DSLR wedding videos -- some advice please

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Phil1076

Well-known member
I currently shoot weddings with a Panasonic HMC150 and I am planning my upgrade for later this year. I have a few questions and I'd appreciate some advice. I'll keep it short and straight to the point.

I will be shooting weddings -- only me...no secondary camera...and I am thinking of getting a 5d II. Here are my concerns:

1. Auto-focus. Weddings require lots of run and gun. How is this camera in this area?

2. Sound. I have a R0DE mic as well as a Sennheiser wireless lav + mp3 recorder. I assume most audio would be recorded to the sennheiser (plugged into the mp3 recorder) and synced in post. My main concern is the vows and speeches....perhaps some random blurbs by people also but that's not critical.

3. Stabilzation. I currently have a tripod and a monopod...I suspect the monopod would provide most of my stabilization needs. Any other ideas for decent stabilization?

Is shooting DSLR weddings feasible with one person/one camera? I know there is a limit (20 min?) on clip length, which is fine.

Any DSLR's wedding videographers out there?

Thanks
 
No autofocus. All manual. Get a z-finder. I'd also recommend getting a second camera for the ceremony. Always good to have something to cut to, especially with the 12 minute record limit. Sounds like your audio is about right. Wireless for the ceremony, one on groom, one on officiant. Two channels of audio is good too in case something messes up in one of the tracks. Videomic is fine for everything else.

I use tripods for the ceremony. Monopod, slider, and steadicam for everything else.
 
Definitely suggest second cam for sole purpose of being able to cut somewhere .. considering shots may be out of focus, etc. You're good with the tripod and monopod, and for cheap stabilization, check out the flycam series or any off branded stabilizer for those beauty shots. http://blog.elysiumproductions.com/
 
i shoot about 30 weddings a year. i shoot with a 7d and hmc150. most of the time as a single operator. hmc150 pretty much is only used at ceremony and during toasts, and is usually on sticks. i mainly use it for audio and 2nd angle. pretty much 7d the whole time.

and don't record to mp3s. record as wavs, 24 bit/48 khz if you're using a separate recorder.

i use a glidecam and monopod with the 7d. my go to lens is a tamron 17-50 2.8. during ceremony i'll use a 70-200 2.8. i bounce back and forth between cameras to change up the angle during the ceremony.

and when i do have a 2nd shooter they are using a 7d as well.
 
I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but you want two cameras... stick one on sticks, stick the 5D on a shoulder mount and you should be good to go. I always hire a second shooter, just having someone else there to manage equipment is extremely useful i have found. It doesn't take much training to stand behind a camera on a tripod and make sure that it doesnt get bumped, run out of media or batteries, and monitor the framing. Then you can run around and get all the hero shots you want with the 5D, without worrying about missing anything important, and you can bill your AC to the client.
 
DSLRs are great for weddings. 4gb record time which averages out to 10-14 minutes at 1080p (depending on how much movement is going on in your shots, gotta love mp4). Monopods will work great for your run and gun, detail shots, and b-roll. It's easier to get bride and groom angles on a monopod. Wide shots, put the camera on a tripod and lock it down. Make sure that you're able to get back and start the record again every 10 minutes though (pay a film student 8-10/hour to be your resetter/assistant).

The Rode mics are not very good for sound (especially when plugged into the DSLR cameras), but can be great reference audio. If you can, I would suggest recording all the audio to your external recorder (or multiple).

I wouldn't worry too much about getting random blurbs that people say between events. Try and focus on the main events. Mix in b-roll of people sitting and talking, eating snacks, etc into the speeches and ceremony (it gets boring watching someone give a speech). Try and think cinematically about all of it. People love movies, people want to be in their own movie.

Here is a great example of what TO-DO:


He gives detailed instruction below the video. Give it a read and decide if EOS/DSLR shooting is right for you. Good luck!
 
The above link is great.

This, from StillMotion, is just as informative.

I'm newer to the wedding game. What I've found is:

Get there EARLY. Test all your equipment hours/days beforehand at the site.

At least 2 cams. Put one on sticks with a longer zoom (70-200 or 50-150 for example). Get some sort of shoulder rig/stabilizer for the other cam (w/ a shorter zoom like a 17-55 or set of primes).

Wireless mics are great... but I'm starting to lean toward using a small, personal recorder (like the Zoom H1n) with a nice lav mic. That way, the groom will forget he even has the mic on.... can record all day w/ a nice SDHC card. Got some good audio of the couple talking in the limo after the ceremony/before photos. If you're using wireless, chances are he'll take it off because out of range)

Get TONS of angles. Two cams doesn't mean two angles. Move around a bit, but be sure not to disrupt the flow of the wedding.
 
Before anything else is said... I ALSO highly recommend 2 cameras. If not two operators at least have one for general coverage purposes on sticks.

Some of this will echo what others have said. My experience with shooting weddings on the 5d has been great. I actually hated shooting wedding prior to DSLRs. Now I actually enjoy it.

1 - Auto Focus - I've only shot with manual focus, and it's just something I have gotten used to - and now I love it. Manually focusing just requires a little practice.

2 - Audio is a little tricky. It's something I'm still trying to standardize, but it's hard because each wedding ceremony/reception is different. I use a rode shotgun through a juicelink DT454 plugged to my camera. It acts as a "mixer" for the mic and also provides levels. This allows for no syncing. There are many different options. A shotgun mic is a good all purpose but may pick up a lot of ambient sound at louder weddings. Wireless works well at the ceremony. Plugging your mp3 recorder to the PA system is also ideal.

3 - Weddings are very run and gun and a monopod probably works the best. I always bring a tripod, but neither myself or my assistant ever use it. The other choice of stabilizer is a shoulder mount. I use this often, and it works great.

Other notes for shooting weddings with DSLR:
-Bring lots of CF cards. I have 2 32GB cards. It usually more than enough.
-Slider shots are an "easy" way to skyrocket the production value. Add a few of those here and there and it really adds to the total production value. (Same can be said with a steadicam rig, but I that's much harder and much more expensive.)
-Lenses I like: Canon 50mm 1.4 - great for low light, Canon 24-105mm great all purpose lens (f4 is a little slow, but IS is very good), 70-200mm great for general/close ups, Olympus 21mm I use this for my steadicam shots.
 
yo totally are correct, konrad czystowki served as executive cinematographer and sm educator there for a few years; and is one of the original three.

im a huge fan of his work and his close friend as well.

he is a BEAST behind the camera.

Chris S. Alexander said:
Interestingly enough, I believe the person who shot the wedding that I embedded used to work for StillMotion.
Click to expand...
 
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for those who are looking for more advice , i just posted this film up yesterday and i usually try to write up as much *reasonable* amount of information per post re cams, correction, matching, stabilization, audio, etc etc etc depending upon how much time i have.

hopefully this will help some of you.

http://vimeo.com/12145294

 
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