DSLR Video: Gear, techniques, everything related to shooting videos on DSLR cameras

oldnick said:
With the Nikon 3100 there is a software bug which means that if in live view or while shooting video, nothing can be adjusted. ie , shutter, aperture, white bal. You have to come out of live view, adjust and go back. I think that may also apply to the 5000 and 7000.
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I don't know much about the D3100 but is that a software bug or a limiting factor of the camera?

With the D7000 you can change the shutter speed but not the aperture in live view (which I find very annoying), but on the D3s you have full manual control of everything, so I use that more even though it's only 720p. I suspect the D3100 may just be crippled in that way to make you upgrade to higher spec cameras...?
 
Richard Peters said:
I don't know much about the D3100 but is that a software bug or a limiting factor of the camera?

With the D7000 you can change the shutter speed but not the aperture in live view (which I find very annoying), but on the D3s you have full manual control of everything, so I use that more even though it's only 720p. I suspect the D3100 may just be crippled in that way to make you upgrade to higher spec cameras...?
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You are probably right - the new 5100 looks very good for video, shooting at 24/25/ or 30fps and having external mic input. With this camera, Nikon appear to have caught up with Canon at last. Damn them:crying:
 
I just picked up the A.S.S after looking for god knows how long at what seems to be an completely overpriced category!

Feels great so far and is leagues better than handheld.

While there will certainly be some movement when walking around with it, at least it is slower body driven movement (which can be a nice effect) rather than jittery handshake. (which will often highlight any wobble issues your sensor has)

Highly recommended, especially for the price.
 
coldyn8w said:
I just picked up the A.S.S after looking for god knows how long at what seems to be an completely overpriced category!

Feels great so far and is leagues better than handheld.

While there will certainly be some movement when walking around with it, at least it is slower body driven movement (which can be a nice effect) rather than jittery handshake. (which will often highlight any wobble issues your sensor has)

Highly recommended, especially for the price.
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I'm glad that you like it!
I'm off for my holiday tomorrow (17 days, 6 photo sessions) and will be shooting a lot with it. I am just trying to figure out how to install wordpress blog on my website as I want to start documenting my sessions (behind the scenes, before and after) - I will be doing video parts with D7000.

Thank you all for supporting this thread.
Let us know if you have any interesting link to tutorials or just show us what you can do with your DSLR!
 
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coldyn8w said:
Have fun Sebastian! Please report on the experience when you get back.

I stumbled across this tip today as well for a cheap follow focus made from a jar opener: www.vimeo.com/​20301862

It looks to be perfect really for a very low cost...

You can order them un the UK for £3.95 from Ebay here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TRUDEAU-SILIC...sories&var=&hash=item746b1ca53e#ht_1707wt_907

Ive just bought a couple, will see how they go.
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Thanks for the tip!
Can you please fix the link, it doesn't appear to be working.
 
here are some early thoughts on the Jag35 follow focus.

- Reasonably well made
- Fairly straight forward to set up
- Easy to use
- Allows for smooth focus pulling
- Doesn't fit well with a 50mm 1.4
- Sometimes the gears miss connection and need to pushed back into place every now and then
- Although easy to use, its very difficult to nail critical focus on a smallish LCD
- Overall verdict is a 6/10 and I sincerely hope someone in China comes out with a much cheaper alternative to what is effectively a plate with a few wheels attached to it.

I can't get my stabiliser up and running as the counterweights got lost in the post and the seller has disappeared from ebay. If anyone can help me find somewhere that I can buy small ring shaped weights i'd be very grateful!
 
Great thread! :)

Some time ago when I got my D3s and started playing around with video, I went on the hunt for decent yet affordable steadycam rigs, and bumpbed into a French dude who made his own. I realise there are probably lots of merlin imitations out there now and cheap Chinese copies flooding ebay (I haven't looked), but I think with a wide angle lens, you can get away without needing to constantly manual focus and makes for great travelling shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEOfFeFPqBo for a video

http://www.vimeo.com/10202711 for how he made it
 
Hi Guys,
You also might want to look at the Magic Lantern firmware. While it is essentially a "Hack", it doesnt actually modify the firmware on your camera. It just exists in your camera's RAM for one session. Meaning you have to load it in using the firmware update function when you want to use it, small price to pay.


What does it do? Take a look at this website to learn everything: http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Lantern_Firmware_Wiki
Obviously there is a very small risk associated with doing anything like this so read through their documentation before deciding to do it for yourself, but as I said it's nothing permanent.

After using it a couple of times, the Zebra patterns are great for nailing exposure, this is a standard across most decent video cameras so its great to have them on the 5D. If you've never seen them they look like this: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/images/bgsv02-zebra.jpg

My favorite is the "Magic Circles", this is a circular overlay in the corner of the viewfinder, which shows a zoomed up view of what's in the center of the frame. Getting perfect focus is super easy with this as you can see in much more detail whether you're subject is in focus. Manually focussing during shooting with wide apertures is a whole lot easier with this I can assure you. I've been playing around at F1.4 and the viewfinder alone is simply too small to know if you're focus is dead on.

Apparently the enhancements to dealing with sound are one of the best parts to this firmware, however I'm yet to test these features out. Namely removing what is the equivalent to 'auto-adjust' on the sound.
 
I shot this over the weekend.
First test with the setup I'll be using for a big job coming up.
All shot with my brand new Sigma 50mm 1.4, (shot the video at mostly around F2 though) which I am loving.

http://www.vimeo.com/22524943

Minor colour adjustment made in Final Cut but very close to straight from camera. (no added contrast/saturation, just warmth)

I'm really happy with how it turned out though,
The cheap shoulder mount is excellent for when your standing still, but a bit shaky if you have to walk with it, which is to be expected as it's not a steadicam.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, camera shake from your body is much more bearable for the viewer than camera shake from your hands. Given the style of this video I dont think the shake does it any harm.
 
Is that the Geffrye Museum in Hackney/Dalston? I used to go there when i was a kid. I live just around the corner from Old st, i really must get over there at some point.

I thought the colours and exposure were good but a lot seemed out of focus. Sorry if that was intentional, i just found it a bit off putting.
 
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dave_bass5 said:
Is that the Geffrye Museum in Hackney/Dalston? I use dot go there when i was a kid. I live just around the corner from Old st, i really must get over there at some point.

I thought the colours and exposure were good but a lot seemed out of focus. Sorry if that was intentional, i just found it a bit off putting.
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Sure is the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland road/Hackney, I live nearby it's very nice.

As for the focus yes there is a lot of out of focus, maintaining it at F2 with a subject moving forward and back was pretty tough. :)
Thanks for your comments.
 
Totally, when someone's moving towards you and you are trying to move the focus ring at the correct speed and they go out of focus, there's no way or knowing whether you've front focussed or back focussed!

It would be awesome if the camera could apply some visual colour overlay that would indicate what was in front or behind the focal plane...

If anyone has any techniques to get around this I'd like to know.
 
coldyn8w said:
Totally, when someone's moving towards you and you are trying to move the focus ring at the correct speed and they go out of focus, there's no way or knowing whether you've front focussed or back focussed!

It would be awesome if the camera could apply some visual colour overlay that would indicate what was in front or behind the focal plane...

If anyone has any techniques to get around this I'd like to know.
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I do find that the LCD seems clear enough to tell if your at least going the right way but in bright sunlight, without any other focus aid gadgets hooked on to the camera it can be difficult.
I wonder if the magic lantern has this feature, im sure it does for still's but if it works for video as well that would be fantastic.
 
My first post and hopefully first contribution to the forum. For those of your using Canon DSLRs for video, Technicolor have released a picture style preset which can be loaded onto your cameras. This will give you a flat image ideal for colour grading in post production. The picture style is loaded onto a camera via the EOS utility on your laptop or PC when your camera is connected. Below is a video of what you can expect the picture style to perform:

http://vimeo.com/23110260
 
Magic lantern for the 550d offers focus peaking, in focus areas will blink red. I believe it's in development for the 60d too.

If you are after weights for a shoulder stabilizer then check out a homeware type place for kitchen scales type weights, or failing that get some lead.

This link lists the noise you get with certain ISO values. 160, 320 etc seem to be less noisy.

http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/canon-7d-noise-and-iso-test/
 
I'm working on a few avant garde video projects and need a cheap camcorder. budget is less than £100 but qualities not so much of an issue and second hand is ok. my work will be put in B&W and there will be an audio track over it so sound quality isn't an issue either.

any recommendations? preferably like to work using manual controls :)
 
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