Video - anyone excited yet?

[brammers]

We've had video on DSLRs for a little while now - has anyone had a serious play yet? Any short films anyone would like to share, and any hints and tips?

I made my first 3 minute documentary the other week. I used a proper camcorder (and got very frustrated that it couldn't give me shallow DoF at wide-angle) and tbh I found the whole process fairly easy. Filming is very similar to taking pictures, and editing at the end was very much like writing my dissertation - you've just got to keep in mind all of the pieces that you have at your disposal, and then put it all together in a coherent fashion.

Now Sony's released a phase detect AF capable video mode in their new releases, I think I'm going to pick one up - along with a seperate audio recorder, and try to combine it with my stills. Like the look of the 5D Mk II, but no AF in video looks limiting for what I've got in mind, and of course I've got a load of Sony kit ready to go. Anyone else tempted?

[HSK]

Well, I've tried here and there, but nothing serious (but I really want to).

I've got a 7D, and at first I was really excited about using it for film. My background / education covered a lot of scripting, filming, post production etc...and yup, you're pretty spot on there, with using what you've got in a coherent fashion.

I think why I haven't really had a serious go, is because I need a subject / idea / vision etc! Totally lacking inspiration.

The focus issue was a bit of a hassle, so I can defo see why you might be interested.

I've always had to set up and plan my shot, some good colour grading later make a world of difference. I haven't had much experience with it to offer real great tips.

Anyways, this was my first ever quick attempt / test using an DSLR for video, put it together one night while I was ill indoors.

http://www.vimeo.com/8607663

Would be interested to see what yourself / others had put together also when they get time!

[brammers]

I'm with you on the subject bit. The short doco which I made (which I'll stick up here as soon as I get hold of a final copy) had the subject chosen for me, and come November then I'm off to become a snowboard guide for a season, so there I want to make a vid about the life of a seasonnaire, as well as produce a load of short clips highlighting resort life for a website - the action bits being why I'm excited about phase detect AF.

But stuck in Notts atm it's really hard. I want to do something about how old churches survive, but nobody wants to be filmed...

[fuddam]

the thing about video from DSLR right now is that while it might look good after the edit, and even on first render, don't consider it as a serious contender for broadcast.

why? because any broadcast signal has to go through ANOTHER compression phase, which is where the signal suffers greatly. I know many TV episodes have been shot using DSLRs, you'll notice they don't work that well where focus is critical or fast action. When they used a whole stack of Canon Mark II's for 24, it was for very non-critical work, ie the hazy, out of focus background material to car shots, so no-one would really notice the aliasing and artefacting.

you can get away with using them for web video, since there isn't the broadcast compression stage.

just so you know

[Biscuit]

the thing about video from DSLR right now is that while it might look good after the edit, and even on first render, don't consider it as a serious contender for broadcast.

why? because any broadcast signal has to go through ANOTHER compression phase, which is where the signal suffers greatly. I know many TV episodes have been shot using DSLRs, you'll notice they don't work that well where focus is critical or fast action. When they used a whole stack of Canon Mark II's for 24, it was for very non-critical work, ie the hazy, out of focus background material to car shots, so no-one would really notice the aliasing and artefacting.

you can get away with using them for web video, since there isn't the broadcast compression stage.

just so you know

Thats not exactly accurate. Web usually does have a compression stage between when you upload the video and when its available to the public. Vimeo is pretty good and isnt too tight with its bandwidth however youtube is dreadful.
When it comes to broadcast you cannot simplfy it to that level, there are many factors involved in saying how it will be compressed along the various phases. Fact of the matter is the cameras have been used for quite a few TV shows including the US series 'House' so it most definately can be done!

If i remember rightly the cameras store in .MOV h.264?

I think you can edit using that as baseline codec in FCP but im not sure of premier and avid. If you cant then i would recomend converting all your files to whatever uncompressed codec(or other clever pro codec similar to DNxHD/ProRes) before you start and work with them like that. Only drop down to a lower codec once you need to upload.

MOV or AVI using h.264 are obvious distribution choices but i would experiement with different profiles and settings for each one, some might work better than others depending on the type of material you are shooting.

[Bobster]

prepare yourself to spend more on equipment than you ever thought you would with still photography...

[Biscuit]

Indeed, i just got back from IBC and there was a lot of cool gear for using DSLRs as video cameras but it was seriously expensive!

[Ruggerbugger]

I'm quite keen on trying it for the airshows that I go to, enough that it's a box to tick whenever I get my next body. However, I've seen the equipment it takes people like Planes.tv to get their results, so I know the costs can spiral. Having said that, HD video through my stills camera, if using my lenses, AF etc, is definitely attractive.

Oh! Macro videos - and me without a decent macro lens yet... budget mounting already

[brammers]

Right - money where mouth is time. Here's my first film:

http://www.vimeo.com/15057667

It's very much a first effort, and only having control over the camera half the time didn't help either, but do tell me what you think. I can't wait to do another

[Ruggerbugger]

Nice job I went to look at the technical aspects and actually stayed for the story. I think there was a noticeable drop in quality with the faster pans and outdoor shots; inside/talking heads sequences looked much better. I guess that's a lot to do with the light. Is there much difference between the out of camera file quality and the web-encoded version?

[brammers]

Cool - I'm glad you thought it was watchable.

Regarding the technical shots - it was shot by 2 people. I'm obviously fairly experienced with cameras, the other guy was new to it all, this accounts for much of the variable quality. I don't think it's too important in the context of a first effort though.

I really enjoyed the editing process - I mentioned writing my dissertation up above and it really was exactly the same. For my dissertation I'd read read hundreds of books and translated a few tens more from Chinese and all that information was dumped into a big one-note document. The writing was then a process of fitting that information into the vague framework that I'd decided upon when I started the research - a framework that I could alter if I wanted to.

The vid was exactly the same - vague idea about what you want people to say, but if they say something different then go with it. Shoot for 45mins, cut to 3. I love the way that some little snippets appear exactly as I planned, but others I'd never even thought of and were entirely the ideas of the other 2 people on the team. Just a really fun process

[brammers]

Oh - about the quality, I dunno - I was shielded from most of that. I'll probably be picking up an a55 soon though, and I'll let you know then

[HSK]

I think you've done pretty well there brammers, there were some especially nice imagery / bits in there that I liked.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Oh - about the quality, I dunno - I was shielded from most of that. I'll probably be picking up an a55 soon though, and I'll let you know then

I am interested in this camera too. Is it possible you could give us a user review if you buy one??

[brammers]

Thanks HSK. I think that one thing that really came out is that you really can't compromise when it comes to camera stability. My shots were mostly tripod based, and even there you can see some wobble. The shots I took of the booking screen and the ticket printing/taking sequence I used a monopod for reasons of speed and convenience and I think the quality suffered. The other camera-man didn't like the tripod much; not a great result imo. Can't wait to get my Arca-swiss stuff into the action

Cat - I'm not massively interested in it as a stills camera, I'm really after it because it's the only camera out there that can do phase-detect AF in video. I'll be sure to give it a quick once-over though.