Another Canon 550D No Budget Low Light Music Video (Bruno Mars' Grenade - Live Acoustic Cover Version)

Here's another video that I shot on the Canon 550D. It was a spontaneous shoot at midnight so I had no tripod, steadycam or rig with me. It was all shot handheld so there's a lot of camera shake in the clip. I did only have one Z96 LED video light to light the scene. Faces are overexposed everything else underexposed, but it was a just for fun shoot, so who cares. The camera was set to 1080 24p, ISO 3200, WB=5200K, flat custom picture style based on the neutral setting. It was all shot with the cheap 50mm lens. There were also some scenes that I shot with the kit lens, but I'm not sure if they ended up in the final clip. Audio was recorded on the Zoom H1 audiorecorder which was places in front of the band. It had a windjammer on it but the level was set to high so sound quality isn't as good as it should be. I edited this video over night and did some color correction with the famous Magic Bullet plugin.

I hope you enjoy the clip. Don't expect too much cinematography, just enjoy the music. If you have any questions concerning the shoot feel free to post a comment.

Cheers,
jonni

Magic Lantern firmware for the Canon T2i / 550D and 60D

If you're shooting video with your Canon 550D or 60D you should definitely check out the Magic Lantern firmware. It will give you much more possibilities to adjust the settings on your camera.

I installed it today and it really blew me away! It is great!

What i liked most:
- turning off the AGC
- on screen audio meters
- live view zebras !
- on screen cropmarks
- built in intervalometer for shooting timelapses !
- custom (native) ISO steps !!!
- custom shutter speeds !!!
- kelvin white balance !!!
- DOF "meters"
- higher bitrates !!!

These are all the features that I missed on this camera (but there are many more). So if you're interested in "tuning" your 550D or 60D check http://magiclantern.wikia.com - and please consider a donation if you like it.

Here's a nice video by Matt Dennie that demonstrates what the new firmware looks like:




My rating 5/5.

Cheers,
jonni

How to achieve shallow depth of field when shooting video with your DSLR in bright sunlight

Shooting video in bright sunlight makes it almost impossible to achieve a cinematic look with a shallow depth of field. If you don't put a ND filter in front of your wide open lens when shooting video at a slow shutter speed the image will get to bright (overexposed). To avoid this you can choose higher f-stop values which will brighten down the image but also destroy your shallow depth of field as you can see in the stills below.

So if you want to shoot videos with a shallow depth of field at slower shutter speeds (which you definitely should do) you have to use ND filters or a ND fader when the lighting is to bright. If you don't want to change filters all the time get a ND fader - it works really great for shooting videos and adjusting it is also really easy and fast. Here are two videos to show the difference when shooting video with a ND fader and without one in bright sunlight.

H&Y Fader ND - a short review

I got a comment that the "H&Y Fader ND" is an imitation from the "Light Craft Workshop fader". To be honest, I have no clue which one is the original, but I think it's the "Singh Ray Vari ND" because this is the most expensive. I read Phillip Boom's post on these faders (this is the post) and decided to get the cheap one. I paid $79,19 (=64,42€, ebay seller "anne14389", shipping took 2 weeks to Germany) for my 72mm sized filter. I think this prize is unbeatable. But as I said before, I don't know if this is a genuine filter. 
 
Here's a sample video of the H&Y Fader ND on my Canon 550D with a EF 50mm 1.8 II lens. The setting was 1080, 24p, 1/50s, f/1.8, ISO100 and I twisted the fader from it's minimum to the 8th stroke (the maximum is on the 10th). It was really really bright when I shot the video. I had to choose f/20.0 to get the same image without the fader. By the way, the colors are flat because of my camera setting.



The thread on the outer side (e.g. for a lens hood) is 77mm. Build quality is really good (metal and glass) and the box it comes with is also really nice. Only negative thing so far: it doesn't come with a lens cap so you have to get one seperately. I ordered one for 5,98€ on ebay. I also ordered a 3 way rubber lens hood for 4,45€ to avoid lens flares and to protect the fader.

I will use this fader with my EF-S 18-55mm kit lens and with my EF 50mm prime lens. The kit lens has a 58mm filter thread, the 50mm prime has a 52mm thread. So I ordered 2 stepping rings (each one less than $2 on ebay) which make it possible to thread the Fader ND to these lenses. I decided to buy a bigger fader because I want to use it with lenses I will get in the future, too.

What are these faders used for? They make it possible to darken the image like normal ND filters. The only difference is that you can adjust the density of the filter (range from ND2 up to ND400 with this fader). This makes it possible to shoot videos with a wide open lens in bright sunlight without changing the shutter speed. Another nice thing that you can do with these faders is to take a long exposure picture in bright sunlight without getting it overexposed. This is a nice technique to shoot a sight on a crowded place if you don't have the chance to shoot it without people in front of it - the people will be blurred and you can see the whole sight. Another thing that many people do with this type of filter is to shoot water with longer exposures to make it look smooth. 

What can I say about the optical quality? I think it's great. Colors are nice and I can't see any distortion or vignetting at all. Only when I twist the fader over it's maximum - but this is not what it is supposed to do. I will use this filter for shooting videos primarily, but it also works nice for taking photos. 

If you want a really cheap Fader, get this one. Maybe the more expensive faders will give you even better quality, but the price-performance ratio of the H&Y fader is excellent for people on a very tight budget. My rating: 5/5.


Cheers,
jonni

Shooting videos with your DSLR - pt. I - basics & lenses

1st things 1st. Before you decide which lens to buy, you have to understand what the lens descriptions mean and what influence they have on your video. In this post, I'll try to explain the basics - for more information check wikipeda.org

The focal length of a lens tells you how much of the scene can be captured from a specific position. It's much easier to explain this with some still images, so here you go.

This is the same scene shot with different focal lengths from the same position. As you can see, the image gets wider with a smaller focal length. Extreme wide angle lenses are called fisheye lenses. It's possible to shoot extreme perspectives with this type of lenses, but they will also give you a lot of distortion (as seen in skateboard videos), which you have to be aware of. So you'll definitely need a wide angle lens (18mm or less) for shooting big objects (e.g. buildings) from a position that is close to the object. Lenses with focal lengths around 50-85mm are great for shooting portraits of people because you don't have to be too close to the person. Lenses with focal lengths above 85mm are called tele lenses and are used to capture things that are far away from the shooting location. If you own a camera with and APS sensor like the Canon 550D be aware of it's crop factor (1.6). A 50mm EF lens on a 550D or 7D will give you an image like a 80mm lens on a 5DMKII (EF-S lenses are designed for cameras with APS sensors, so you don't have to calculate with the crop factor)! Lenses like the Canon EF-S 18-55 are so called zoom lenses because they offer a range from 18 up to 55 (which is 29-88mm equivalent on a crop sensor). These are nice lenses if you like to shoot videos without carrying a lot of stuff with you or if you don't like to change lenses all the time, BUT prime lenses (lenses with a fixed focal length) are much better when it comes to image quality. Also keep this in mind: zooming during your video will look crappy, so don't buy too much zoom lenses if you want to shoot videos with your DSLR.

Prime lenses do often have better aperture (f-stop) values than zoom lenses which makes them much better when it comes to shooting video under low light conditions. Larger (wider) apertures mean the the lenses have bigger openings for the light to fall into them, which makes them faster because they don't need as much time as lenses with smaller apertures to capture the same shot. Fast lenses do have smaller f-stop numbers like f/1.2 f/1.4 or f/1.8 (the aperture gets smaller (more narrow) and the lens gets slower with increasing f-numbers). Here's a video to demonstrate the effect of the aperture to the image under low light conditions.



As you can see in the video above, a fast lens is much more capable for shooting video than a slower lens. But you have to be aware of the fact that your image will get a very shallow depth of field (only a thin area of your shot is in focus/sharp) with a fast lens that is wide open (big aperture). Check the following pictures to see the effect of the f-stop values to the depth of field of a still image.

Smaller f-stops will result in a very shallow depth of field. This means that the background and foreground of your shot will look very blurred. A lot of people like this effect and in fact shots with a shallow depth of field look very cinematic. If you don't want your video to have a shallow depth of fiel when shooting in low light, you'll have to choose a higher f-number and turn up the ISO. As you can see in the video below, the aperture stays the same and the image gets brighter (but also much noisier) with higher ISO values.



But there's one important thing you have to concider when shooting videos with a fast lens in bright sunlight: because the lens is so fast you will have to set a very quick exposure time for your videos if you don't want them to get overexposed (to bright). But short exposure times will result in a clipped video which is terrible (exposure time should be twice the frame rate to result in a smooth video - I set it to 1/50s in most cases). To avoid this problem you can close you lens (narrow aperture) which will result in a deep depth of field (everything in focus) or attach a ND filter to brighten down the image and make longer exposure times possible. I reccomend the last option because it makes it possible to shoot with a wide open lens in bright sunlight without changing the exposure time of your video. I will show you the effect of ND filters on videos in a seperate post with my new Fader ND.

Do you need image stabilization (IS) in a lens? For handheld shots without a steadycam or rig - yes. If you shoot from a tripod - no. This depends on what you're shooting and how much you want to spend. An IS lens is definitely better (you can turn IS off when you don't need it) but also much more expensive. If you're on a very tight budget and you don't need IS you can keep your eyes open for old M42 lenses and adapt them to your DSLR. I will post a video with a M42 vs. Canon EF comparison soon. What you definitely don't need for shooting videos is a lens with ultra fast focusing (e.g. USM) because you will have to focus manually (autofocus and video? No.)!


So this is what I recommend to put on your shopping list if you want to shoot videos with your DSLR:
- fast prime lenses (f/1.8 or faster!) and some ND filters or a ND fader.
- next thing should be a wide angle lens or a zoom which starts at a short focal length (18mm or shorter).
- what you need when filming animals or other objects that are far away: a tele lens.
- the most important thing: go for primes if you have the money to buy more lenses because they are faster and sharper than zoom lenses.

If you're shooting skateboarding / bmx / ... videos and don't want to spend too much:
- go for a fisheye lens or a zoom lens which starts at a short focal length.
- if this is to expensive screw a cheap fisheye lens to your kit lens (will give you some distortion but who cares).

If you want to have only one lens for shooting video and photos with:
- I feel sorry, but that won't be possible. I would buy a zoom lens like the Sigma 18-200 and a cheap
- fast prime lens like the Canon EF 50mm 1.8 for low light videos.


What do you think? Which cheap lenses are the best for shooting videos with? If you have any tips write a comment below.

Cheers,
jonni

A cheap 50mm f/1.8 lens for good photos and superb low light videos

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is a $99 lens that's great for shooting photos and videos with. It gives you a very shallow depth of field and also makes it possible to shoot under low light conditions. It has a focal lenght of 50mm which equals 80mm on the 550D (crop factor 1.6).



Yes, most of the lens is made of plastic - but I don't care because the price is really good. One advantage is that it's very lightweight, but on the other hand you will hear some ugly noises (same as on the 18-55 kit lens) in your videos when you focus manually. But with an external microphone this problem should be solved. Autofocus is very fast and works great under low light conditions. But be aware that this lens has no image stabilization. So running around and shooting videos will not give you the best results (to avoid shaky images say Hi to a Steadicam).

What's really poor is that the lens hood for this lens (ES-62) costs $30. 1.8 lens - $99. Some plastic with Canon written on it - $30. This is a price I really didn't want to pay. So I ordered a $5 lens hood from China. And I think it's basically the same as the Canon lens hood. So here you can save $25.

The lens is really fast and it's much fun to shoot videos with it since you can turn down the ISO values when shooting under low light conditions which will avoid ugly noise. This lens + hood combination is definitely a great deal if you're on a budget. If you have more money you should take a look at the 1.4 lens which is even better but much more expensive ($350).


Cheers,
jonni

The DSLR Cinematography Guide

If you're new to DSLR cinematography, check out this article. It's very helpful and teaches you all the basics for shooting videos with an DSLR as well as a lot of stuff you would have never thought of could be relevant.

If you like it consider a donation - you'll get rewarded with a printable pdf version. My rating: 5/5.

Cheers,
jonni

Timelapse test 1

Here's the 1st timelapse video that I recorded with my new timer remote cord.

I did a lot of mistakes, but I'm still learning and I learned a lot from this short video. I forgot to set the ISO to a fixed value. Therefore there's a lot of flickering in the video (looks ugly because you can see that the video was created with single captured photos). This won't happen again the next time I shoot a timelapse video ;)

Here's some data from the video above:
cam: Canon 550D
lens: Canon EF 50 f/1.8
settings: MF, f/1.8, ISO auto, AV auto, picture size small
production: interval 4s, 356 pictures, converted to 1080p with VirtualDub, 24fps

If you don't know how to make a video out of a lot of stills, check this tutorial - it's really easy.

Cheers,
jonni

jonni's 35mm DOF adapter (for M42 and Canon EF lenses)

This is the DOF adapter I built for my Casio EX-F1 when I wanted to achieve a cinematic look in videos I shot with this cam. It is very cheap and one of the shortest adapters I've seen so far. It works with regular Canon EF lenses like the 50mm 1.8 and also with old M42 lenses that you can find for cheap on ebay (I got my 55mm 1.4 lens for 40 Euros).



The image is recorded upside down, but you can solve this problem very easily with a 180° rotation in post production. I also tried to attach this adapter to a Panasonic camcorder and it worked fine - I just needed some cheap stepping rings to make it fit.

Here are some videos to show the abilities of this adapter:







As you can see in the videos the adapter works very well. It is a very cheap solution to get some shallow depth of field in your homevideos that you shoot with your camcorder. The only problem is that you have some light loss and that you can see some grain in the videos (depending on the focusing screen or ground glass you use). To avoid this you have to let the ground glass (screen) vibrate or rotate. I don't like vibrating adapters because of the noise they make and I also think that the vibration has some bad influence to the sharpness (because the movement of the screen changes the flange focal distance). A rotating adapter would be a much better solution. But I have never built one because now I have this superb Canon 550D and I don't need this adapters any more ;)

Here are some tips for all of you that plan to build an adapter like this:
- try to make it as short as possible (light loss)
- don't use a cheap macro lens (distortion, chromatic aberration)
- don't use a cheap ground glass / focusing screen (hot spotting effect)
- use a high quality condenser lens (reduces the hot spotting effect)
- screw don't glue.

If you have trouble with the quality of your adapter read this:
- The distance between the lens and the ground glass (GG) is the most important thing and has to be absolutely correct. It is called "flange focal distance (ffd)". Check wikipedia for the right ffd of your lens.
- Next thing is the quality of your GG. You will loose less light if it is thinner. It also has to be very fine if you don't want to see a lot of grain. So if you have enough money and if you don't need a circular one go for a Canon screen.
- If the quality is still bad check the tips above again. Hope this helps.

If you're interested in the process of building my adapter, here's the original post in a german EX-F1 forum.

Got any questions? Write a commet.

Good luck with your project,
jonni