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Need some help with DSLR filming
Hey guys, I was wondering if someone could help me with a bunch of filming questions. I have read as much as I can find however I always find it easier if I can ask questions and what not. I've recently upgraded from a Nikon D5000 to a Canon 7D. I have never really done too much filming, I did a short film on my Nikon which was essentially just a time lapse, and it was very average.
I want to get into filming things with my 7D. I currently only have a 50mm f/1.8, so my first question is regarding lenses. I am looking at getting something wide-ish, probably prime. Something like a 22mm? I'm not really sure at the moment.
My next questions are as far as settings go for shooting. From what I understand I should ALWAYS be shooting in 24p with my shutter speed set to 1/48 or as close as possible, correct?
On top of that, my aperture is subject to circumstance. Considering most of what I am shooting is live music, meaning I am in low light with not much I can do about it, I have been jacking my ISO up and using a wide aperture. Are there any optimum settings I would use if I had a more controlled environment with good light?
As far as editing, I have no idea where to start... So any help would be amazing. I am assuming SonyVegas and Adobe AfterEffects? I have briefly used Vegas for my timelapse.
If someone can help me out I would appreciate it. Sorry for being annoying, haha. You've gotta start somewhere! Thanks a bunch!
I want to get into filming things with my 7D. I currently only have a 50mm f/1.8, so my first question is regarding lenses. I am looking at getting something wide-ish, probably prime. Something like a 22mm? I'm not really sure at the moment.
My next questions are as far as settings go for shooting. From what I understand I should ALWAYS be shooting in 24p with my shutter speed set to 1/48 or as close as possible, correct?
On top of that, my aperture is subject to circumstance. Considering most of what I am shooting is live music, meaning I am in low light with not much I can do about it, I have been jacking my ISO up and using a wide aperture. Are there any optimum settings I would use if I had a more controlled environment with good light?
As far as editing, I have no idea where to start... So any help would be amazing. I am assuming SonyVegas and Adobe AfterEffects? I have briefly used Vegas for my timelapse.
If someone can help me out I would appreciate it. Sorry for being annoying, haha. You've gotta start somewhere! Thanks a bunch!
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You can drag that video straight into Media encoder without having to open it into any other program. From there you'll have to figure out a few things/settings to get the encoding and output you want. This is a good place to start: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AdobeMediaEncoder/4.0/WSCA5A8F18-163A-4176-B5EF-61AAF43367CD.html
I know it's for CS4, but it still applies.
Also, handbrake I have found to be indispensible: http://handbrake.fr/ It is easy to use!
Always: No! Most times, probably. Read this article: http://blog.tylerginter.com/?p=385
Yeah. I don't think it is a stretch to say the rules of photography can be applied in video. In fact, For me at least, it is a good place to start. Looking @ proper exposure, Proper White Balance, that sort of thing. And while I mention White balance, I think it is important to remember that unlike RAW stills in photography, you cannot go and change White Balance in video-post. You can change color and amount of and do all sorts of neat things to it, but you cannot change the WB. Of course, just as I write this I am reminded of a person in another forum who mentioned he had made WB changes by rendering each and every frame from a movie and then used Photoshop to batch process those changes. At 24 frames per second, that could add up. I have no idea if it really works, and have no intention of trying it. It is just too easy to set correctly at first anyway.
My recommendation for WB in your Canon is to keep it on AWB until you have it set properly temperature-wise.
Taking a Still, using the camera for a Custom setting or as I prefer; take a Still, move it into LR3, Check temp and apply that finding in the camera. I prefer this method because I trust LR3 ( Lightroom 3) AND I can adjust to taste in LR3 before going back to my WB settings on my Canon. Set using Kelvin. Of course once you get used to using your lights that you'll be purchasing
As far as Aperture goes, with good light as you say, that would depend on what it is you'd like to be in focus, just like Stills-Shooting. I always plan on Shooting f/8 unless something else comes up.
Such as A close-up scene that I want to pull focus on. Or a scene where I really want to throw the background out of focus. And DOFM depth of field master can come in handy too. I just used it the other week for an outside sporting shoot that I had never done before. I needed as much focal range as I could manage. It worked like a charm too.
Lastly to lenses. Nice thing is, older Nikon lenses can be adapted to your Canon. In fact most all of my shooting has been with Nikon lenses since that's what I owned. I do have that same plastic Canon lens you mention and @ f/8 it's pretty good. I use a fotodiox-Pro lens adpater and it works well for me. Others prefer to have the focus confirmation chip adapter but I see no reason for that. It's all manual focus anyway, and the whole process is about technique and practice....lots of practice.
Even though I am a Final Cut Pro guy, I think you weren't told the full story when it comes to working with DSLR footage.
If you're using Adobe Premiere (Pro CS5 - I am assuming), then you can work with H.264 files from your Canon 7D natively withoug having to transcode anything in Media Encoder first. But this is only a good idea, if you have a powerful Mac. Premiere Pro CS5 has the brand new, so-called "Mercury Playback Engine", which boosts your performance when you use certain graphics cards. You can look up if yours is one of them: http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/performance.html
Here's a pretty good video about DSLR editing and Premiere Pro CS5 http://vimeo.com/11369451
Transcoding your H.264 footage (which was not designed for editing) can make sense. But if your project is not very long and - as I said - if your computer is capable of handling this kind of material, just work the with clips straight out of your camera.
If people tell you - but Canon H.264 footage has color space limitations so always transcode - (and I used to be one of them) - they are basically right. But modern editing applications like Premiere Pro CS5(.5) or Final Cut Pro X are taking care of that problem for you. FCP X for example allows you to work with your H.264 footage natively (without having to transcode anything), but the moment you start applying any filters, effects or simple color corrections, it renders the footage into a mugh higher quality codec (ProRes 422 in the case of FCP X). I am absolutely sure, Adobe does the same thing. So in fact you're transcoding the portions of your cut that benefit from transcoding and you're leaving everything else alone. Saves you a lot of time and hard drive space.
Hope that answers some of your questions.
--- Markus ---