Do you want to shoot professional ‘Hollywood’ style video? Do you want your video creations to look more like real film and less like the digital eye-sores that are the status quo on YouTube and other video sharing sites?
Well there’s good news. We live in a time where affordable digital cameras are rivaling the equipment used by professional videographers. In fact, many of these pros are switching to the same consumer cameras that just about anyone can buy and learn to use, like the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 5D Mark II.
Video capable DSLR cameras are taking the video industry by storm. But many buyers of these cameras are non-professionals who just want an affordable way to shoot high quality video for friends and family. In short, they want their movies to really stand out from the noisy and muddy digital crap that populates much of the online video world.
VDSLR’s, when wielded correctly, can simulate a film-like look that is visually similar to what much higher cost cameras capture for professionally produced TV shows and movies. This filmic effect is highly regarded among buyers of VDSLR cameras, and allows them to escape the ‘home video’ look that most camcorders produce.
Let’s go over a few points on how DSLR’s shoot amazing looking video:
The Importance of Sensor Size
Perhaps the most important feature that separates a VDSLR camera from a camcorder is its relatively large image sensor. The image sensor, which lies at the heart of every digital camera, can be thought of as the eye of the camera. Having a relatively huge sensor allows VDSLR’s to draw in more light for their recordings. This means that while shooting in low-light situations, which is practically any indoor location absent of studio lighting, the camera will record more detail with less noise and truer colors.
In my experience, viewers simply describe VDSLR video as looking more beautiful, although they can’t always technically explain why that is.
It should be noted that sensor size is unrelated to a camera’s megapixel capacity, which is why a cell phone with a 12MP camera will still take very poor photos compared to a 12MP DSLR, especially in lowlight. If you are buying a VDSL from a reputable brand, you can largely ignore its megapixel capacity; just focus on its sensor size.
High Quality Interchangeable Lenses
Another important feature that separates Video DSLR cameras from camcorders is their ability to swap lenses. Most camcorders are fitted with a mediocre zoom lens. This is a convenient arrangement for shooting home videos, but doesn’t allow for a variety of looks that are only accessible by using an interchangeable lens camera. Whether you are seeking a prime, macro or telephoto look, VDSLR’s give the greatest amount of options to shoot a scene. But even if you can’t splurge on more lenses, most VDSLR’s ship with a decent kit lens.
Using Manual Controls
Getting a film-like look from a VDSLR requires operating the camera in manual mode. For people who’ve only operated a camera or camcorder in automatic mode, there’s a a bit of a learning curve ahead. But the concepts are quite simple to grasp, and with a bit of experimenting you’ll master the basics in no time.
Frames Per Second
Most camcorders shoot at 30 FPS. Similarly, the evening news, weather channel and daytime television is shot at a similar specification (often 60 interlaced fields per second, which are combined to form 30 FPS). This standard gives movement captured by the camera a smooth look, but isn’t how Hollywood movies and most TV series are shot.
Higher end productions typically use film cameras, or very expensive digital cameras that capture video at 24 FPS. This frame rate produces a subtle choppiness or strobing effect. Although it might seem odd, this relatively low frame rate produces an experience that most people subconsciously associate with professionally produced footage.
For example, have you ever seen an evening news show acted out in a movie? It always seems a bit different than the real evening news. This is largely due to the discrepancy in frame rates (24 VS 30). The lower frame rate in movies makes everything seem slightly less real and more theatric.
Shutter Speed
The shutter speed controls the length of time that the image sensor is exposed to light. When shooting 24 FPS video, the shutter is opened 24 times a second to capture each frame; however, the shutter can stay open for almost the entire duration of the frame (1/24 Hz), or opened and closed much quicker ( e.g. 1/1000 Hz).
Using a slow shutter speed increases motion blur, but allows the image sensor more time to capture the scene — useful when shooting in low-light. In comparison, using a high shutter speed will make movement look choppy, but is an effect that’s often used in action scenes to produce a more chaotic look. Typically, Hollywood movies are shot at 1/48 HZ. VDSLR users often use a similar value to capture just the right amount of motion blur in their footage.
Depth of Field
Using a shallow depth of field allows you to isolate a subject, thus drawing the viewer’s attention towards it. Watch any TV series or movie — when the camera zooms in on an actor or object, more often than not, the background will be significantly blurred out. Conversely, you almost never see this effect in home videos where everything is in focus all the time. In the age of 1080p video, where an incredible amount of detail is captured in every frame, it is more important than ever to control the depth of field to center your viewer’s attention.
Producing a shallow depth of field relies on several factors. First, you’ll need a camera with a large image sensor — this is a major reason why VDSLR’s are in hot demand today. Secondly, you’ll need a lens that is capable of producing ‘bokeh’, the elegant blurring effect that you are trying to achieve.
A fixed (no zoom) lens that is ‘fast’ (low F-stop) will often produce bokeh with ease. Alternatively, a telephoto lens that is zoomed in on a subject will often achieve this effect as well, but will require the camera to be set at a further distance from the subject.
In addition, obtaining a shallow depth of field often requires careful adjustment of the camera’s settings. For instance, lowering the F-stop to decrease the depth of field will allow more light to hit the image sensor. This may cause an overexposed shot, but can be compensated by raising the shutter speed. But as I mentioned previously, changing the shutter speed affects the amount of motion blur captured. Thus, In this scenario, one might have to use a neutral density filter (screwed onto the lens) to block out some light.
Yes, setting up such a shot would require some forethought and prep work, but you wouldn’t even have this option with a camcorder or lesser camera.
The VDSLR in Your Hands
How you handle your camera while you shoot will have a profound impact on the quality of the video that you end up recording. You might think that there’s not much to learn here — just point and shoot at the action you want to capture — but this will get you amateur looking video from even the most expensive cameras.
To shoot great looking video some common sense habits should be observed:
Getting a Stable Shot
Professionals rarely shoot without having their cameras attached to some kind of stabilizing device. Assuming you don’t yet own such gear, it is impotant to always hold the camera in a way that produces the least amount of bumps and shakes. A shaky camera not only produces nauseating footage that your viewers will hate (made especially worse when viewed in high-definition), but is also a dead giveaway that you’re a total amateur!
One way to hold your VDSLR better is to keep your arms in close, with your elbows touching your torso. This will stop a lot of unintentional arm and hand movements from showing in the recorded footage. Of course, the safest way to shoot is to not touch your camera at all, but not everyone wants to use a tripod (I never do).
Some users like to hold a weight in their hand (like a water bottle) while also gripping the camera. This decreases the amount of involuntary shakes and vibrations, but might be cumbersome.
Finally, if you must deal with shaky footage, you can usually remove some of the shakes during post production with stabilization software like Final Cut Pro X’s stabilization filter or Adobe After Effect’s Warp Stabilizer. Unfortunately, most stabilizing programs remove the unwanted camera movements at the expense of highlighting another annoying effect — rolling shutter.
The rolling shutter effect is an artifact that makes VDSLR footage seem to warp, as if its surface was bouncing like Jello. Some VDSLR’s produce more rolling shutter effect than others. In some cameras, shooting at 720p and/or at 60 FPS instead of 1080p@24 can remove most of this effect (Panasonic’s Lumix micro 4/3 cameras come to mind). Lately, advanced algorithms, used in such products like Warp Stabilizer, can do wonders for rolling shutter, but it’s still the bane of most CMOS based shooters.
Lighting and Exposure Settings
Lighting is another important factor that separates the amateurs from the professionals. Although you can’t always control the light in your environment, it’s usually best to move indoor scenes to where there is a maximum amount of light. This means avoiding dark rooms and enhancing natural light where ever possible.
Underexposed footage in someone’s living room is what you expect to see on YouTube, but it’s something you’ll never seen in a professional production unless they intended for it to look that way.
Respecting Dynamic Range
Regarding daytime shots, dealing with the camera’s dynamic range can often lead to challenging situations.
For instance, some parts of a scene may be quite dark, such as areas in a shadow, whilst other parts, like a clear sky, may be quite bright. Trying to capture detail in both the extreme dark and bright areas of a scene, in a single shot, may simply be impossible due to a camera’s limited dynamic range.
The terms ‘crushed blacks’ and ‘blown highlights’ describe this problem.
To tackle this issue, a thoughtful videographer may shoot bright and dark scenes separately, adjusting the camera’s settings for each shot, then link the scenes in editing during post-production.
Working with under exposed footage or footage that features a lot of blown highlights can really make the final output look yucky. Although a lot of magic can be done in post-production to clean things up, you’ll never have satisfying results if you don’t pay attention while you’re actually filming. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way, far too many times!
Panning
Control over the camera while panning is another important technique to master. Fast panning in wide-angle shots will often exaggerate the strobing effect (the picture will look like its blinking); this is especially noticeable when filming at 24 FPS. Take a look at most Hollywood productions and you will notice that the majority of camera movements are slow and deliberate.
When panning, move slower than you think you should, and try to use a tripod whenever possible. Most high-end productions use an abundance of static shots with limited panning. This is what viewers expect from high quality film productions and something you may want to mimic.
In contrast, most non-professionals feel obliged to point the camera as they would naturally look at objects in the environment. This is a huge rookie mistake that results in a lot of fast panning and wild movements. Such motions cause eye strain and mental stress. Instead, choose to move the camera gently, and with a confident motion. This allows the audience to predict where their eyes should follow.
How To Choose the Right Video DSLR Camera
Currently, most of the major camera manufacturers produce video capable DSLR cameras. Notably, Canon, Nikon and Panasonic have led the path in innovating the VDSLR market. There are many pros and cons to consider for each model being offered, but the following list is a great place to start your research:
VDLSR is still niche market, so don’t expect mainstream publications or review sites to offer much advice in choosing a camera. Indeed, most camera sites take only a superficial look at the video capabilities of the products they examine.
In my opinion, the Panasonic Lumix GH2 with the bundled 14-140mm HD Vario lens offers the most complete and convenient system for shooting high definition video. You’ll get optical image stabilization, silent auto focus while filming, a fully articulating LCD screen and acceptably high bitrates in 1080p or 720p. Additionally, it is far smaller and lighter than DSLR’s offered by Canon or Nikon.
The GH2′s biggest disadvantage is that it features a smaller image sensor than its full-sized DSLR brothers. This means less dramatic bokeh, poorer low-light performance and less dynamic range. But keeping things in perspective, it’s Four Thirds sensor is still 10x larger than what you’ll find on high-end camcorders.
Whatever camera you end up getting, just remember that it’s you the videographer that ultimately influences the quality of the footage being captured. A DSLR with a great lens in manual mode will blow just about any camcorder away, in terms of image quality and the creative freedoms you’ll have over shooting. But to capture great looking footage, you’ll need to spend more time setting up your shots and being mindful of good filming habits mentioned in this article.
Happy shooting!
very useful information..thanks a lot
I very much enjoyed your article both for the presentation and content. I have only one issue: you have made me reconsider my HFS100 purchase that I made last week.
I had done research, and thought I had arrived at the best fit for my ideas and budget, BUT… your article would have been a very beneficial addition to my research and might have swayed me to the (what I am now believing to be) up-and-coming direction in videography at the consumer/prosumer level.
I suppose one can never do enough research. I hope another aspiring videographer sees your atricle in time and buys a DSLR instead of a camcorder.
Thanks for the good work.
I dont normally post comments, but your review is probably one of the best ive come across and ive come across alot. I was initially looking at updating my camcorder, but now almost convinced that i need to invest in a DSLR for high quality video.
The question now is which DSLR, i was close to buying the Canon 5D mark 2, but you recommed the Panasonic GH2 – the concern for me is the sensor size.
Anyway, thanks for the review.