I decided to open a topic dedicated to fans of DSLR apparatus. Here we would share information,tips,experiences,useful sites and everything related to this kind of video shooting !
For start, here are some useful links for Canon owners >>
http://www.starkinsider.com/2010/06/canon-t2i-dslr-5-tips-for-shooting-video.html
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eos-camera-systems/
http://www.nextwavedv.com/category/videos/hdslr101/
http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Lantern_Firmware_Wiki
http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/MYGEAR/ , he's awesome HDSLR filmmaker !
Very Cool thread idea There is a HUGE trend now in Video/Film production to use DSLR cameras instead of HDcameras. The greater sensor size and light sensitivity is a compelling reason. The major camera vendors are now building their next line of HD camcorders with (big shock) DSLR sensors! The only thing missing is a higher bit rate shooting coded (e.g. Pro Res etc.) and XLR input jacks so that you don't have to shoot "Dual System". So the line between DSLR and HDcam is going to eventually just go away. For many folks, learning the DSLR is an uphill battle as it's a different animal than a traditional HDCAM camcorder. Much closer to an actual Film SLR in terms of nomenclature and such.
One thing that would really be great in this thread is a lot pictures and video! Some great examples might get folks on the bandwagon!
Nice article Todd, also a suggestion !
I am sure that many people gonna like this beautiful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse video! Recorded with a Canon 5D Mark II !
http://vimeo.com/22439234
hey Sinisa, here's what I'll get for myself next month I want to shoot GMC lessons with it! (until now I used a Nikon 3DS belonging to a photographer friend who also helps me with the shooting - he also took the pic u saw earlier with Aria)
Do you think that Nikon d3100 would be a good choice? It fits in my budget and it seems awesome!
This is crazy - thanks for the thread Sinisa. Btw maybe you should add a short sentence explaining what this is about? I am sure a lot of people don't realize how cool this is..
Opinions are divided, you know how it goes,eternal struggle between two rivals. But for the first time are united in one thing :
For a photography - use Nikon, for a video shotting - Canon (550d and above) ! I went through a million forums and YT clips, and Nikon has no chance to beat the Canon in this area!
Thanks Sinisa . We've got a Canon 500D slr and a couple of lenses. We only use it for still images - no video as of yet.
Last week there was an item in the UK Channel 5 'Gadget Show' that compared a Canon 5D and an IPhone 4 with various attachments for video. Image quality on the 5D was, as you'd probably expect, stunning. One of the attachments for the IPhone was a mount that allows you to attach proper DSLR lenses. Not sure how stable/secure the mount was or indeed if the IPhone was overly front heavy with a lens on it.
One funny bit on the program - they attached the 5D to a remote controlled toy helicopter to take some aerial footage of a waterfall. The helicopter crashed in to a ravine . They managed to retrieve it and the footage was still fine (not sure about the 5D though).
reason for edit - wrong camera model - we have a 500d not a 550d
Thanks for the advice mate! I shall ponder thoroughly until September!
Awesome thread! I've used Nikons for many of my recent lessons, but never used Canon. I've heard good things about the Canon EOS line.
The best thing with Nikons and photo cams are lenses. They are BIG, and they point more light onto the chip. This is why they are better than cams. Good lens can cost almost as a body.
great thread, i love dslr's for video myself, i just love the shallow DOF and the fast lenses, i won't go back to regular cams.
My, my, how much I have to learn great thread Sinisa!
From the experience of using Nikons with various lenses for video recording, I found they are a bit impractical. Depth of field, colors and the geometry of a wider lens are really cool, but monitoring, codec, video length limit, focusing while shooting video, not so great. Even the resolution on couple of models was limited to 720p, and all record at 24p rate, which is a bit outdated. And these are still expensive cameras with expensive lenses, there are some very good camcorders with big lenses for that much money.
They are simply devices not adapted to video recording, but offer this possibility as an added feature. We will probably see revolution of this function on future cams tho, who knows, perhaps the integration of these two categories is close?
Awesome thread! I have seen this cameras but I had no idea of why people prefers it. Thanks for this clarifying thread Sinisa!
I'm convinced I give up
You're right about Canon man. Canon indeed looks very powerful. I haven't had the chance of working with it, but based on the features you wrote, it really offers more on every aspect.
Sinisa, it would probably be interesting to check out similar (canons) professional camcorder in the exactly the same price range. What would be the difference there? So, body+lens Canon cam and same price on the pro camcorder. Can we draw a comparison somehow?
Ah,it's difficult to draw parallels and not be subjective, from my point of view. I would like to mention something: DSLR video is still in its infancy, suffer from a few diseases such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_aberration, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter effect, things that are unimaginable for a camcorder, auto focus is slow and noisy, practically useless, but, I repeat, these are things that can be eliminated if you are persistent enough in fixing and adjusting !
What is, in my view, the advantage of a DSLR, is the ability to upgrade every aspect of recording, starting with changing lenses, special softwares, the depth of field effects, and so on. I'm talking about the price range of similar cameras in relation to the camcorders,which is below $ 1000.
Perhaps Adrian could give us more information because, if I remember correctly, he hadhttp://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=hf200&hl=en&prmd=ivnsfd&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1440&bih=746&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=7118933139584483031&sa=X&ei=9RxWTqL-O-Pe4QTwwvnMDA&ved=0CG8Q8wIwAA, and went on to EOS DSLR!
Wow, nice
I just found great pictures of upgraded Canons for filming purposes, check it out. Looks intimidating
How did I miss this thread? Great explanations in here, I should take part of it into our wiki
Bravo Ivan , that's gonna be a next theme for this topic: DSLR gadgets !!!
The good news for folks like IVAN and even ME is that DSLR video revolutionizing how the major vendors see their product lines. Already in production are the next generation of HD Camcorders that will incorporate many DSLR features (shallow depth of field, massive CMOS chip, great resolution/color/contrast etc.)
If you are interested in making Short Film/Documentaries, getting a DSLR is a great idea. It looks very "Filmic" and for the price, no HDcam can touch it's quality. There are issues of course, frame rates, codec limitations, having to run Dual system audio, lack of XLR jacks etc. But we are in a bit transitionary period just now. The end result will be better IMHO for everyone.
Sony has already Released their Firs Salvo in the HDcam meets DSLR trend
Here is a link. This HDcam uses the same sensor as their high end DSLR cameras. It costs about 2k.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/201036/sony_nexvg10_an_hd_camcorder_with_dslr_brains.html
As for my current setup, I"ve been using a SONY HC-7 for quite a while for recording lessons/video chats. It outputs HDMI and Firewire so you can capture it directly with just a laptop via firewire or you can capture HDMI to a capture card. It's been very solid and stable but I'd suggest getting a newer model that does not write to tape as tape is a bit of a dead issue. I keep thinking this camera will just stop working but it's just unbreakable!
Especially since you can get an updated SONY HD CAM for about $350 US!
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HDR-CX110-High-Definition-Handycam-Camcorder/dp/B0031RGKZI/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1314317982&sr=1-6
I'm really not that interested in amateur film making, just liking this discussion because it's technology related, and it just happens that I am introduced in the field, so we can create some sparks on the topic
I can use Nikon D300s for trying to create a film look, it's not a bad cam, and can enable me very nice depth of field effect, good colors, wide geometry.. It's just that I don't need it for what I do. For purposes of home videos and home filming, HDC-SD60 does a very fine job at a fraction of a cost. So the means - justify the cost.
NEX-VG10 is one of the first steps towards combining both technologies. Sony is just feeling the market with this one, but more will come in the future. It seems that the two technologies are bonding after all, and the big manufacturer confirms it. They are experimenting on their own customers first. It's an Alpha DSLR technology in a HD cam package prototype, removing some limitations like video length limit, better grip, mic.. Initial tests show that cam doesn't have that great quality in low-light conditions - for a 2K body and 1 lens. Also, from the specs you can see that it only records 1080i @60/50fps (US/EU fps).
I still don't agree that DSLR cameras are better than HD camcorders in the same price range. Each has it's own qualities. But, the opposites of opinions is what we need on this topic in order to generate some cool information material, which is what I like
I am glad that this discussion just gets on the swing !
Of course, it's not the purpose here to argue, but to look at the facts so that someone can get some valuable conclusions, and decide on possible purchase of any recording device...
edit:
One more thing: I would like to limit the story in a entry level cams, price range let's say- to a maximum of 1k - 1,3k $, because it is a tolerable price IMO and everything more than that goes into semi-professional and Pro products! I mean, I love my new toy, but I'm not so enthusiast (crazy) to give 5k $ for a Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, for example !!!
Some explaining of the shallow depth of field is needed on this topic as I see it.. I can possibly make a test video on my little Panasonic HD cam. It's capable of creating such effect, although it cannot match the lenses on DSLRs. But let's see what results I can achieve just with the entry level HD camcorder.
I'll try. The built in lens is 3-75mm, but it will be OK I guess
Great post Sinisa again
One other plus with a DLSR or SLR s for me is that you can add convertor mounts and filters that allow you to 'change' your lens. For instance you can use a tele convertor mount, whcih essentially increases the focal length of the lens you use - again you need a fast lens for it work though. You can also do the opposite and use a telecompressor mount which can be used to change the f value to a smaller one and in a similar way you can add wide angle mounts that can change a standard lens in to a quasi macro. The mounts aren't as good IME as a dedicated, specialised lens but can act as a stop gap and arguably are better than extender rings.
The most important filter for me though is a UV filter. I have one on my lenses all the time when they're in use not just to cut down UV but also to help protect the lens.
BTW with batteries - you can also get battery packs that will allow you to have a second battery in place on the camera so you don't have to swop out.
Great articles Sinisa!
I might use some stuff from the tripod article for my video production blog Very detailed stuff
Bingo! I've used that sound recorder and it's killer Records to SD card and will do 4 Tracks of Audio! Two XLR inputs and two on board mics. Just a killer unit. And only $300! US. Put that on your DSLR and BOOM Instant HD Cinema Style cam for a lot less than a RED or other spiff cam with HUGE sensor!
That's what I'm talking about, but no one believes me!
Update:
Yesterday I got Canon 50mm 1.8 lens, very cheap! Amazed with its sharpness!! This is a short video and Depth Of Field test !
Wow, sweet looking blur
Will do man, as soon as the month is over, I'm over my head atm
Just kidding mate take your time,no rush
That is awesome add-on to the camera
Alrighty guys! Since I am quite a newbie I would ask your opinion on this one, as I'm about to buy it this week!
http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d3100/
It's about 480 euros new from the store, so I was wondering if there would be better options in this price range! What do you think?
I'm not really sure about other cams mate. What I can tell you about that cam is that it is a very good amateur/semi-pro DSLR. It's easy to use, and not so heavy as "bigger" Nikons, so as a workhorse cam, with a good lens, it can produce very good photos, without the need to carry around bulky higher priced Nikon.
I used very similar model for several lessons, and I can tell you that for video I didn't like it that much. Good side is that Vegas is handling it's video files (avc codec, .mov) reasonably well, so you won't have much trouble when editing. Preview is watchable. The thing that I couldn't get off the picture was some type of artifact (that appeared on every Nikon I used), where very mild horizontal stripes go from down to up on the shot, like some sort of a scan phasing that goes upwards. These could be fluorescent light artifacts, cause I'm using halogen lights for recording, or just a problem with the sensor technology, but the artifact is there. It's not a big deal, but if you are paying 500e for cam, it's better not to have this.
So, if for video, better to do with good Panasonic HD camcorder in the same price range. If for shooting photos, better to go with Nikon. Bare in mind that HD camcorders are capable for making very decent amateur photographs these days too.
If we talk about the video mode I do not know much about Nikon, but I think it is good choice for the money! Here's a link that says a lot about this camera, compared with a camera that I have (Canon 550D)! The only thing I don't like about D3100 is that doesn't record in 25p in full 1080HD,but 24p.But suppose that a one frame does not mean much ! Yeah,there's one big advantage - it has a useful auto focus in video mode, which Canon doesn't!
I gotta say that I didn't liked that autofocus that much, cause it's a bit slow, but at least it's accurate.
PS somehow I always end up saying "bad" things about these cams
I noticed that, you'll ruin this topic !!!
I better watch it, or I'll be forbidden to post
Thank you guys! I'll consider my options thrice in order not to spoil the money on something which would not be that useful! I'm heading towards the shop today
These were my experiences with this Nikon camera. But as I said, this is for video, you can manage (I'm not sure what's the limit for recording, either 5 or 10 minutes per clip), but since it's 500e already, well, HD camcorders will do much more comfortable job.
On the other hand.. for photography, that Nikon is one hell of a cam. I wouldn't mind having it for that
decisions, decisions.. sweet torture
Update:
Playing around with Vegas Pro plug-in " Magic bullet Looks". 50mm 1.8 lens
!! don't comment on playing !!
Watch in 720p HD
I saw this thread when you first posted it Sinsa and it made me start thinking about getting a nice camera. Then while on a business trip to San Francisco last week, my associate showed up with his Canon 7D and some killer lenses. It sealed the deal for me when I googled around looking for DSLR info and stumbled on an article describing the "convergence of video and still photophography equipment. I've thought about getting a nice camera for quite awhile but the article made me think the timing is right. So I went to amazon, checked out the various product offerings and pulled the trigger on a Canon 60D with the 17-135mm zoom and one extra 50mm, F1.4 fixed lens. I'm a total newbie to photography but my dad was quite the enthusiast. He took photos of us on just about every event till we were sick of it. But I'm glad he did that cause now we've got a pretty good chronology of our childhoods and growing up. I'll probably use the new DSLR for the usual stuff like family photos, & landscapes. But for sure I'm going to explore it's video capabilities with future REC takes. By the time I do another 40 REC's, I'll probably be a decent guitar player, AND a decent videographer. Great posts everyone. I plan to check them out some more after I learn a bit about the new camera.
Good choice James,I can guarantee that you'll enjoy with your new toy! The only question is how much you are willing to explore it, because, I repeat again, that's not point and shoot unit, at least for the video recording. "50mm, F1.4 fixed lens"- great great lens ! If the price is acceptable- go for it
No doubt, there is a huge number of possiblities for making good shots as well as wrecking them . I've been reading the users manual a bit. The good news is that there are several fully automatic modes which will produce great results if not ideal for every situation. Venturing into the manual modes will be another story and the fun part I'm sure.
Nice shooting and playing Sinisa! Today IS SHOPPING DAY The biggest photo hardware dealer in Romania has opened a huge store - the grand opening is today and I am going to look around for the cam I was talking about in the earlier post : Wish me luck
SINISA! Todd here. I started a thread on EXPERIMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY and wanted to shoot you the link. I'm sure you have some wacky stuff!
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=41172&st=0#entry548843
Here are a couple of experimental pix to give you the general idea. I shot these in low light and tried to use the image sensor as a canvas and the light source as the brush.
Great thread. I bought a Canon T2i last year and it's a great camera. I believe the European version of this camera is the 550?
My main reason for purchase was to take pictures or my 8 year old sons sporting events as I got tired of blurry shots from not having a fast enough shutter(common problem of point and shoot cameras). I have used it to take quite a few family videos and rarely use my video camera these days. I just picked up a tripod with the goal of taking some guitar playing vids, so I will get a lot from this thead.
Gary
@Todd
I saw it man, will be an interesting topic
@Garry
Yes, 550D is the European version, I have a Japanese radioactive version Kiss X4 !
Very interesting new articles Sinisa, I'm learning a lot from these
BTW: Red Gian is giving away a starter version of Magic Bullet Looks for Stills. Not that great pix need fx, but just in case they do.
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/downloads/quick-looks-limited/
I would like to thank to our dear colleague Andrew Cockburn on this extraordinary attachment!!
Introduction
Without doubt, one of the most important ingredients to producing a good quality video lesson is the lighting. Without decent lighting, even the best lesson will be hard to follow and our students won't be getting all they can out of the video. Fortunately, this is an area of video production that is not too hard to get right, and with a few dollars it is easy to put together a system that will work well for GMC lessons!
What I am describing below comes from my research on the internet and also my direct experience - my first lessons weren't particularly well lit, but after a little work I have been able to make some significant improvements so i thought I'd pass some of the things I learned on to the rest of you!
Direct & Indirect Lighting
The first thing to realize about lighting is that there are different kinds of light! In fact its all the same thing really, but it matters how it is produced. Light that is produced from a point source is very direct, and casts very hard shadows - it is often called "hard light" for this reason. By contrast, light that is produced from a wider area casts less or softer shadow, and is called "soft" or indirect light. In fact all light is somewhere in between being completely hard or soft, it really depends on the size of the emitting surface. For instance, direct sunlight is a very small source and creates very hard light. But that same light, filtered by clouds is very soft because it is the whole surface of the cloud that is emitting the light.
In the pro lighting world, you use different accessories to get hard or soft light. Spotlights produce hard light, and are the basic type of light, if you add an unbrella to indirectly reflect the light it becomes softer. Also, you can add a thing called a softbox which is basically a sheet of cloth placed in front of the light - the cloth lights up and becomes a larger emitting surface.
Hard light is good at adding contrast, soft light is good at filling in dark areas. In a well set up lighting rig you need a bit of both. Too much soft light and your videos will lack contrast and look flat and lifeless. Too much hard light and your videos will look harsh and angular with deep shadows. Assuming that we're not all going to run out and spend $1000 on professional lighting kits, I'll give you some tips for creating hard and soft light a little later in this article!
Three Point Lighting
Now we know about the different light types, lets see how we use them to get decent subject illumination. As the heading title suggests, the best way to light for a GMC lesson setup is to use 3 lights - this is a staple technique in the world of videography and is often used for interviews and presentations.
The setup consists of 3 separate lights:
1. A Key Light - This is a hard light source, best placed diagonally from the subject, and in the case of people, slightly higher (this makes it cast more flattering shadows). In the diagram below, this is the conical light to the left.
2. A Fill Light - To balance out the harshness of the fill light, a soft light called a key light is used. This softens the harsh shadows and fills in the lighting on the subject. In the diagram below, this is the square light to the right, and you can see it casts a softer shadow.
3. A Back Light - The back light, which is usually soft too, exists to light the head and shoulders of the subject from behind, and above. It needs to be high up and pointing downwards to avoid dazzling the camera. With back lighting in place, the subject is picked out from the background and this adds more depth to the shot.The back light in the diagram below is obviously the one behind the subject!
Here's an idea of how this would all look in practice - each of these lights needs to be at least 500W, and some experimentation is needed to get the best balance of distances and powers. Once you have a good setup, write it down or photograph it or something - it is important to be consistent in the quality of our GMC lessons, and moving lights around because you can't remember where they were last time can very easily make a large change in the lighting quality.
If you don't have 3 lights use 2, if you don't have 2, use 1, but aim to get three in place if possible. In order of importance, they are:
1. Fill
2. Key
3. Back
Cheap & Effective Lighting
Pro light kits can be expensive, but the good news is that there are cheap alternatives available. By far the most popular amateur light is the humble quartz halogen work light - it looks something like this:
They come in different powers, singly, in pairs, on stands - the ones on stands are particularly good for our purposes! Start off with something like you see above, and take the metal grills off (as they cast shadows). In that form, you have a basic hard light, ideal for a key light. To make a fill light out of the above you have a couple of choices.
You can reflect it off a handy wall or ceiling - but if you do that, make sure the reflecting surface is white or you might end up with a weird glow to your videos!
You can diffuse the light - these things run hot though so be careful what you use for this - I use squares of fibreglass cloth, doubled up and taped around the edges with aluminium tape and then clipped to the lights, like this:
For my key light, I have taken a single 500W work light and mounted it on an old microphone stand to get it about 7ft into the air. My fill light is a set of 2 lights just like the above, with fibreglass diffusers, pointing indirectly, and both running at half power. For my back lights, I actually have 2 x 250 worklights clipped to my ceiling - I still need to work on this though as I think I need a little more power here.
One thing to be careful of - these lights get hot, so never leave them unattended or close to anything that might burn - the fire at Windsor Castle in the UK 10 years ago was supposedly started by one of these left unattended!
Also, don't forget sunlight! If you are lucky enough to have a room lit by sunlight, this is extremely powerful and free lighting! The best possible use of sunlight is as an indirect source of fill lighting. For this. mornings or evenings tend to be better as the light is lower in the sky and usually indirect because of this. You can suplements sunshine fill lighting with a key light to get the best of both worlds, but if you do this be careful of your color temperatures (see later).
Backdrops
Once your basic lighting is up to scratch, you can pay some attention to your backdrop. I have found a couple of useful things to help in this area:
1. Light your backdrop and use a light color - If you light your backdrop you will give your image quality a boost. The reason for this is that cheaper cameras like we use don't do so well in reproducing dark colours. You may see "noise" in areas of blackness. To get around this, just have as little black as possible! An entirely black background will give you large areas of noise. By contrast if you have a well lit, light background, there is no noise and the whole shot looks better. Make sure you are wearing something light as well for the same reason, but pick a contrasting colour from your background so that you don't merge into it.
2. Sit some distance in front of your backdrop - although this isn't possible for anyone, it is desirable - look at the image above, and you will see some shadows on the screen. Now, look at the same image, with the backdrop moved back a few feet - you will see that the shadows have gone! In fact they haven't gone, but through the geometry of light rays, they are further out to the left and right, and now fall off the screen onto the wall, and will be out of shot for your video. Of course you will also need a bigger screen for this, but this is a worthwhile improvement if you have the space for it. This also has the effect of blurring your backdrop slightly which helps with evenness, and puts more focus on your subject, which is another bonus.
With both of these ideas in operation, your backdrop will look neutral, be softly focused and bright and will blend into the background of your shot.
Colour Temperature & White Balance
One final thing to be aware of is that not all types of white light are equal! Because our eyes do such a good job of adjusting, we don't really notice this, but cameras do. Colour temperature is a term used to describe what characteristics this supposedly white light has. A lower colour temperature will have a red/orange cast to it, whilst higher colour temperatures are bluer.
Confusingly though, a lower colour temperature is called "warmer" - this is because a red/orange glow is associated with heat. Conversely, a higher colour temperature is called cooler because blue is associated with cold - so you have:
1. Higher Colour Temperature - Bluer - "Cooler"
2. Lower Colour temperature - Redder - "Warmer"
These temperatures have numbers associated with them, based on an ideal heat emitter in physics. Lower colour temperatures in photography and video start at about 2800k, which is the colour temperature for regular incandescent lights. Quart lights weigh in at about 3000 - 3200K so are less red. Traditional studio lights are around 3400K and daylight is way up at 5600k or higher.
These days you can buy a range of different bulb types and the colour temperature is often specified. IN particular you can get daylight balanced compact flourescent bulbds - ideal if you want to mix electric lighting with sunlight.
It doesn't matter what the color temperature is of the light you use as long as you adjust your camera to compensate. Many cameras have an automatic mode for this but it is best to do it manually. If you can't adjust it manually, your camera might have some preset modes for daylight, inside lighting etc. Finally if you can't do it with the camera, you can correct this in your editing software but in camera is best.
If you have manual white balance, do the following:
1. Turn on all your lights, exactly as they will be for the filming.
2. Get a white board and put it roughly where you will be sitting.
3. Zoom in and make sure the board fills the frame entirely
4. Tell your camera to set its white balance
Your white balance should now be set for this session - its best to do this every time.
If your white balance is not correct, your videos will have a colour cast to them and the colours will not look natural - correct setting of your white balance can make a huge improvement if you have been suffering from this problem.
Another important tip in this area is to avoid mixing lights with a different colour temperature. If you do mix, you will be unable to set your white balance to a setting that works for all the lights, and different parts of your set will have different colours - I know this from experience, as I currently light my backdrop with daylight balanced bulbs and the rest with halogen lights. Daylight is a higher colour temperature than Halogen so anything lit by those bulbs has a bluish cast to it. For my backdrop this doesn't matter - its just bluer than it would otherwise be, however, light does reflect onto me while I am filming and I often have to apply filters to remove a blue fringe. I will fix this as soon as I can afford to - don't make the same mistake I did!
Power Requirements
One final thing to bear in mind with any type of lighting - if you have enough lighting to do a good job, the chances are that you will be pulling multiple thousands of watts from your power sockets. If you overload a circuit you can often blow a fuse or pop a breaker - this is to be avoided if at all possible! The best way to do this is to try and plug different lights or groups of lights into different circuits.
Also, as I mentioned before, these lights get hot, so run them for as short a time as possible and never leave them unattended!
That's it for now - hopefully this will give newcomers some fundamentals to work on, and maybe it will help the more experienced instructors as well!
By Andrew Cockburn
thanks Andrew
Great article on lightning SInisa. I'll borrow some parts for my blog too
DSLR PICTURE STYLE
What is the Picture style?
It is simply a preset that has a dynamic range and color, depending on which object you're shooting - portrait, landscape, sport game, night shot ...,and any DSLR camera has its own factory presets.Lately, you can find custom presses that are much better and with whom you can really improve the picture or video from your device,with minimal effort.In fact, we know how much post editing known to be hard, well, these custom presets are true rescue! I personally use two custom presets -Tehnicolor Cine Style and Marvel's Cinestyle !
Both are great !!
It has been moved from gear board to instructor board, here's the link
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=39439
But it's about video production (nevertheless, the continuous lightning system should be of interest there too).
Second one looks really blown out!
Today I received a rare gift - Cosina 28-70mm lens.
It's an old lens, discontinued in 30 years ago, but provides excellent picture! Just to get an adapter ( M42 to EOS) so I could attach it to my Canon, you will get first hand information !
UH, nice! Interested in seeing the results!
Ok ,here it is, Cosina 28 - 70mm lens !
This morning I got a http://www.dinodirect.com/adapter-ring-brass-af-confirm-m42-lens-canon-eos-ef-camera-mount.html?cur=AUD&AFFID=97&utm_source=myshopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Digital+Camera+Accessories&utm_term=Brass+AF+Confirm+M42+Lens+to+Canon+EOS+EF+Camera+Mount+Adapter+R, which is used for a possibility to attach old lenses on new DSLR cameras.
This lens doesn't have sharpness as newer, but I like its softness and quality in low light conditions..
Messing around with Magic Bullet Looks and some beautiful music !
The first few seconds is a raw footage, and then .... magic
Watch in 720p resolution
Lens update:
Yesterday I bought a new baby - Helios 44M -2 (58mm f/2) ! Price - 10 euros !! For such a lens that's incredible !!!
I'm gonna throw a short demonstration of it these days
What a great video man! Magic Bullet Looks really looks cool, what a difference I have similar filter for Photoshop it's called "Exposure", and have installed MBL for Vegas but didn't used it. This should help me start experimenting in that direction. Thanks man
Hey guys,
My next DIY(do-it-yourself) project is a mini-crane, which gives a new perspective to video enthusiasts, check it out:
Yeah ,she's hot
Here's a REC take that I did using my Canon D60 and 50mm lens. Very low light for this video so I had the aperture set at 1.8. The lighting is natural, but the depth of field is so narrow that it's tough to keep a good focus if you move around in the slightest bit.
Does anyone know the best video format for YouTube uploads?
I recorded this at 1080p, 24fps. Then when loading to Sony Vegas I notice that it does not support that resolution for output. (I must have an old version of Vegas?) It's verison 8.0. And then, by the time you upload it to YouTube, who knows what kind of compression and resizing they've done.
Anyway, here's that video. I also posted it as a REC take.
I would love to have that crane.. only if it was so portable enough to put in a suitcase.
@JamesT
Something is wrong, James. With a D60 you should to have an extra quality picture. So the problem is editing and exporting ! I can't remember the settings in Vegas 8 (I have Vegas 10), but I think that you should try Sony AVC/MVC exporting option,with a 720p frame size,progressive scan, 2,500.000 bit rate,format mp4 ! That should work fine for a YTube !
Read the whole post !
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/24/878882
Rode Video mic
Very useful gadget if you are going to improve your DSLR audio quality. Price is very reasonable ($149) ,if we look at the most commonly used audio recorder Zoom H4n ($284) !
For a long time I follow the work of this SLR freak -http://www.learningdslrvideo.com/. This enthusiast has made website on which places various topics related to DSLR Video ! Enjoy
These are excellent videos indeed, cheers for sharing man
A beautiful 550D footage. Red Giant "Magic Bullet Mojo" plugin !
Awesome. I have a glidecam. Too bad, I don't use it as it gets so heavy on the arms. I need to travel.
On a YT is a bunch of "DIY" links . I would love to make them all at the same time , but first must to finish that mini crane mentioned above somewhere !
Okay this is a camcorder. This http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/camcorders/consumer_camcorders/vixia_hf_m40 looks promising.
There is some http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNmd2XAZqQE. It seems to respond to the movement well. I want something that will capture my guitar riffing and not cause a rolling shutter effect. I'm assuming I dubbed the "blinds look" correctly. As this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1wZXGkaCNg does - even though it's in lower light. It's a lower end quality cam though.
I am amazed at the quality of shots. I see that the camera is among the top 5 consumer cams ! An excellent choice! Do not worry about a rolling shutter effect / quality camcorders don"t have that problem. Some customers have found it for a $ 450, which is incredible, buy it now. Only downside I've found is the touch screen- is a bit tricky to use it especially if you have large fingers, the operating area is small. but I believe it is all a matter of get used to.
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-M40-Camcorder-Internal-Memory/product-reviews/B004HW7E3I/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending say enough about the quality of this camera.
THE RULES HAVE OFFICIALLY CHANGED / THE GAME HAS OFFICIALLY CHANGED / IT"S ALL CHANGED
Holy Crap Wow!
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera
12 Stops of lattitude, RAW, ProRes, 2k Video Recording! EF/ZF Lense Mounts. all for
$3,000
Game changer. The RED is no longer the king of the hill, nor is CANON, or the other big DSLR cams. This thing is so advanced I thought it was fake! I can't wait to get my hands on one!
I'm picking up a Canon T3i in a couple of weeks. I'm almost saved up!!!
Good point. The Glass can really get pricey as well. Once you kit it up, closer to 10k for a full camera. But this is a Digital Cinema camera so it will be in Rental Houses and such. My main point is that this establishes a new bar and It bodes well for consumer market. Now the major vendors will have to reach high and the cameras available to us regular folks are going to get way better and cheaper as this technology "democratizes" in a year or two.
Playing with a new Toy today! Going to shoot my instructor vid with as it's first project. Can't wait!
Running audio separately and recording directly to the computer so I end up with a quicktime movie with audio and video synced up. This cuts down on transfer times (getting footage off of a card etc.) and synch time, (synching up audio and video when using a DSLR is common since many folks use a seprate system for audio with various mics, mixer etc.)
congrats todd!
Great, congrats !! If you need any assistance about settings, I'm here to help as I can .
A few tips :don't forget to set the movie parameters to > manually. And something else - turn off image stabilization on the lens, it significantly extends the battery life! I guess that a camera would be on a stand,that eliminate the need for stabilization.
Hey mate Congrats! This looks like a nifty tool!
Update|
Yesterday I got a two outstanding lenses:
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens
Honestly, I don't know what to say other than - perfect. I would say that this is a "must have" lenses for every Pro photographer.
Since I will test them out for my video needs, I will show some footage soon...
Here are a few test pictures with 10 22mm
My summer residence
And one with 70 300mmm
Nice!! Haha, I love the computer shot.
I need a nice camera soooo bad. I'm still using my iPhone which is just getting unacceptable at this point.
Pics look great too. Even in the low light. The one on the bottom is especially sharp. I'll be interested to see what the video looks like.
Update:
These days I'm trying out a new version of Vegas Pro Suite software with a very interesting plug in -http://hitfilm.com/ultimate !
What is he able to do you can look below
I picked the worst footage and literally with a 2 mouse clicks I got...
YT embedding wont work ?!
http://youtu.be/9koMExqou5Q
A good friend of mine just purchased a device such as this one and he made a little video running around my house I'll see if I can get it and post it here!
Yeah Cosmin ,that would be great if you could
Uh oh thanks for reminding me man - I'll mail him right away!
Update :
Always been a Canon guy Over 7 years working on the old 350 Rebel XT for photos and now a happy owner of 600D. Love the manual mode. I can finally set up the exposure the way i like - changing focus points, depth and one of most important...I can make a solid backgound by over-ligthening the video and still keep my and my guitar colors and contrast in a good condition. Autofocus and auto white balance can sometimes look nasty while watching the video. When it's very bright I can easily set up the vid to loose some details in the background and make it solid.
Like mentioned somewhere above - cams are still not enought descent comparing with dslr devices in the same price range
Ok, here is (H)igh (D)ynamic ®ange video test.
Not that these are magnificent shots, but I'll share them anyway:
Oh ,I missed these shots... beautiful !!
Cameras ,lenses ,any specs please ??
I will have to make some pics for the PRS Akerfeldt I will try your advice and maybe you can tell me what I could do to improve Thank you in advance!
Yes! Go ahead and do that!
I didn't get to take any pictures. Maybe I'll take some photos of my strat, so I can sell it when I get home
Just kidding, it's not for sale...yet. Or maybe you've made me change my mind
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