in real life and it feels really really light
under here is the tripod thread and there's a metal oh!
okay so that's how it...
it... unscrews I didn't know if it was like spring loaded or anything
and there's a kind of a rubber pad to grip the phone
but I’m really pleased with this there's a cold shoe mount on the top
you can pause the video if you'd like to look at these
the lens adapters to fix your camera to the teleprompter hood
these foam covers - if you wanted to film with a phone or tablet
and the thing that I’m looking forward to the most I think, which is the remote control!
Four buttons and a joystick... okay button on the top... and it takes two AAA batteries
now I’m feeling quite brave or possibly incredibly stupid but I’m gonna put this ring onto my Sony ZV1 camera
I have a 52mm lens adapter ring but it's... it's stuck on and it's literally stuck on with a sticky pad
I don't think this is going to work but I’m going to try it anyway just in case you're wondering if you can mount an Ambitful teleprompter onto a Sony ZV1 with just a stuck on lens adapter ring
so I’m recording on the... the Sony as well before I inevitably smash the thing
you can just slide the hood onto the ring like this
and if I look into the lens I’m in really harsh daylight here so it's not the best test
we'll take it indoors and do this properly in a moment I thought it might be more picturesque out here
now what I love about this is it actually looks like a TV camera now
I grew up in the 80s and 90s wanting to work in TV and this I mean this really looks like a TV camera now!
the entire weight of the teleprompter and my chunky case phone it's all putting the weight on this ring of double-sided sticky tape
I think having the rugged phone case is probably a good idea if this suddenly tears off and collapses to the ground like... sorry my dog's going nuts digging a hole
if I suddenly fall out of shot it's because I’ve fallen into Casper’s hole here
So the Ambitful mini teleprompter or Pronstoor teleprompter is holding out really well
Let's get it indoors now
so welcome to the happy hut and I found - woah!
nearly dropped it!
I found my old android phone and I put onto this the parrot teleprompter app
there's a link to that in the description
there are all kinds of free prompter apps
I’ve got my camera here hello this is what the shot looks like before the prompter hood goes onto the camera
now the trick is to get the ring to slide into the clip on the back here
try and get my camera around so you can see what's going on
there so it clips on like this and because it's on this round hood clip you've got to kind of straighten the prompter and there I am hello!
this is what the picture looks like with the hood on, so to me this is looking good but what do you think?
leave a comment down below
it is so nice to not...
...to look at a TV style autocue rather than a tiny lens
so with my parrot teleprompter app I’m going to click on settings and then I’m going to turn on mirror mode
and then I’ll explain how this works just in case you've not used the autocue before:
so in real life on the phone this is what it looks like
the writing is all mirrored
when I put this in front of the teleprompter... I’ll slide this into the phone holder and you can see that the mirrorred writing is reflected in the glass, so it reads the right way around!
I can't say that: “right way around”
I’m going to straighten the teleprompter
you're now seeing me, which is me reading the words, and you can also see what I can see which is what's coming off the Ambitful teleprompter
the teleprompter also comes with this remote control and there have been a lot of reviews saying it doesn't work with their particular prompter app but it seems to be working great with me
so let's bring the camera around so you can literally see what I’m seeing
so rather elegantly I now have my DJI Osmo pocket over my shoulder and I can use the remote control to scroll up and down
now if I zoom in you can see what I’ve got on the screen here: this script that comes with the parrot teleprompter app so I’m just going to read a few lines
the parrot teleprompter app is the companion app for the parrot teleprompter, the world's most portable and affordable teleprompter
use the scripts manager to manage your scripts or add and delete new scripts
you can adjust various scroll settings by selecting the gear icon
wow it feels really... it feels so much easier to actually deliver to you into the camera lens down the barrel rather than what I usually do which is to try and remember what I’m trying to say and then I’m sort of eye flicking off to the monitor on the side to see if I’m in focus or check that the thing is recording anyway
it is so much easier and more reassuring to have words in front of me and to make my eyeline meet those words
now this is incredible
I downloaded the chrome remote desktop app and I’ve linked it to my computer here and incredibly it's sending what's happening on chrome on my computer to my phone
now obviously I need to make the text supersize so I can read that straight off my computer screen and I can scroll it with my mouse while I’m delivering the script
but I still don't have the text as a mirror image
you can see it's back to front, so then I got another chrome extension which is called mirror
I’ll leave a link in the description
I’m not sure how safe this extension is but it flips the chrome tab to be a mirror image and now you can see that it is completely the right way round on the teleprompter for me
so I can scroll up and down or even view any web page that I like
the other thing that I can do now is to use the chrome remote desktop to send a zoom call straight to the teleprompter and that means that I can see my zoom call actually in my eye line right here in front of me
I can maintain eye contact and see all the participants right in front of my camera so I don't have to look down or pretend to look at them by looking at my lens
of course if you want to buy one from amazon the links are all in the description and I’ll put all the links to the apps there as well and I’ll change those if I find any better ones
good luck with your autocue teleprompter Ron Burgundy style reading.
Stay classy San Diego!
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