Beginning Video ?

Sorry for the basic questions and any help would be much appreciated.

I've been thinking about vid on the Canon (650d) for some time and one of the issues is audio. When I have shot inside with the on board mic it sounds slight treble/echo ? and outside, the slightest wind makes a terribly noise on whatever setting.

If I bye a Video mic, I'm sure it would improve but then wouldn't I need to upgrade the lens to a STM to reduce focus noise ?

Would I be better just bying a dedicated Video camera, although the audio problem is still there ?

What are the pro's of using a SLR for vid

Audio on video is a whole subject in itself. First of all the mics on most DSLR's are pretty poor. Recording audio from the camera position itself can cause problems as you have found. The surrounings effect the quality with problems such as reverberation of hard surfaces, and don't talk to me about wind noise. To get good audio you need to have the microphone close to the person you are recording, but this alone doesn't guarantee good results, but it helps a lot. I've use a Rode video mic and in the right conditions it does work fine. But it does depend on what you are recording. It will still pick up wind noise even with a "Dead Cat" muff, in all but mild conditions. .

Not sure why you would want to change the lens, OK you can here the focus motor hunting but you would be loosing focus anyway as it re focused and wouldn't want to use that part of the recording.

Can you get good audio using an SLR? yes you can but it depends on what you consider to be acceptable and how much you want to spend. I know a number of users on this forum have Rode Video mics ( me included) and they do give better results than on board mics.

As to using a dedicated video camera , yes you will have the same problems with audio , using on board microphones

Get the Rode Video Mic Pro which will greatly improve your audio. You should also ideally focus manually to eradicate any focus noise rather than auto focus. You could auto focus before you press record and then manually focus during the recording if subject matter requires it.

You should also install Magic Lantern to give you better audio controls.

The video camera also would require a decent microphone to get anything decent but you won't get the same look and feel as the Canon.

+1 for Magic Lantern. Having the audio meters on screen is a big help. However, if I'm recording audio for one of my own projects which I consider important, I'll use an external recorder like a Zoom H1 with a Rode Video Mic which will give you much higher quality sound to start with. For anything professional I would use XLR shotgun mics such as the Rode NTG2 or Sony wireless lavalier mics going into a audio recorder like the Marantz PMD661.

Any questions, just ask.

I use a Rode VideoMic on my 7D which with a dead cat solves most wind noise problems. Also using a separate recorder can give you better audio. I use a Tascam DR07 MkII which has got me out of a fix when the onboard audio wasn't good enough. Recording voice is normally the domain of lavalier mics. Sound is a whole new ball game.

WOW! Thanks guys for all the advice, it seems that for my needs the Rode Videomic would be the way to go, and I suppose manual focusing, tho I would appreciate any advice on the best way to set this up i.e. outside shots with near to far focusing....Hope that makes sense.

Thanks again guys.

First rule is 180 degree shutter. ie: 25/24fps then 1/50 Unless you are going for narrow depth of field setting to f8 or f11 will give you a pretty wide DOF at focal lengths of 35mm or thereabouts, set the focus to around 15 feet. That's my default setup for shooting train stuff, then set Auto ISO for it to take care of the exposure. Covers 99% of what I want to shoot. If it's exceptionally bright you may need a ND filter.

This was shot mostly using these principles.

Thank you Artisan, nice little vid, was it shot just hand held ? I'll give this a try this weekend and start looking around for a deal on the VideoMic seeing as it's coming up to my birthday in August ;-)

Jacal said:

Sorry for the basic questions and any help would be much appreciated.

I've been thinking about vid on the Canon (650d) for some time and one of the issues is audio. When I have shot inside with the on board mic it sounds slight treble/echo ? and outside, the slightest wind makes a terribly noise on whatever setting.

If I bye a Video mic, I'm sure it would improve but then wouldn't I need to upgrade the lens to a STM to reduce focus noise ?

Would I be better just bying a dedicated Video camera, although the audio problem is still there ?

What are the pro's of using a SLR for vid

Click to expand...

Re focus noise. No pro videocamera has auto focus enabled. If it seeks accidentally your video is ruined.

Even on fast moving things like sport, what you see on TV has manual focus, iris, white balance and zoom.

Cheers st...been looking up on the focus issue and as you said, it seems manual is the way to go. Going to have a play asap....Fun is in the learning although it sometimes doesn't seem so