Secrets to Shooting HDSLR Video on Canon DSLRs
Towards the end of my classes and workshops I show a summary slide and make the joke that I could have just shown this slide and sent everyone home 2 hours earlier. I realized that I’ve never published it on PhotoCine News so here it is, the information you need to get started shooting Canon HDSLR video distilled down to 4 steps:
- Use Native ISOs – 160, 320, 640, 1250 etc..
- Set Video for 1920×1080 24fps
- Shutter Speed 1/50th second
- Choose the best picture style for your workflow – Faithful or Cinestyle
1. On Canon DSLR’s ISO increments of 160 will produce the cleanest file with the least noise. Try this experiment. Leave the lens cap on and shoot a black frame at each ISO then open the files in Photoshop or Lightroom and compare them at 100%. You will see that increments of 160 look the cleanest.
2. Steps 2 and 3 are part of the 180° shutter formula to shoot “film like” footage. Use the formula Shutter=2x FPS. So if you are shooting 24fps, the formula would be: 24fps x 2 = 48 (closest shutter 1/50th second)
If you are at 30fps, the formula would be: 30fps x 2 = 60 or 1/60th of a second.
24fps and the 180° shutter rule give film motion picture the cadence we are used to seeing on the big screen. If you plan on going to film from your digital file you absolutely need to shoot at 24fps. I think that the movie going experience is currently being shaped by 60fps for 3D movies and the super fast refresh rates on flat panel TV’s. The esthetic of what a motion picture looks like is evolving and soon the film flicker from an analog projector will be forgotten.
3. Picture style determines your workflow. If you are trying to shoot quick video I would recommend you take control of the look and do as little post work as possible. The Faithful picture style is the closest to linear that you can get from the Canon presets. It does the least to your video file. Don’t be afraid to experiment with picture styles to see what you like best.
If you are going through a post production workflow, especially one that will rely on a professional colorist or post house to do the corrections, you will need to provide them with a file that is flat as possible and that has the most dynamic range possible. To do this, I recommend checking out Technicolor’s Cinestyle. It’s designed to optimize your video for post production. Be careful when shooting flat because it makes judging exposure difficult when you take out contrast.
