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Many video content creators run who run video channels on YouTube are actually using teleprompters. There are lots of home-use models for as little as $59, while "prosumer" models have a price point around $199. What's it all about?
I would divide teleprompters into 2 levels.
- (1) Minimalist "lens mount" models that attach to the front of your camera (Parrot, Desview, and off-brands), versus
- (2) "Rack base" models that mount on a tripod and have separate rack attachments for the hood/mirror and the camera in back.
Lens-mount (left) and rack-mount (right):
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| Lens-Mount models (left) vs Rack-based models (right) |
(All photos, you can click to enlarge.)
LENS MOUNT SYSTEMS (PARROT, DESVIEW)
The "lens mount" models are obviously limited in size and weight since they have to hang off the lens.
The smallest is the popular $99 PARROT V2 model. It comes with a bluetooth device to start/stop the script. In the same price range, and also with a bluetooth device, is the DESVIEW T2. DESVIEW is larger, but, it will hold a device as large as an Mini iPad.
If you are definitely going to a smart phone, there isn't much advantage to the larger DESVIEW mirror so you could go with the Parrot. But if you want to use a mini-Ipad, or a 7" Fire tablet, then get the larger DESVIEW.
Unlike the Parrot, the DESVIEW has a tripod mount under the mirror hood which you can use optionally as the weight-bearing point.
Filter Ring - What If Your Camera Doesn't Have One?
The Parrot and Desview require a lens mount filter ring. A few cameras like the SONY ZV-1 have no lens mount filter ring. While there are glue-on filter mounts for the ZV-1, they are intended to hold a filter, not a teleprompter.
Amazon carries a $40 "CAME-TV" rack that screws to the SONY ZV-1 or RX100 camera base and holds a 52 mm filter ring physically right in front of the lens (see picture below). It also includes a necessary left-right adjustment, since the ZV-1 tripod mount is offset from the lens axis. Net-net, if you want to use a ZV-1 with either a Parrot or Desview, this adds a $40 attachment to the $99 teleprompter price.
TRIPOD MOUNT SYSTEMS
Two popular models are the GLIDE IPAD TELEPROMPER and PROMPTERPEOPLE POCKET CUE.
As shown below, the design is similar and the price point around $199. The POCKET CUE is dedicated to smartphone use. The GLIDE model will hold either a phone or an iPad. Another rack-mounted brand is "Little Prompter" (Amazon, $159).
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| Both $199; Glide holds up to iPad size (left) |
PrompterPeople makes a wide range of professional teleprompters, from POCKET CUE which is their new entry-level to compete with the Glide at $199, up to $1000-plus studio teleprompters. So in general, PrompterPeople devices have pretty classy engineering. NB- I ordered a POCKET CUE and it was defective (the vertical frame was loose and could not be tightened), inconsistent with their reputation for top-end engineering. It took a whole week to set up a return and required daily emails, but they did apologize for the delays.
Is Your Tripod Socket Out of Line with Your Lens?
It looks like with either the GLIDE or POCKET CUE, they expect your camera's 1/4" tripod mount in the base, to be in line with the teleprompter and lens axis. Bad news: in a Sony ZV-1, the tripod mount in the base is offset 3/4" (20mm) from the lens axis.
Amazon again came to the rescue with a work-around, a $12, overnight delivery "DSLRKIT 2 Way Macro Shot Focusing Focus Rail Slider." This is designed to move the camera and lens forward and back for macro focusing. Here, I mounted the rail perpendicularly to the POCKET CUE camera rack (picture is below at right). This let me shift the camera 3/4" laterally to line up the camera lens axis with the shadow box axis. (Note: The POCKET CUE has set-screws that allow both the horizontal smartphone (in front) and the rack level (in back) to be adjusted vertically. For a little ZV-1, you need to raise the back rack "up" so it rises to the middle of the shadow box aperture.)
SOFTWARE - MANY CHOICES
One advantage of the Parrot and Desview clip-on teleprompters, they each come with a small bluetooth control device for software. (The Parrot remote is available $25 at Amazon).
There are numerous YouTube reviews of these remotes, and they usually note the remotes are "clicky," creating background noise. Plus, if you're controlling the remote off screen with your hand, you're not using both hands to gesture and you might look like a mannequin in your video.
You can use any software with any teleprompter, and there are many teleprompter apps available in the iTunes or Google Play stores. Three examples include:
- Teleprompter Mirror - totally browser-based software and totally free. Includes a free voice-driven option but I think it works only on a desktop browser. Here.
- Parrot Teleprompter - Free app, works well with different speeds for the text, and they won't try to upsell you anything.
- PromptSmart - seems to be one of the best known voice-driven apps, it costs money (free trial followed by various price points from $19 purchase to $59/annual license for a software suite). Here.
One (of numerous) YouTube reviews, which settles on three best recommendations, is here.
Teleprompter script is usually white letters on black background to maximize the amount of black and therefore reduce light spill in the shadow box.
There are numerous YouTube videos on how to read more naturally with a teleprompter.
In summary, if you'd like to try both speed-driven and voice-driven teleprompting for free, to get a feel, go to the Teleprompter Mirror website. If you'd like to try a free app on a phone, just download the Parrot one. If you're halfway-serious, just shell out $19 for PromptSmart with voice activation. But follow all the instructions carefully; I found that directly importing a Google Doc or Word Doc without removing hidden formatting can really mess it up and it took a while to discover why.
Nerd Note: Powerpoint in Reverse and on a Teleprompter: Headache w/o a Mac
You might want to use your new teleprompter to, for example, present a PowerPoint deck to yourself that you watch while giving your presentation, or, you might want to watch a 10-person Zoom call through the teleprompter. A lot of softwares (e.g. Duet, LetsView) will push the Windows screen to an iPad. It's harder to also flip it, as you'd need for PowerPoint. (Wouldn't matter too much for Zoom).
You can project and flip a Mac screen with Mac Mirror Flip Utility, or with the Mac/iOS Air Display App.
PrompterPeople has a 12" color monitor with a reversing function, but it's $375. Amazon has a range of 5-7" color monitors circa $100 some of which have "image flip." Eg, Neewer FW568. But it would sure be easier to build the function into iPad software like Duet or LetsView.
HIGHER-END TELEPROMPTERS
Upscale? See the lightweight but iPad-sized teleprompter "Ultralight" from PrompterPeople for $399, exactly double the price of the $199 prosumer models seen above including their own Pocket Cue.
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| Same basic "rack" design but upscale engineering at $399 |
FOOTNOTE
Don't Just Mount the Phone Above Your Camera
I got and quickly returned an interesting device, a Glide Gear TMP10 $29 system that mounts atop the camera on the hot shoe slot. (Shown at left below.) It didn't fit my ZV-1 at all, so returned the same afternoon.
Still intrigued with the idea, I tried a much simpler Ulanzi hot shoe based phone mount $12. It turned out that although the center of the iPhone was only 3"-4" above the center of the lens, it was obvious I was looking way above the line of sight when I was reading for the camera. So no-go, in my appraisal. The camera is very sensitive to the actor's exact line of sight, which is why teleprompters use mirrors and shadow-boxes.
But the Ulanzi is only $12 and I'm keeping it, in case I ever need to mount my iPhone on a tripod. In fairness, they don't bill the Ulanzi as a teleprompter alternative.
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| Video read this way is too sensitive to your line-of-sight above the lens |
TidBits:
Space
I have very limited and narrow office space, with my desk filled with two monitors and a keyboard. The smallest option would be a Parrot, since with this device your small camera immediately abuts the tiny shadow box and that's it.
I tried a Pocket Cue which has a rack that sticks about 6" backwards from the rear panel of the shadow box. This would allow a camera to be mounted quite far back if needed. But in effect, for me, it pushed my camera 6" further forward (in front of my monitors on my desk) to account for the 6" tail or rack sticking out the back side.
YouTubers and Efficiency
Several YouTubers reviewing teleprompters agreed that net-net, teleprompters save you time. The time used in making as a script and setting up the teleprompter is really time later saved in frustration, concentration level while filming, and cycles of repeat filming, mistakes, and more editing.
Doing it All On a Smartphone
There are smart phone apps designed for you to film yourself, selfie-style, while reading a rolling script on your phone. See a review of one such app, called simply "Video Teleprompter," here.
Pocket Cue Could Use Mini Ipad
I mentioned the $199, rack-mounted prosumer systems Glide iPad and Pocket Cue. The former will hold a mini-iPad for larger font or for use if you stand many feet in front of the prompter. The Pocket Cue actually has a large enough mirror for a mini-iPad. I found you can use a mini-iPad with a Pocket Cue if you unscrew its own phone-size mount and put on a small iPad holder (circa $20) on the 1/4" screw.
ZV-1 Headaches
The ZV-1 has (1) no lens filter mount and has (2) an off-center tripod mount. This means to use either a lens-mount or a rack-mount system, I need an attachment!
To use with a hang-on lens mount (Parrot or DesView), I would need a $40 CAME-TV rack (as illustrated and discussed).
To use with a Pocket Cue, or other rack system, I would need a $12 orthogonal tripod-mount rail (as illustrated and discussed).
