Video tips from an HDSLR pro

Posted by on Nov 22, 2010 in Featured Articles, Video, Video Editing | 0 comments

While I have shot some video on a Canon 1Ds Mark IV and the new T2i, I do not consider myself an expert by any means. However, the guy in the picture is. I went to his presentation today in St. Louis and came away with some notes on DSLR video that might be helpful to multimedia journalists and visual media producers.

Alex Buono is the director of photography for Saturday Night Live. I had read months and months ago about SNL choosing to shoot their title sequence (click here, they don’t allow embeds) with Canon DSLRs, so it was cool to hear about it from the guy who actually did it. He went over some stuff I already knew, some I did not and confirmed or nullified other items I had read and wasn’t sure about.

Buono opened up with the advantages of DSLR videography, which many of us are familiar with including its lowlight sensitivity due to a larger sensor, film-like shallow depth of field, small footprint compared to the huge cameras and setups he often uses, slow motion capabilities, time-lapse options and ability to get shots that otherswise would take much more equipment, time and money.

The equipment he uses and recommended (I added the links) included

  • Zacuto Z-finder Pro, an eyepiece he considers a very necessary piece of gear for your DSLR kit.
  • The Zacuto Target Shooter or Red Rock Micro “The Event” as a simple handheld stabilizer he prefers over the many more complicated rigs you can buy.
  • Lite panel LED that reminds me of the Speedlights I have used before on Canon video cameras.
  • Fader ND filters, which allow you to dial in the amount of neutral density. Hadn’t heard of these before, but they sound good to me.
  • Rode video mic, if you have to use audio in camera.
  • For external audio recording, the Zoom H4n (which seems very popular) or the more expensive Tascam DR 680.
  • DSLR slate Iphone app for help syncing audio in post, and the Plural Eyes auto sync software , which he called “miraculous.”
  • 300x speed 16 GB Lexar CF cards for capture
  • Red rock micro DSLR cinema bundle for higher-end production.
  • The Canon Final Cut Pro Log and Transfer plug-in, which I love (and you can easily hack to make compatible with all the Canon cameras) for ingesting, even though the popular MPEG Streamclip may be faster.
  • Litepanel and Kino Flo lights as lighting solutions specifically tailored for the low light capabilities and run-n-gun possibilities of HDSLR’s.
  • A firewire card reader for speed and SSD hard drives because they’re harder to break and risk losing your precious footage.

All of his suggestions were very expensive. At least for my budget or the places I’ve worked.

Here’s some of his shooting suggestions:

  • Shoot at f4 or f5.6 to make sure your shots maintains critical focus. I have always shot with the aperture a little more wide open than that, but the fact that I have struggled to keep the subject in focus means I need to follow his advice
  • Never use auto white balance, rather set it yourself.
  • Use either the neutral picture profile or better, a user-defined picture profile like this: sharpness set to 1, contrast -4, saturation -2, Color tone 0
  • Highlight tone priority should be used in daylight, but never at night.
  • Use ISO settings at multiples of 160 to get the cleanest image. On the 5D and 7D this means 160, 320, 640, 800 and 1600 ISO (with 3200 for the 1Ds Mark IV).
  • Set your shutter speed and forget it. It’s only a motion blur tool. His rule of thumb is that, to get the “cinematic look” that is all the rage right now, your shutter speed should always be twice the frame rate (unless you’re going for a specific motion blur effect). So shoot at 1/50 a second for 24 fps, 1/60 for 30 fps, etc.
  • Don’t ever use onboard mic in editing, but it’s OK for reference track. He always uses double system audio

Other random things I found interesting:

  • When I pressed him, he said he can tell no difference when color grading DSLR footage vs. normal HD footage
  • The lens he uses most of the time are the 24-70 f2.8 (no surprise) and the 70-200 f2.8. He only occasionally uses his, 14mm, 24mm f1.4, 50mm 1.2 and others.
  • He prefers the 5D for low-light and independant work, but the 7d for studio work since it both records and outputs (for monitoring purposes) in HD at the same time.
  • He uses the Sun seeker iPhone app. How cool. Point your iPhone at the sky and it will tell you when and where the sun will rise. Now, if I could discipline myself to get up in the morning more often…
  • Google Earth. This was fascinating. To get a beautiful panning time-lapse shot, he 1) navigated around a 3D version of Detroit to determine where he wanted to shoot from 2) and manipulated the time of day, so he would know when and where the sun would rise. And he did it all from LA. The way his final shot matched the previsualization from Google Earth was scary.

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