johnmattes
Member
Filming Guide/How to use your camcorder
By John Mattes
I'm making this guide to hopefully help the scooter community produce better footage/videos. You don't need a 3 chip camera to get good footage but it does help. In this guide I'll explain what all the manual settings are and what they do. This guide will not tell you how to use your specific camera but it will outline the general settings that most cameras have, on the operation of your camera you'll need to look at your manual.
Manual Settings
White Balance- White balance tells the camera what is white, most cams have manual white balance and presets like indoor, fluorescent, sunlight etc. Usually you get the best image using manual white balance.
Shutter Speed- Most cameras let you manually adjust the shutter speed some don't, shutter speed is how long the shutter is open which lets light into the camera. Shutter speed can affect the exposure and motion blur in the picture, a higher/fast shutter like 1/1000 lets in light for 1/1000th of a second making the picture darker which could be good for a bright day and it will also make less motion blur which can make slow motion crisper. Filming in a darker area you will probably need to use a slower shutter/ lower like 1/60 or even 1/30 if its night with not much lighting but I'll get into that later. Most cameras will let you adjust the shutter speed but some wont but they will have presets like sports, night, lowlight etc. Filming riding sports would be the best if you cant manually set your shutter, sports is a higher/faster shutter speed.
Focus- Manual focus is one of the easier things to use, Focusing correctly will make what you're filming sharp, on most cameras there is a switch that will let you go from auto to manual focus. Others you will have to go into a menu to turn auto focus off.
Aperture/Exposure/Iris- Most 1 chip cams don't let you adjust the aperture but they do have exposure. Aperture is part of what lets light into your camera which affects the final exposure. Aperture also affects the Depth of Field (how much of the picture is in full focus). A smaller aperture is distinguished by a larger f-stop number like f/16, the larger the number the smaller iris is open, the smaller the iris the less light that gets in. This works just like your eye, when your in a dark room your pupil will enlarge so you can see better in the dark, and will shrink when your in the bright sun, this is why everything gets bright when you leave your house. But like I said most 1 chip camera wont tell you this aperture number instead they will have an exposure button which controls the aperture/iris and digital gain all in one.
Putting these manual settings to use
Okay now that you know what these settings are lets put them to use.
Settings will change based on your location so don't think you can set it up once and it will be good from spot to spot.
This is the order I set my camera up.
-shutter speed
-exposure
-white balance
-focus
1. Picking your shutter speed
For smooth motion that will look good in slow motion and normal speed try to use a shutter speed twice your frame rate, normal video is filmed in 60i which is 60 fields per second so you should use a shutter speed of 1/120. If you know your going to slow mo something pick a faster shutter like 1/250 or 1/500 if your camera will let you. If your camera doesn't have manual shutter then pick the sports setting unless you're filming at night. Remember if your in a darker lighting situation you probably wont be able to go higher then 1/60 shutter speed and try not to go lower then 1/30.
2. Setting your exposure
You're going to want to set your exposure for your subject, i.e. person riding. If you cant manual control the aperture/iris then you'll want to keep the exposure wheel away from all the way up because on most cameras it will add digital gain, which will make the image brighter but when you capture you'll see a lot of noise (if you don't know what noise is it's the little fuzzy stuff you see a lot while filming at night). So if you can't get your image bright enough by keeping it away from all the way up then turn your shutter speed down so you let more light in that way then you can lower the exposure. To properly expose you want to use zebra stripes which most consumer cams don't have, if you do have zebra stripes here's how to use them. Zebra stripes when turned on will put digital stripes on parts of the image that are overexposed (these stripes aren't recorded to the tape don't worry). Usually if your camera has them you will have different percent settings for the zebra stripes like 70% and 100%. If you have zebra stripes turn them on and point at your subject, if you see stripes on the subject turn the exposure down a little bit, if there is a lot of white in your subject you may see some stripes and still be exposed correctly, so don't worry, like if concrete has some stripes its no big deal. Depending on your lighting conditions you may have to blow the sky out to have your subject light enough, a blown out sky means that the sky is all white or close to it even when there's clouds etc.
3. White Balance
White balance tells your camera what's white. To do this you'll have to learn how to manually set the white balance from your cams manual. You can achieve all types of colors white balancing off different colored things. I white balance off of white by using a sheet of paper, or a white t-shirt or a coffee filter over the lens. If you want a golden tint to your footage you can white balance off of the blue sky or a light blue paint card or something light blue. I don't suggest doing this if you have a 1 chip camera because if the more blue something is that you white balance off of the more of the gold/yellow tint you will get. Its not as consistent but if you practice with your camera you can achieve some nice colors white balancing off blue. But like I said I like the more natural look of white balancing off white.
4. Focus
Focusing is pretty straight forward you focus on your subject so that its sharp, you want to use manual focus because auto focus may focus on something else while you are filming possibly making what you want crisp blurry. For example your filming someone riding and auto focus starts to focus on a flower or something else in the background making the rider blurry. If your filming long lens do this by zooming into something the same distance that your filming the subject at like a ledge/ramp that they will be riding on and focus till its sharp. If you have a focus ring use that, if not you may have a push auto that will auto focus on what your pointing at until you let go then it will stay focused like that until you change it again. If you're filming fisheye go close to the obstacle and focus until it's sharp, if you're filming a line focus on the rider you're filming. It works best to focus on something that has a lot of detail, like if there's some rocks/gravel/dirt, focus on them.
That's pretty much it to setting up your camera for each spot, your not going to get amazing footage your first time doing this it may take some practice but using these settings will help you get the most out of your cam.
I want to say this about filming fisheye also; hopefully it will help this to stop. If you're filming fisheye you should be going close to your subject. If you going to sit 10 feet away from a fly box and film from the ground take your lens off. Fisheye looks best when you're close to your subject, get as close as you can. If you want to stand back to see a gap or something take the fisheye off and film long lens.
That's it for now I may add/correct a few things If I see the need
If you have any questions about this or if you're having any troubles feel free to ask I don't mind helping at all.
Good luck filming!
By John Mattes
I'm making this guide to hopefully help the scooter community produce better footage/videos. You don't need a 3 chip camera to get good footage but it does help. In this guide I'll explain what all the manual settings are and what they do. This guide will not tell you how to use your specific camera but it will outline the general settings that most cameras have, on the operation of your camera you'll need to look at your manual.
Manual Settings
White Balance- White balance tells the camera what is white, most cams have manual white balance and presets like indoor, fluorescent, sunlight etc. Usually you get the best image using manual white balance.
Shutter Speed- Most cameras let you manually adjust the shutter speed some don't, shutter speed is how long the shutter is open which lets light into the camera. Shutter speed can affect the exposure and motion blur in the picture, a higher/fast shutter like 1/1000 lets in light for 1/1000th of a second making the picture darker which could be good for a bright day and it will also make less motion blur which can make slow motion crisper. Filming in a darker area you will probably need to use a slower shutter/ lower like 1/60 or even 1/30 if its night with not much lighting but I'll get into that later. Most cameras will let you adjust the shutter speed but some wont but they will have presets like sports, night, lowlight etc. Filming riding sports would be the best if you cant manually set your shutter, sports is a higher/faster shutter speed.
Focus- Manual focus is one of the easier things to use, Focusing correctly will make what you're filming sharp, on most cameras there is a switch that will let you go from auto to manual focus. Others you will have to go into a menu to turn auto focus off.
Aperture/Exposure/Iris- Most 1 chip cams don't let you adjust the aperture but they do have exposure. Aperture is part of what lets light into your camera which affects the final exposure. Aperture also affects the Depth of Field (how much of the picture is in full focus). A smaller aperture is distinguished by a larger f-stop number like f/16, the larger the number the smaller iris is open, the smaller the iris the less light that gets in. This works just like your eye, when your in a dark room your pupil will enlarge so you can see better in the dark, and will shrink when your in the bright sun, this is why everything gets bright when you leave your house. But like I said most 1 chip camera wont tell you this aperture number instead they will have an exposure button which controls the aperture/iris and digital gain all in one.
Putting these manual settings to use
Okay now that you know what these settings are lets put them to use.
Settings will change based on your location so don't think you can set it up once and it will be good from spot to spot.
This is the order I set my camera up.
-shutter speed
-exposure
-white balance
-focus
1. Picking your shutter speed
For smooth motion that will look good in slow motion and normal speed try to use a shutter speed twice your frame rate, normal video is filmed in 60i which is 60 fields per second so you should use a shutter speed of 1/120. If you know your going to slow mo something pick a faster shutter like 1/250 or 1/500 if your camera will let you. If your camera doesn't have manual shutter then pick the sports setting unless you're filming at night. Remember if your in a darker lighting situation you probably wont be able to go higher then 1/60 shutter speed and try not to go lower then 1/30.
2. Setting your exposure
You're going to want to set your exposure for your subject, i.e. person riding. If you cant manual control the aperture/iris then you'll want to keep the exposure wheel away from all the way up because on most cameras it will add digital gain, which will make the image brighter but when you capture you'll see a lot of noise (if you don't know what noise is it's the little fuzzy stuff you see a lot while filming at night). So if you can't get your image bright enough by keeping it away from all the way up then turn your shutter speed down so you let more light in that way then you can lower the exposure. To properly expose you want to use zebra stripes which most consumer cams don't have, if you do have zebra stripes here's how to use them. Zebra stripes when turned on will put digital stripes on parts of the image that are overexposed (these stripes aren't recorded to the tape don't worry). Usually if your camera has them you will have different percent settings for the zebra stripes like 70% and 100%. If you have zebra stripes turn them on and point at your subject, if you see stripes on the subject turn the exposure down a little bit, if there is a lot of white in your subject you may see some stripes and still be exposed correctly, so don't worry, like if concrete has some stripes its no big deal. Depending on your lighting conditions you may have to blow the sky out to have your subject light enough, a blown out sky means that the sky is all white or close to it even when there's clouds etc.
3. White Balance
White balance tells your camera what's white. To do this you'll have to learn how to manually set the white balance from your cams manual. You can achieve all types of colors white balancing off different colored things. I white balance off of white by using a sheet of paper, or a white t-shirt or a coffee filter over the lens. If you want a golden tint to your footage you can white balance off of the blue sky or a light blue paint card or something light blue. I don't suggest doing this if you have a 1 chip camera because if the more blue something is that you white balance off of the more of the gold/yellow tint you will get. Its not as consistent but if you practice with your camera you can achieve some nice colors white balancing off blue. But like I said I like the more natural look of white balancing off white.
4. Focus
Focusing is pretty straight forward you focus on your subject so that its sharp, you want to use manual focus because auto focus may focus on something else while you are filming possibly making what you want crisp blurry. For example your filming someone riding and auto focus starts to focus on a flower or something else in the background making the rider blurry. If your filming long lens do this by zooming into something the same distance that your filming the subject at like a ledge/ramp that they will be riding on and focus till its sharp. If you have a focus ring use that, if not you may have a push auto that will auto focus on what your pointing at until you let go then it will stay focused like that until you change it again. If you're filming fisheye go close to the obstacle and focus until it's sharp, if you're filming a line focus on the rider you're filming. It works best to focus on something that has a lot of detail, like if there's some rocks/gravel/dirt, focus on them.
That's pretty much it to setting up your camera for each spot, your not going to get amazing footage your first time doing this it may take some practice but using these settings will help you get the most out of your cam.
I want to say this about filming fisheye also; hopefully it will help this to stop. If you're filming fisheye you should be going close to your subject. If you going to sit 10 feet away from a fly box and film from the ground take your lens off. Fisheye looks best when you're close to your subject, get as close as you can. If you want to stand back to see a gap or something take the fisheye off and film long lens.
That's it for now I may add/correct a few things If I see the need
If you have any questions about this or if you're having any troubles feel free to ask I don't mind helping at all.
Good luck filming!