Can't get my settings right

[willkia]

Hi Guys,

I have uploaded the video to my channel as unlisted as I don't want it to go public.

I record on a Canon 70D with a Sigma 18-35 F1.8 lens. So in my opinion a pretty decent camera set up. Cost me over £1000

I also use 2x studio LED lights.

I am having a few problems and would appreciate some help.

1) At the beginning on the video you can hear the camera focusing. I have the camera on auto focus as I need it to focus on me if I move to the left or right slightly? How can I stop this? Or can't I? I have the button on the lens to Auto, and the dial on my camera to the green A, is that right?

EDIT: I have just watched one of Zoellas videos and you can hear the lens focusing on her video. hmmmm

I have the white balance on auto, I think that may be a problem as if you see below the picture isn't great. My walls look green lol, they should be white

2) I don't have a clue what settings I should be using on the camera. I have the shutter speed on 1/60 / ISO 300 Fstop 1.8

In the Canon EOS Utility software I use I can also adjust the contrast, saturation and Colour Tone, but I don't know what I should have these at.

As you can see below this was what the quality came out like when I uploaded the footage to Final Cut Pro. My walls should be white.

After messing around with colour correction, which I haven't got a clue what I am doing. I came out with the below. Still doesn't look great?

I filmed my first proper video today and just got so stressed as I couldn't get the quality right. I know I have a great camera and editing software, and its the same as most top YouTubers.

I would pay for someone to come to my house and teach me how to set it all up, what what I google to find someone? Unless you guys can be super awesome and try and help on here?

As you can see below, Zoes image quality seems much better then mine, thats what I am trying to achieve.

I wish YouTubers would make videos on all their settings.

Any help really would be appreciated.

And here is my video so you can see the quality.

Thanks[DOUBLEPOST=1483978285,1483904397][/DOUBLEPOST]Any help would be appreciated

Does the link work?

 

[Angelboy]

The noise from the lens is to do with the focusing motor in the lens itself. When I use an older Canon USM lens I get the focusing noise but when I use a Canon STM lens then it's whisper quiet.

If you're recording the audio direct from the camera mic then all you can do is edit it out in FCPX (Final Cut Pro X). If you're using a separate mic then you could take it off the camera and stick it on a mic stand and position it just above your head but out of shot, but basically away from the camera and the noisy lens. You can get an extension lead straight back into the camera.

Another alternative is to record the audio on a completely separate audio recorder - think Zoom H1 or similar - and again, position it close to you rather than the camera.

As far as settlings are concerned, have a look at these guys:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYVHbBkArJA

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARqkvCbz-4g


They also have some other great videos so check them out.


As far as your lighting goes. If you have different light sources with different colour temperatures then you might struggle to get the camera to register the right white balance when on automatic.

 

[willkia]

Thanks ill check that out ^^

Anyone else have any advice?

 

[willkia]

Anyone else have any advice?

 

[Ramalama]

For the sound you could get a Rode lavalier mic like this one;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rode-Smart...486505231&sr=8-4&keywords=lavalier+microphone

Rode do a fairly decent app for a smartphone, so record the audio seperately on your phone and put it on a seperate track in the software. Do a handclap at the start of recording to help you sync the audio and video tracks.

Would work out cheaper than buying a new STM lens, and you'll eventually want to record the audio seperately anyway because the on=camera mic is rubbish.

 

[Jayst84]

If you're sat still, just focus once and leave it on manual focus so it won't be hunting around. Refocussing during a shot, especially with autofocus, generally isn't going to look great anyway. Stop down the aperture a bit if you like, then you'll have a bit of leeway when you move back and forward slightly. Moving left and right won't mean you go out of focus as long as you're the same distance from the camera.

Shutterspeed of 1/60 or 1/50 will be fine (1/60 if you're shooting 30fps, 1/50 if you're shooting 25 fps).

You can increase your ISO to allow you to select a smaller aperture (higher number f/stop). This will give you a slightly greater depth of field (more in focus front to back) and cover you for naturally 'swaying' back and forward a bit as you're sat there. It will affect the look of the background as well, so have a play and see what look you like.

Auto is going to be pretty decent in most conditions but you can set a manual white balance if you like for more accuracy and consistency. FWIW your auto WB off the camera is much closer than your adjusted one, which has way too much magenta.

The in-camera JPEG picture style will affect your video (I believe, don't know your camera specifically), so you can have a play with this is you like. Setting to a very neutral in-camera style is preferred by a lot of people as it gives more latitude for tweaks in post. For YouTube talking head stuff you may prefer to just set something a bit punchier in camera and get it to something good enough straight out the camera.

 

[sirch]

You mention LED lighting, are they decent quality with a high CRI (colour rendering index - google it)? The reason I ask is that the second shot above in which you have tweaked the WB looks to have a slight purple cast and that can be caused by lower quality LEDs.

 

[st599]

If you're comparing the 2 videos there's a significant lighting difference - the lady's much closer to the luminaires and there is some background illumination from a big window camera left and in-shot practical lights.

As for settings:

1. Choose which frame rate you're going to use. If you're in the UK/EU you probably want to use 25 or 50 fps to prevent any issues which any mains lighting in shot is going to cause.
2. Set the shutter speed to be about 1/2* this value (so 1/50 for 25 fps)
3. Adjust ISO and Aperture to get a decent level for skin tone - caucasian skin tones should be at about 65-75%. If you go with a slightly smaller aperture (bigger f number), your depth of field will be better (at 30mm with a subject at 2m, your DoF will more than double by going from f/1.8 to f/3.5) and it will be easier to keep things in focus.
4. With the higher DoF, use manual focus
5. Take a photo of a white sheet of paper under the lighting conditions you are using. Then in the menu, select manual white balance and choose the last taken image.
   
6. Play with picture styles to find one you like. Remember, you can't make huge changes to the video once it's recorded.

 

[st599]

You mention LED lighting, are they decent quality with a high CRI (colour rendering index - google it)? The reason I ask is that the second shot above in which you have tweaked the WB looks to have a slight purple cast and that can be caused by lower quality LEDs.

The CRI doesn't take account of the fact you're using a Camera and TV Display rather than an (ideal) eye. TLCI is more accurate for video use.

 

[bobspez]

View attachment 96009 Here's my advice.
1. To get good audio you need a stand alone audio recorder and mic away from the camera so you don't pick up focusing, zooming or auto aperture changes. You also need to edit the audio, tweak the volume, eq, maybe add a bit of echo. Once you have a stereo audio track you can put it on the video timeline with your camera audio, sync it with the camera audio, and mute the camera audio. I use the Zoom R16 digital 8 track as my stand alone audio recorder.

2. Your video needs to be color graded. You don't need to change the tint, just tweak the highlights, shadows and saturation a bit, add about 10% black clip and 5% white clip. I use Adobe Premiere Pro as my video editor and it links to Adobe Audition as the audio editor. I edited your still in Photoshop (has the same controls as Premiere Pro) and this is what I came up with.