Filmmaking 1-2-3: dslr

Showing posts with label dslr. Show all posts

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Weight of Canon 6D setup

My Canon 6D lens setups and their weight:

These setups include the weight of the memory card and battery. Yes, it's small, but it matters when balancing a camera on a gimbal or stabilizer.

Canon 6D body only (with memory card and battery)
26.8 oz. (760g)

Canon 6D with 50mm f/1.4 lens

Canon 6D with 24-105 f/4 lens:

Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens ($330 version)
10.23 oz (290 g)

?? - * with UV filter

Canon 24-105mm f/4 (version made before 2016)
1.47 lb (670 g) [B&H Photo]
27.820 oz. (788.6g) [Ken Rockwell]

The total weight determines which gimbal systems can be used to effectively support the camera.

Other items to consider when weighing your camera rig:

Lens filters
Shotgun mic

Thursday, November 3, 2016

DSLR Camera Price History and Feature Comparison

Canon 5D Mark IV
30 MP Full-Frame
7 frames per second continuous shooting
4k video at 24p and 30p
1080p video up to 60p
Dual CF & SD Card Slots
View on Amazon
View on B&H
Price: $3,500 on 11/3/16

Canon 5Ds
50 MP Full-Frame
1080p video up to 30 fps
5 frames per second continuous shooting
Dual CF & SD Card Slots
View on Amazon
View on B&H
Price: $3,500 on 11/3/16
Model R version without the Low Pass Filter is $3,700.

Canon 5D Mark III
22 MP Full-Frame
1080p video up to 30 fps
6 frames per second continuous shooting
Dual CF & SD Card Slots
3.2" LCD
View on Amazon
View on B&H
Price: $2,500 on 11/3/16

Canon 6D
20 MP Full-Frame
1080p video up to 30 fps
4.5 frames per second continuous shooting
3.0" LCD
View on B&H
View on Amazon
Price: $1,500 on 11/3/16

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Total Cost of Buying a Panasonic GH3 for Wedding Videography

Using a static camera to focus on the bride or groom's face when filming weddings can mean the difference betweeen a profesisonal final product or an amateur effort.

Why buy a Panasonic DSLR for wedding videography?
They are the only DSLR manufacturer that allows their cameras to record for longer than 30 minutes continuously. If you're filming wedding ceremonies or any other live event that runs longer than 30 minutes, other great DSLRs from Nikon and Canon may create production challenges.

Regular DSLRs can also overheat if they are used continuously throughout a day for too long. Panasonic has engineered their GH3 and GH4 cameras to withstand longer video recording times.

If you're considering buying a Panasonic GH3 for wedding videography (as a second camera), here's a cost breakdown for the camera and accessories you'll need.

Panasonic GH3 camera body
$800-850 new or about $620 used in very good condition.

Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 lens (70-200mm equivalent)
$1,095 to 1,500 new or about $940 used.
This lens will allow you to get tight close-ups that are essential to capture the emotion of a wedding ceremony. This type of cinematic look will separate you from videographers that are using camcorders.

Panasonic DMW-BLF19 Lithium-Ion Battery (extra battery)
$51
If you're shooting long events, keep at least three batteries for each camera. Four batteries will probably ensure you don't run out of power.

Tiffen 58mm Variable ND Filter (fits the Panasonic 35-100mm lens)
$110
Anytime you're shooting outdoors and want to keep a fast aperture to get the cinematic look, you'll need an ND filter to reduce the light reaching your lens to allow f/2.8-f/5.6 to be possible.

Shotgun mic (to pickup scratch audio for syncing later or ambient audio when filming things other than the ceremony)
$200-300

Panasonic MS2 Shotgun Microphone
$230

Rode VideoMic Pro
$203

Rode Stereo VideoMic Pro
$259

Here's a cost summary for buying the Panasonic GH3 to shoot medium telephoto footage. Again, this assumes you would be buying the GH3 as a second camera when you already own a Canon, Nikon, or Sony DSLR.

Camera $800
Lens $1,200
Two extra batteries $102
Variable ND Filter $110
Shotgun mic $230
-----------------
Total: $2,442

10 Things to Know About Videography with DSLR Cameras

Most DSLRs can only record for 20-30 minutes per clip. Nikon, Canon, Sony, and most major DSLR makers have set a maximum clip limit at 29 minutes and 59 seconds to avoid a European tax on cameras that record for more than 30 minutes continuously. The only DSLR cameras on the (2015) market that shoot longer than 30 minutes are the Panasonic GH2, GH3, and GH4.
Focusing (pulling focus) on a DSLR can be very difficult on the fly. Focusing using your camera's viewfinder for photography is easy, but constantly changing focus using a tiny 3" LCD is very difficult . Shoot at f/4-5.6 to still get shallow depth of field with your telephoto zoom lenses, but give yourself a wider target to hit.
Video will be unacceptably shaky unless you use some kind of camera support. Wedding and event videographers typically use monopods or shoulder mounts to quickly move from shot to shot. Turning on image stabilization in your lenses will also help smooth out camera shake when not using a tripod.
Older DSLRs do not shoot full 1080 HD at 60 frames per second. Only specific models of DSLR cameras (and the 2015 models from Nikon and Canon) can shoot slow motion at 1080p. Many professional camcorders offer 1080p at 60 frames per second, but most DSLRs on the market today only shoot 60 frames per second at 720p.
Be prepared for extra audio equipment. External audio recorders are essential if you want to capture professional quality audio. Some DSLRS do not have a headphone jack to monitor your audio, but you can solve this problem by using a splitter cable on your audio recorder. One end of the splitter would feed into your DSLR so your audio can be pre-synced and the other end would allow you to monitor the audio with headphones.
ND filters are not built into DSLRs. If you're shooting in sunny or partly sunny conditions, you'll need an ND (neutral density) filter to reduce how much light is reaching the lens. This will allow you to keep the cinematic look. Without an ND filter, you'll have so much in focus that it will look like you filmed with a camcorder. Look for a variable ND filter that can give you 2 to 6 to 2 to 8 stops of light reduction. Lenses can have different filter thread sizes (measured in mm). Most professional Canon lenses use a 77mm filter thread, so you may be able to get away with buying only one or two ND filters.
Have lots of batteries on hand. If you're shooting live events where the camera cannot be plugged into the wall for power, ensure you have lots of extra batteries. When recording video, DSLRs drain batteries very quickly. I recommend having a minimum of three batteries for each camera if you want to film weddings or other long events. Bring your battery chargers with you just in case you need to recharge them on location.
Always use full manual exposure. Even mid-range DSLRs that shoot video should allow you to have full manual control over your Aperture (F-stop), shutter speed, and ISO settings.
Focusing will be even more difficult in low-light situations. Modern DSLRs can produce fantastic images at high ISOs, but because the camera sensor is doing extra processing for low-light settings, the image on your Live View LCD will be less sharp than when you're shooting in daylight. It will be more difficult to tell if your focus is set correctly. Use an on-camera LED light or another light strategically positioned and "gelled" to give your camera more light to work with so you get sharper and less noisy footage.
Faster memory cards will save you time. Ensure you purchase CLASS 10 or faster SD/Compact Flash memory cards for your camera. If you invest extra in faster cards, you'll save time transferring footage from long shooting days. Mid-range cards will transfer at about 60 MB/s over a USB 3 connection and high end cards will transfer at 80-100+ MB/s.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

First Wedding Videography Shoot with a DSLR

On Saturday, June 21st I filmed my first wedding with a DSLR. Though I've filmed several other projects with my Canon 6D camera, there are many challenges of shooting run-and-gun with a DSLR during a wedding.

Creativity

Use your foreground. Some of my favorite shots of the day utilized foreground elements.
Keep moving. Move around and get different angles. If people are doing a continuous or repetitive action, move yourself to get extra angles for editing.
Keep extra shots to 10-15 seconds. The ceremony is about the only "shot" that should be continuous. Challenge yourself to film each shot for only 10-15 seconds. Imagine editing the movie in your head; what do you see?
Find the Happiness. Look for smiles, laughs, and fun. Those moments will look great when cutting your wedding film. They can be used as great visual material for toast speeches, interviews, and voice over.
Get variety. Keep looking for something unique. What special touches have been added to the wedding that you may have missed?
Film a few things in slow-motion. The groomsmen being guys, the bouquet toss, the bride and groom walking together.
Move the camera. Unless your shot must be static, move the camera to bring life to your shots.
Rack focus. Switching your objects in focus can be great for both the bride and the groom and for shots of still objects.
Capture ambient sound. Many professional wedding films capture ambient sounds of birds, pets, children, and people talking. These can be great segways between shots and help to breathe more life (and production value) into your finished piece.

What I learned:

A Monopod is a must. Unless you have two cameras rolling, you probably will not need a regular tripod. A tripod is too bulky to safely and easily move around weddings guests. Using a $15 rented monopod made great shots easier and allowed me to be versatile.
An on-camera monitor may get in your way. I rented a 7" monitor but opted not to use it because my setup did not support a shotgun mic and monitor together. It rained during the last two hours of coverage and the rain could have fried the monitor.
Use a second camera. Borrow, beg, or rent. Capture the opposite angle of the ceremony with your second camera. If you're actively filming the bride with the main camera, setup the second camera on a tripod to film the groom, or vice versa. If you can borrow a camera, you'll save a significant amount of money renting. In Montana a Canon 7D rents for $70 per day and a 5D Mark III is $149/day. Ask a friend to borrow their camera or offer them $50 to use their camera for a day and I bet they will not turn you down!
Prepare for bad weather (rain). No matter your DSLR setup, rain could quickly halt your ability to capture good footage.
Bring your charger and three batteries. My first battery was not fully charged and only lasted for a few hours. If I had forgotten to bring my charger, it's likely I would have run out of battery power before the action was over.
Plug an audio recorder into the DJ's soundboard. If you're not able to mic-up the groom with a hidden lavalier mic, connecting to the soundboard is a must. You'll probably get good audio and at least have a backup if your on-camera shotgun mic is not picking up what you need.

Here's the gear that I used:

Canon 6D
Canon 24-105 lens
Rode VideoMic Pro
Zoom H4n (plugged into the DJ's sound board)
Sirui monopod P-324x with Benro S4 head (rented)
Two camera batteries
Battery charger
Umbrella
7" LCD monitor (rented and not used)