5D Mark III video settings for shooting drag races

[Lance James]

I have a shoot in two weeks shooting vintage drag racing. This is going to be a challenge and would love some advice on best practices.

I have a shoulder mounted rig I will be shooting with. I am trying to figure out what eye piece/diopter to use. I haven't been able to find one that will work with the larger LCD screen. If you know of any let me know. Lenses will be the 17-40, 24-70 and 70-200. I have an external mic as well I will be running.

My main concern is keeping focus. I was thinking of running at f22 and trying my best to adjust by hand to keep it all in check. Plan was to shoot at 24fps, I am looking for a cinematic look. Shutter speed at 50. ISO at whatever I need it to be shooting at f22. I did some tests tonight and it looks like I need to be two stops over to get good exposure.

Next step is to shoot some test footage and bring in to the computer to check it out.

Thanks,

Lance

 

[Lance James]

Really, no advice from anyone????

Can anyone point me to a website that has info on shooting video with a DSLR?

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

are you going to be shooting in the middle of the day? If it's bright sunshine then shooting closed down might be your only choice. f22 isn't really in the wheelhouse of those lenses. If I had to shoot in bright light id use some density filters and aim for f11. The good thing about dragsters is you know where they are going, so you might consider practicing a panning shot off the line with a tripod.

 

[Lance James]

Yes, mid day, lots of sun. I will be jumping from video to still shots all weekend long.

What do you mean f22 is not in the wheelhouse of these lenses?

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

In general, lens resolution peaks at a mid-range aperture, then begins to fall off. Also, if you are going for the cinema look you need a shallower depth of field. I understand the desire to get things in focus, but I think you are going a bit overboard in my opinion.

 

[Lance James]

Thanks, you think f11 would do it? I understand what your saying now.

What about camera settings for video.

60fps to catch the quick action without the jitter. I can always apply a cinematic look in post right.

Shutter speed?

White balance?

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

I would stick with 30fps at 1080p because it allows you to crop in post(if you want). It'll be plenty smooth. It'll be hard to make it look film-like in post at 60fps, because it necessitates a faster shutter speed, even if you were to drop frames.

F11, seems reasonable. With a shutter speed of 1/50 or 1/60. I'd use the sunny or cloudy white balance setting depending on what you get. They work pretty well outside. Pay close attention to your screen, because it's very easy to blow out the highlights shooting metallic things in the sun. You, should zoom in on bright spots to make sure they aren't being clipped. Although, if you are in bright sunshine, some clipping will be inevitable if you want any detail in the shadows.

 

[Lance James]

I was rethinking that last night about the 60fps. I'm not a fan of 30 as I dont like the video look, maybe I can deal with 24 at 1080? I need to run some tests I guess before hand to see how it all comes together.

 

[Axilrod]

I wouldn't shoot 60fps since it's only 720p, and I think you're a little too worried about frame rates, the video will look just fine at 24fps. Shutter speed needs to be 1/50 for 24fps or 1/60 for 30fps. Set your white balance to daylight (5500k).

I would NOT use a shoulder rig for this, it's very difficult to make smooth pans and movements with a rig and if you are shooting all day your shoulder is going to hurt like hell after a while. You should use a tripod, I think you'll be very disappointed with the results if you try to shoot the whole thing with a rig. As for what aperture/focus, you're going to have to stop down quite a bit, ND filters would help but it all depends.

Honestly, based on the questions you have I'd say you have your work cut out for you. A 5DIII is a serious camera for a beginner. I'd try and keep things as simple as possible, it's very easy to make mistakes with these things. But do yourself a favor, go get a tripod/fluid head, I promise you'll be much happier with the footage.

 

[Lance James]

Thanks for the input. Yes, going with 24p and 1080 for the shoot. Speed will be 50. I am looking for a tripod now, can anyone give me some advice on what would work well with the DSLR set up? Trying to keep the cost under 300.

I have enough time to get it ordered through B&H and still get it before I leave for the shoot.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Lance

 

[Axilrod]

Thanks for the input. Yes, going with 24p and 1080 for the shoot. Speed will be 50. I am looking for a tripod now, can anyone give me some advice on what would work well with the DSLR set up? Trying to keep the cost under 300.

I have enough time to get it ordered through B&H and still get it before I leave for the shoot.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Lance

If you can only spend $300 I would go for the Manfrotto 501HDV: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/619404-REG/Manfrotto_501HDV_547BK_501HDV_547BK_Video_Tripod.html
It's a little bit more than $300 but it's a complete kit.

I have that one and the 504HD head/526B sticks and they are both excellent tripods. I use the 501 mainly for static shots but it moves smoothly for the price.

 

[jrod]

I am a bit new to the DSLR video but I can say that when I shoot something fast moving like a drag race or sports I have always used a shutter speed of 1/125-1/500 to reduce the motion blur. I have found it can make the video look a bit sharper and if you try to slow any of the footage down it looks much cleaner. This may or may not go with the "look" you are going for but it is worth trying. Before the last race I did I just went down to the closest highway and practiced following focus and tried different camera settings.

 

[Lance James]

Ended up going with the Manfrotto 055XB tripod with the 128RC fluid head. I also have a monopod to use if I need to.

jrod, thanks for the iput on shutter speeds. This will be a good event to try things out to see how they work.

 

[Lance James]

Just an update. Shot the event on friday thru sunday. Captured about 3.5hrs of video. Camera worked very well but my skills are still lacking. The camera worked better than me for the most part. Got some amazing footage and some really messed up footage, "all my fault" but overall I am pretty happy with the results. I knew it was going to be trial by fire and it was. But thats okay, I learn very quickly that way. I am working on editing all the footage now. Will be interesting to see how much ends up in the final cut. Goal is to produce a DVD for sale. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I will eventually put up a teaser trailer on youtube.

Some technical info. I used a Rode mic to capture all the sound. That is when I remembered to turn it on. I eventually just left it on the whole time so I wouldn't forget. Worked well that way and the battery lasted just fine. Went thru 4 fully charged Canon batteries. Had a 32gig chip that I kept off loading to my Macbook Pro. Most I captured at one time was about 19gigs. I did learn that its difficult for me to switch from still pics to video with the camera. Next time around I will be shooting stills with my other Canon and not touch the setting on this one once its set up for video. This caused me major problems, partially because I am not familiar with it enough yet to move around all the settings. I shot the whole things at 24fps at 1080. Shutters speed varied but I tried to keep it at 50. The problem I had was when I had it at 50 the LCD was dim? When it went up higher the screen became brighter. I dont get that. My ISO I had set on Auto and my white balance set to sunny.

I shot with a rig the first day, tripod the second day and hand held the third. All three with good results. Hand held was with wide angle lens and came out smooth enough to use. Primary lens was a 24-70 2.8L second lens was my 70-200 which was only used on the tripod.

thats it for now I think. Back to editing.

 

[Axilrod]

Just an update. Shot the event on friday thru sunday. Captured about 3.5hrs of video. Camera worked very well but my skills are still lacking. The camera worked better than me for the most part. Got some amazing footage and some really messed up footage, "all my fault" but overall I am pretty happy with the results. I knew it was going to be trial by fire and it was. But thats okay, I learn very quickly that way. I am working on editing all the footage now. Will be interesting to see how much ends up in the final cut. Goal is to produce a DVD for sale. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I will eventually put up a teaser trailer on youtube.

Some technical info. I used a Rode mic to capture all the sound. That is when I remembered to turn it on. I eventually just left it on the whole time so I wouldn't forget. Worked well that way and the battery lasted just fine. Went thru 4 fully charged Canon batteries. Had a 32gig chip that I kept off loading to my Macbook Pro. Most I captured at one time was about 19gigs. I did learn that its difficult for me to switch from still pics to video with the camera. Next time around I will be shooting stills with my other Canon and not touch the setting on this one once its set up for video. This caused me major problems, partially because I am not familiar with it enough yet to move around all the settings. I shot the whole things at 24fps at 1080. Shutters speed varied but I tried to keep it at 50. The problem I had was when I had it at 50 the LCD was dim? When it went up higher the screen became brighter. I dont get that. My ISO I had set on Auto and my white balance set to sunny.

I shot with a rig the first day, tripod the second day and hand held the third. All three with good results. Hand held was with wide angle lens and came out smooth enough to use. Primary lens was a 24-70 2.8L second lens was my 70-200 which was only used on the tripod.

thats it for now I think. Back to editing.

You said the LCD looked dim with the shutter at 50, was the meter indicating it was properly exposed at that point? It may have looked brighter because of the auto ISO, when you switch to a faster shutter speed the ISO gets bumped up to compensate. Higher ISO=more noise, so keeping it at 1/50 would have allowed you to use a lower ISO. I think if it was very sunny that could affect the perceived brightness, but you can always change the LCD brightness to manual and raise the brightness accordingly. I would avoid using auto ISO settings, the changes are very noticeable and certain ISOs produce more noise than others (160,320,640,1250,1600 produce less noise than 200,400,800,1000).

And to get around your issues switching between stills and video, I suggest this: Set up a custom function for still settings and save it. Then when you go out to shoot video, put the dial on M and set up for shooting video. Then if you run into a situation that you need to shoot some stills you can just flip over to C1, shoot your stills and then when you go back to M it will still be the same video settings that you were using before.

Anyways, I'm glad the shoot turned out pretty well, every one is a learning experience and you'll get better with each one.

 

[MK5GTI]

just wondering how are you capturing these drag race, as in where you stand.

were you somewhere in the middle up high and just pan, or standing close to the end zone? or even in car?