Photography Tip: How to
Take Professional Looking Videos with Digital Cameras
A million
dollar question. You can visit many websites, read reviews and spend
a good deal of time but here on this page I am going to tell you in
few minutes what you really need to know about taking professional
looking HD videos.
Video with Compact Cameras and
SLR cameras with Kit lenses:
By now most of us know
most compact cameras, or smart phones like iPhones, are not good
at video recording. This is because their sensors are tiny and so
are the lenses. If light is good, they do an okay job. When light
is dull, they are almost unusable. Same is true for most consumer
SLR cameras with kit lenses. So what do we do to take high quality
High-Definition videos? Do we need to be stuck with HD Camcorders?
Do they also also take nice videos?
Here is what I have
found: Most compact cameras don't do a good job in low light- for
still images or for videos.
HD Camcorders:
Another option is an HD
Camcorder. Most HD Camcorders which will do better job than compact
cameras or smartphones most of the time but the vidoe will not be
professional looking. Video will be HD but not HQ (high quality).
HD Camcorders keep everything in focus most of the time (if not all
the time) unless you have one that costs $4000 upwards. With most
consumer camcorders, you really can't keep certain things in focus
and other things blurred. Unless if you have noticed, most HD camcorder
videos are plain and boring. If you are fine with this, they can be
a good choice for you. You can find some good ones around $200-%500
range.
Now if you have noticed
in some professional videos or in movies, they often have background
blurring. I mean selective focusing where only subject is in focus
to grab all of your attention. There is no other distaction in the
frame. With SLR, this is possible because of large sensors and bigger
(I mean wide aperture) lenses. As said earlier, most SLRs don't
offer good auto focus so many professional phototraphers have gone
with manual focusing. Many serious Canon users use Canon full frame
camera line Mark with some wide aperture, fast lenses. Many of them
specifically use Manual lenses with manual focus and one favorite
is Super Takumar 50mm F1.4 lens.
Movie mode/Video shooting with SLRs:
Most DSLRs will do a
little better as light level goes down but many of them will not
auto focus during videos (because of the mirror which needs to be
flipped for focusing). You can bypass this with a mirrorless camera
which can auto focus, like Panasonic G or GF series. Shortly though,
it will be more common for SLRs to auto-facous. Looks like Canon
T5i will offer continous auto focus in movie mode with subject tracking.
Auto Focus vs Manual Focus:
One of best option
for an SLR with Auto Focus during video shooting/Movie mode: Currently
in Canon T4i, you have a choice of three autofocus modes you can
select before recording - Face Detection (with subject tracking),
FlexiZone-Single (user defined AF point) or FlexiZone-Multi (automated
AF point selection). Regardless of which AF setting you've chosen,
when 'AF w/shutter button during filming' is set to 'On' you can
force the camera to reacquire focus with a half-press of the shutter
button. Of course you can also choose to focus manually. All of
the touchscreen benefits we enjoyed in shooting stills carry over
in video mode as well. The Quick Control menu offers a fast way
to adjust settings and you can set the AF point simply by tapping
the screen. The camera's articulated LCD screen aids greatly in
shooting video from very low or high angles, or simply manoeuvering
the screen in a more shaded position for glare-free viewing.
For T4i, here is what a reputed Camera Review website
DPReview has to say for Auto-focus in T4i: While the results
of these changes show noticeable improvement over the EOS 600D,
AF in video mode is, unfortunately, still slow. In our time spent
using the camera, we've not been able to reliably maintain focus
on objects moving to or away from the camera at even a moderate
walking pace. As it stands it's hard to envision situations in which
continuous AF that is this slow has any practical benefits for tracking
moving subjects. As with the EOS 600D, we still recommend shooting
video in manual focus, or at the very least pre-focusing the lens
with a half-shutter button press before you start recording.
Why Manual Focus is a better
option:
Actually for videos, Manual
focus is better than Auto focus in our opinion. (i) Motor of most
auto-focus lenses creates some hissing sound during focusing which
can create bad audio in your recording. (ii) The Autofocus issue can
be worse when trying to focus in low light. (iii) Though some cameras
offer Auto Focus, it is still remarkably slow and inaccurate for most
DSLs. (iv) Auto focus as name mentions auto-focuses so if you want
to have only person A in focus out of a group of 5 people, you really
can't do it on the fly. If want to focus only spefic area while shooting
video, you can't do it unless you manually focus for it. (v) Also,
most auto focus lenses don't let you change aperture on the fly to
control depth of field. Old lenses like, Super Takumar, let you control
focus, aperture very smoothly.
Don't Forget the Audio Part:
Don't overlook the Audio
part if you are in pursuit of great videos. Videos are not complete
without audios. Most consumer SLRs have on the body Mic to capture
audio. While it works, it is not enough. For best quality, it is
important to have an external mic jack so you can input better video
directly from the source or from closer to the source. Also, see
if a camera records in mono or in stereo. Choose a camera that offers
Hi Quality audio in and ability to record in 16 bit instead of 12
bit or 8 bit.
I am not an expert but
here is one video I recorded in low indoor light with Panasonic
GF3 and a Super Takumar 50mm F1.4 screw mount M42 lens. I am still
learning manual focus so please bear with me for focus misses. However
I am sure this group of 6 year old kids running/traveling with the
ball will not fail to entertain you.
If you are short on budget
but want to take nice videos, you can buy a Pentax K-01 body for
around $300. Buy a Super Takumar M42 lens for around $100 with an
adapter for Pentax. Once you get hold of the manual focusing, you
will be amazed how beautiful videos you can take with a DSLR compared
to compact cameras or most consumer SLRs with kit lense. Even with
those HD camcorders.
Super
Takumars are around 40 years old M42 screwmount lenses. I used it
oftern on Pentax and Panasonic mirrorless cameras. Here is one video
I recorded with Pentax K-01 with a Super Takumar 135mm F2.5 M42 lens: