I've always had interest in it, but never had a video camera (still don't really), but have begun shooting video since I got my D300s

I just wanted to start a thread to maybe bring some videographers together, maybe learn some tips and tricks from everyone.

Relatively new to video, okay, I'm actually super new, am using After Effects, know some basics, that's about it.
Anyways, here is basically where I'm at with video (not much lol)

good stuff there! I like roar before rolex a lot

Quote from Tomba(FIN) :

good stuff there! I like roar before rolex a lot

What she said.
Also who thought taking a MX5 onto a beach was a good idea?

Good stuff indeed

Looks like I might have to convert and become a Nikon/Canon/Pentax guy since Sony still can't be bothered to join the dSLR video party

I bought a 550D recently and would love to get into shooting video with it as I love the cinematic look of SLR video with the blurred background etc, have you seen the Nurburgring 24H video shot with a 5D?

Also I like your movies

I wish I had a Canon 7D lol; being able to shoot at 720p at 60p would be phenominal! The 300s only shoots at 24p under all settings, I hate it

Thanks yall, really just trying to get out there and shoot more video, but, it's a lot more work than just going out and taking photographs haha.

I would say though, totally go Canon just because it has FAR more history with video than Nikon ever has, and they've got it set with the 7D, it is by far the champion of slr video.

I've been going pretty cheaply on video rigs to shoot with too, just for stabilization and for longer more active shoots (like the Daytona video where I was walking around for easily 8 hours with my camera on my back and a huge lens)

I would prefer to get something super nice, but.. you gotta pay the price, and that price costs as much as coilovers lol.. so.. personally, I'd much rather have coils on my car haha. So I'm stuck with some things from cheesycam.com which they work great.. and are super cheap which is great.

@TiJay, no I haven't, but i'll totally look it up right now!

The 550D shoots 1080p at 30fps and 720p @ 60 (may be wrong about that last figure) and was only £620.

That looks really good Well done

Quote from TiJay :

The 550D shoots 1080p at 30fps and 720p @ 60 (may be wrong about that last figure) and was only £620.

Hmm

Problem is is that I already have lots of money put into Nikon, it would seem slightly wasteful to drop that much on a Canon that I use only once in a while for video.

Sooo no one else shoots video?

Quote from XCNuse :

Sooo no one else shoots video?

I always shoot video's with my JVC GZ-HD620.

I'm going to Circuitpark Zandvoort a few times this year, and I'll shoot some nice video's there.

Quote from XCNuse :

Sooo no one else shoots video?

No. I just popped into this thread to ask how your 3D is going

No 3d; I don't have 3dsmax on my computer anymore; got it on an external, but still runnign the same harddrive since I got this computer so I've only got 160gb lol so.. no space between photos and video and 3D, I've been sitting at like 10gb left, just don't want to spend the money on a drive lol

I will say though, there have been a few times I wish I had 3dsmax still running on here, but I haven't put it back just for space reasons; I for sure miss doing it, and will gladly go back and do it all over again; when I have the space and time for it though
No I do miss it though, I really do.

You can upgrade to a Nikon D7000 as it shoots 1080p @ 24fps if you want.

I have a Canon 7D and while it's really good at shooting video, the Canon 60D and Canon 5D Mark II do better (60D because of the screen and manual audio control with defeatable automatic gain control while 5D Mark II because of the sensor and defeatable automatic gain control).

Best thing is stabilization. How you do it is up to you. I use a combo of IS lenses with a tripod. I actually fold my tripod up and shoulder it like some sort of rocket launcher to shoot my video because I'm cheap. I highly recommend a fluid head tripod if you plan on setting the tripod on the ground though.

Next is color grading, which is explained quite nicely in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xTZtgApuDI
Pretty much the best way to to make your movie look like a film. You want to get the flattest colors and contrast to do color grading with so I think for your D300s, you go to your Picture Control settings and tweak the saturation and contrast to their minimum (or less if you don't want to do intense color grading).

Last is audio. Best way to do it is to use a separate recorder with a high quality mic attached to it and sync it in post. I don't know what to recommend for that though because I'm still new to audio.

Oh, don't be afraid to use in-camera noise reduction for high-iso shots. Nikons have really nice, clean noise.

Nice use of Vetiver.

Recently got a T2i (i think its d550) and LOVE IT. Had a panasonic HD camcorder which im selling since i wont use it ever again after buying my lovely camera.

Been filming my daughter, trying out lots of things, its a blast. Bought a copy of Vegas for editing\comp, it works wonders for how much it cost. I've always bought canon cameras, for the last 10 years its all been canon, never dissapointed.

@scatter I really don't need 1080p, that's just a huge format for no reason; I don't need a resolution gain, I need a speed gain lol; the 24p is killer in video! That's what is nice about even the cheap Canons, they shoot minimum at 30p

The last one with JJ I finally got into a tiny bit of color correction; the Daytona and before videos are completely stock from camera.. which, some cases I needed it. Honestly though I'm pretty happy with the 300s' capture, it doesn't flatten it or push colors or darks bad at all;

Here is a retarded and photoshop destroyed image of me with the rig I got the week before the Rolex video; it's a great setup.

It is from cheesycam.com; it was super cheap; the shoulder mount is great; the expensive things were that LED light (which is SUPER bright and awesome btw) and the LCD loupe

also, my audio is through Rode Video mic; I really want a better one though just because the camera controls so much of the microphone it's ridiculous, the tones just sound strange...

yesterday:

Nice video, shame at the end also the part at 1:10 to 1:32 was very well done.

Very nice vids, XCNuse. I'm more into photography than video, but I do plan on shooting stuff here and there to use in conjunction with 3D. I'm inexperienced in the dSLR field though - bought my first one few months back.

I didn't scrutinize your vids, but the last airplane vid seemed a bit wierd to me. It's as if there is a complete lack of motionblur and therefor looks like something shot with a regular consumer camera. Any explanation?

Yes; dSLRs use what's called a rolling shutter (similar to how cellphones work); you can get some WEEEIIIIRDDDD effects with them because of the way it captures images. Also the other reason is because my camera captures at 24p (24 fields per second), which is bare minimum; Canons shoot on average 30p, and a 'good' camera, good in both dSLR and actual video cam shoot up to 60p which is excellent for motionblur and slowing motion (because it captures 60 frames per second as opposed to only 24)

You will also notice the effect in the Rolex video of some objects that go by fast have a slant to them (think.. normall you see | with rolling shutter you see / )

here for example is what you can get with a rolling shutter
It's a rather strange phenomenon



that is an extreme though; that's what you get from cell phone cameras really; i'm not sure what they shoot at speed wise.

For the most part though SLRs you only get the slanting or what some people call "jello" effect

Not much you can do :/

All SLRs right now suffer from this jello effect; higher field per second cameras like the 7D still have this effect; however with the 7D you can capture aircraft much more properly. I'm just dealing with what I have, but yes it does look weird!

You just confused me even more. I'm familiar with rolling shutter (actually seen vids with propellers like the ones in your pics) but I've never seen rolling shutter and motionblur being mentioned in the same sentence. I must add though that it's a subject (rolling shutter) I've never dug deep into simply because it haven't been relevant for me. Both personally nor professionally.

But still... 24fps is a slow shutter speed, so I'm wondering why there isn't at least some motionblur. The first vid of yours is smooth - because of the blur. The last one staggers a lot because of the lack of it - and you used the same camera.

I just googled a bit and found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7En9GErRVY

You see a severe rolling shutter, but also motion blur - and the pan is smooth because of it. Could it be that the cam uses faster shutterspeed (depending on light situations), but only stores 24fps? that would make better sense to me, tbh.

Edit: I suppose it can't be "shutter speed". I dont hear flik-flik-flik 24 times per second Bad wording... sensor scanning speed/frequensy?

Like I said, nearly all canons shoot at a minimum 30fps (fields per second as opposed to frames per second say like a normal camera could shoot [a damn fast one at that!])

All cameras that shoot video will get this rolling shutter effect, (if they're CMOS) just because of the way they "scan" the image from top down; even normal video cameras get it, but you don't see it nearly as much because video camera sensors are .. small .. especially when you compare them to an SLR.

So here for example is an image of one of Sony's SLR sensors, and one of their "handycam" sensors



Quite a difference; so the problem with SLRs is that clearly, their sensors have much more distance to scan; whereas typical video cameras have hardly any space.
So you get that weird jello effect.

Honestly though I'm no expert on this subject, this is just what I've learned about it thus far, I'm sure someone well more knowledgeable on the subject could clarify things, but it's a pretty weird thing to me too.


The aircraft thing also comes down to this; this video of helicopter testings show what's going on. They set the shutter speed to the RPM (or some division / ratio of it, I'm not sure exactly) so that the rotor blades stay still so they can watch for warpage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ6vadFVjYg

So what you're getting when shooting at 24fps is a rather similar effect; the blades are spinning super fast, but the sensor isn't picking up but only 24 images per second; as opposed to say 60 on the average camera.

If that helps any?

I completely agree with you and your explanation is how my understanding of rolling shutter is too. I also agree with the sync thing (something I've experienced on my own while working with animations ) - however I don't think it's related to rolling shutter at all.

I found this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJOzXlAj8SA

My cam doesn't allow me to adjust shutter speeds for filming, but it seems it can be forced if I use a manual lens. Again, this makes much more sense to me and goes better along with general rules of photography: slower shutter = more motion blur. Good think it can be forced too (may be different from cam to cam).

I was able to verify my theory without having a manual lens.

You can see the result here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBrP39vsEx0

In the first clip I metered for the lamp and locked the reading.
In the second one I metered the edge of the lamp and once again locked the reading prior to recording.

The difference is shutter speed. I can't see what they are while I'm in movie mode, but I could see them in other modes that metering the lamp was around 1/250-350th, while metering the edge was down to 1/10-20th. I do not believe the cam actually recorded at 1/10-20th since I believe there is a limit for slowest shutter speed - or rather, that's what I read somewhere

This is really good to know - I first thought the shutter speed would be in sync with the fps, or that it at least always was the same fixed speed. But being able to affect it by selective metering, it's possible to make sure the vid's remains smooth by introducing of motion blur. I personally don't find vids with lacking motion blur too appealing. So, if the lighting conditions are bright enough then you'd have more creative freedom.

That makes sense; I think it's because with Nikon SLR video you can only alter your Aperture; everything else is automatic no matter what...

I probably could have gotten some motion blur if I stopped the lens down all the way for the airplane video; but I think I was running wide open for some dumb reason. I'm not sure.

I know the Rolex video was completely shot at f/2.8 at all times; and the skate video I did recently was mostly at f/8 (except with the wideangle lens, I think it was just at f/4.5 for those.

I'll have to do some tests and see what I come up with then..