New to video...advice needed

[Beastiedawg]

By trade I am a wedding and portrait photographer but I just would like to use the video on the 5d2 & 3 that I have sometime just for fun stuff.  Nothing really business related.  I have just used it a few times around the house, but I would like to learn more about it from a beginners point of view. 

Are there any tutorials, books, websites, etc that are good to get some basics? 

Thanks

[bluegreenturtle]

Philip Bloom's website.  He also has some instructional DVD's.  StillMotion has some good info on their website and they come from the wedding world, they also do a tour that you can buy tickets to and it's got a lot of information hands on.  There's really a wealth of stuff out there if all you want to do is to learn the basics, the technical aspects.  If you move on and decide to start trying to make some stuff (for work or well done personal stuff) then after you master the technical aspects there's a whole world out there of things to learn. 

[chops411]

www.learningdslrvideo.com is a Great site. Dave really explains everything very good for a normal person.

[DrDeano]

Philip Bloom's website.

+1 on this. Philip Bloom is a fantastic resource. As someone mentioned, he has a DVD set (you can buy then DL them) which are awesome for beginners.

Another great resource is: http://nofilmschool.com/dslr/

DSLR video is a fun world to play in.

[Axilrod]

Here are a few basics in terms of settings:
Turn Highlight tone priority and noise reduction off.
Use ISO's in multiples of 160 when possible
If you're shooting 24fps, your shutter speed should be 1/50, and 1/60 if shooting 30fps.
Turn sharpness as low as possible (0 on Mark II and 1 on Mark III)
Turn Contrast and Saturation down a couple notches.

[cayenne]

Here are a few basics in terms of settings:
Turn Highlight tone priority and noise reduction off.
Use ISO's in multiples of 160 when possible
If you're shooting 24fps, your shutter speed should be 1/50, and 1/60 if shooting 30fps.
Turn sharpness as low as possible (0 on Mark II and 1 on Mark III)
Turn Contrast and Saturation down a couple notches.

And be ready to do color correction and grading in post.

 

[Badger]

Great info. here. Thanks.

[Beastiedawg]

Thank you all for the great info.  I look forward to trying to learn about all this. 

Another quick question, I have most all of the basic L series glass and figure something in a short or standard length is probably best is the 35 1.4, 50 1.4 and 24-70 good places to start ? 

[Policar]

Buy this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-Camera-Course-Video/dp/0960371818

Just trust me! It's simple to read but the information is super advanced. Ignore the stuff on film camera mechanics, but pay attention to the stuff on stops, fov, etc. The composition chapter is amazing. Even gets into basic lighting. You can find some of the same info online, but this book is sooooo much better.

A normal kit for cinema production is 18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm (sometimes 14mm for on location or 135mm for some stuff), but that's for Super35. The focal lengths you'll need to cover for a "normal" kit are about 28-135mm.

So you're there. A 70-200mm zoom or 135mm f2 would complete things if you like that look, but you can shoot with the 35mm and 50mm alone or the zoom alone or whatever.

You WILL however need ND filters (.3., .6, .9, 1.2, etc.) and a polarizer. You want to keep your shutter speed as 1/50 and your f-stop no deeper than maybe f8 or f11 outside (usually) so for bright day exteriors those NDs are crucial. Most frequently ignored part of a complete kit, maybe. And get a nice fluid tripod, too.

[westr70]

Buy this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-Camera-Course-Video/dp/0960371818

Just trust me! It's simple to read but the information is super advanced. Ignore the stuff on film camera mechanics, but pay attention to the stuff on stops, fov, etc. The composition chapter is amazing. Even gets into basic lighting. You can find some of the same info online, but this book is sooooo much better.

A normal kit for cinema production is 18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm (sometimes 14mm for on location or 135mm for some stuff), but that's for Super35. The focal lengths you'll need to cover for a "normal" kit are about 28-135mm.

So you're there. A 70-200mm zoom or 135mm f2 would complete things if you like that look, but you can shoot with the 35mm and 50mm alone or the zoom alone or whatever.

You WILL however need ND filters (.3., .6, .9, 1.2, etc.) and a polarizer. You want to keep your shutter speed as 1/50 and your f-stop no deeper than maybe f8 or f11 outside (usually) so for bright day exteriors those NDs are crucial. Most frequently ignored part of a complete kit, maybe. And get a nice fluid tripod, too.

+ 1 I have the same book and it is great.  Love the illustrations.

[paul13walnut5]

I'll take it as read that you can work the camera already and can handle depth of field etc.

Basic stuff beyond that:

Use the 180 rule for the shutter (shutter should be approx double the frame rate, typically 1/50th for PAL, or 1/60th for NTSC)

Switch off AF

Support the camera

Use the WB presets.  If in doubt manually WB off of a grey card.

Try and get it right in camera.  It's not so easy to fix video in post.  Not impossible, just not easy.

Not so basic stuff beyond that:

Think of how shots will link up.  Cutting on motivation points is good.  3 shots (different FL different POV each time) make a sequence. 

Individual shot composition is still important, but flow and pace are also important.  Sometimes the movement will be primary to the composition.

Lean what the line is, and how not to cross it.

Sound is important, bad sound will ruin a video, and it's expensive to get right.  Don't buy cheap just now, buy good now.  Look at Rode NTG-2 or Sennheiser MKE600.  Mic off camera where possible, close to the subject.  A $30 mic stand is worth it's weight in gold.

Plug it into a beachtek or a zoom or a tascam.  Wear good headphones.

[DanThePhotoMan]

+1 to everyone that mentioned Philip Bloom. Anything you can so many useful techniques from him.

For beginners though, I am a huge advocate for not turning down contrast, saturation, or sharpness. Unless you have the correct software for color correcting, you're really taking a risk of hurting your footage. DSLR footage holds up terribly if you push it too far in color correction, and unless you're dealing with RED or some other uncompressed footage you absolutely MUST make sure it's exposed properly as well as everything else.

A lot of people discredit youtube, but there are some phenomenal tutorial videos on there. Once you have the rule of thirds down (which I'm sure you do as a wedding photographer), get a basic understanding of the 180 and how to work around it.

And just to reiterate, keep your shutter speed half of your frame rate: 1/50 for 24fps, etc. Also, if you can get your hands on cinema tools or some other frame rate conforming software, play around with 60fps. Even if you're not a fan of slow motion, it can still be pretty fun to play around with.

And definitely make sure to have either a preset WB or custom WB setting, simply because Auto WB will adjust itself automatically during shooting if you're light source changes.

Hope this helps!

[Axilrod]

+1 to everyone that mentioned Philip Bloom. Anything you can so many useful techniques from him.

For beginners though, I am a huge advocate for not turning down contrast, saturation, or sharpness. Unless you have the correct software for color correcting, you're really taking a risk of hurting your footage. DSLR footage holds up terribly if you push it too far in color correction, and unless you're dealing with RED or some other uncompressed footage you absolutely MUST make sure it's exposed properly as well as everything else.

+1, this is very critical.  You want to get everything as close as possible in-camera, especially the white balance.  Pretend the amount of color correction/grading you can do is a tank of gas.  There is a limited amount of stuff you can do before the image starts to fall apart, so you don't want to waste "a half a tank" fixing the white balance and exposure when you could have gotten it right beforehand.

[Axilrod]

Thank you all for the great info.  I look forward to trying to learn about all this. 

Another quick question, I have most all of the basic L series glass and figure something in a short or standard length is probably best is the 35 1.4, 50 1.4 and 24-70 good places to start ?

I would try and think about lenses in the same ways you would think about photography for the most part, same rules apply.  But yes, any of the lenses you mentioned are just fine for shooting video.

[samhodde]

Also check out Shane Hurlbut at hurlbutvisuals.com/blog.

A lot of his stuff is geared toward much higher budgets, but there is definitely some good info that you can pick out.