Setting up Canon 5D Mark II for Shooting Stills during Video Capture

Set up the camera like you normally would for shooting still photos. In this case, Raw without JPGs.

In the camera menu, choose Live View/Movie func. set

Scroll down and select the LV func. setting

By selecting “Stills+Movie”, you can push the shutter release to take a still photo while the video is recording. There is about a 1 second gap in the video but there is very little lag in the still frame capture.

Select Movie display so that the recorded video will play back on the cameras rear LCD screen

Press the Live View button to enter movie mode

Here is where you will have to make some decisions. If you plan on color correcting in post, the common wisdom seems to be to set the video flat and neutral. Start with a Neutral preset and then adjust the sharpness and contrast down completely and the saturation down two notches. You can also create a custom look in the Canon Picture Style Editor software or download one someone else has created. This makes sense if you are coming from a film and television background and have the knowledge and/or resources to handle post production.

As a photographer, you will need additional support or software and training in order to color correct in post. Additionally, the video file coming out of VDSLR’s is typically an 8 bit file that has been highly compressed. It is the motion equivalent to shooting JPG stills. From an image quality perspective, it doesn’t make sense to perform large corrections after the file has been captured because you run the risk quality loss resulting from gaps in the histogram as well as possible aritfacting. If you are shooting in a controlled environment and wish to drop the footage into iMovie, make a quick edit and get something on the web for your client, I suggest dialing in the look you want in camera. You will save yourself a lot of time and energy by taking control and making the visual decisions up front.

Set the white balance to the desired temperature or look you wish to achieve. Don’t be afraid to play around with these settings.

In addition to manually dialing in the white balance, you can use the custom WB function in the camera by filling the frame with a white or grey card and taking a shot. Then choose Custom WB from the camera menu.

Navigate to the reference image you shot and select it for the custom white balance.

Finalize the white balance by pressing OK. The video you shoot will now use the custom WB in it’s processing algorithm.

The camera is now set up to shoot video and stills. Just start the video and press the shutter release when you wish to capture a still. This is a great way to have video clips and high resolution still images from a single camera.