filming in tough conditions and focusing

E

Elis

Member
Yesterday I had one of my first "jobs" as a reporter for a bonus video on a DVD.

I had several technical issues with my new (to me) DVX 100. The manual is pretty badly written (it doesn't explain how to get the effect you want). I simply don't know how to deal technically with certain situations :

The conditions : very low lighting in a theater (the diaphrame was OPEN), my journalist rushing me through a crowd of people with a mic asking people how they liked the show, people answering before I could tell them they could, etc.

So what do I do about sound? Some people were practically "rapping" into the mic, others timidly answering a bit too far. Is there an auto-audio level option? (I was waisting concentration trying to ajust audio levels in real time)

So how do I focus (when the distance changes all the time, because I can't always catch up with the journalist to keep the same distance). I tried zooming and focusing (push focus) and then getting the right frame. (Will tell you soon how that turned out). At other times, it was going so crazy, that I just unzoomed as much as possible and pushed the auto focus. It focused at infinity. So I left it that way, hoping that it will look in focus. But the problem is the low lighting. (And so in wide angle, I couldn't get too close to people for fear they'd be out of focus.)

Then there is the "macro" mode issue. When I'm really close to someone (and can't back out), I try to go into macro mode.
How do you go into macro mode?
(The manual doesn't say) What I'd try to do is "push focus", in the hopes that it would automatically focus. But being zoomed all the way, I can see that it isn't in focus. The focus value it gives me is 50 . It won't go under. (So I find a way to back up more and re-focus, this time it's fine)
At another moment (during the frantic interviews) I had a moment to focus. I thought I was pretty far enough a way (more than 4 feet, more like 6). I zoomed, "push focus" and suddenly found myself in "macro" mode. But it all looked in focus. What is going on here?

(In a few days I'll be able to look at my footage. on a screen)

thanks !
 
The manual is only just a manual, it can't tell you how to get the look you want. Pick up Barry Green's DVX book for a deeper understanding of your camera.

Low lighting. What were you shooting in (24p/30p/60i)? Though many here seem to despise 60i, it can allow substantially more light into the camera. What was your shutter set at?

If your talent (journalist) is letting people begin before you are ready, pull them aside and tell them to wait for you to get your camera set, otherwise you run the risk of getting unusable footage. However, if you are doing this professionally, you are expected to make any necessary adjustments quickly and promptly. If the interviewee is giving unusable sound bites, don't waste everybody's time and tell them (it is acceptable to interrupt them) to adjust their volume. It is not a waste of concentration to get good audio.

It is sounding like you really need to reign in your talent here. Never "hope" with focus, always bee %110 sure your focus is set correctly. It sounds like you were outside the minimal focal distance for that focal length (you were zoomed in too far and had your subject too close). If your AF can't find the right area to focus on, you either need to A) turn the AF off or B) learn to frame your shots so the AF focuses on the right subject. The camera has the deepest focal length when the lens is at its widest. You can literally have you subjects nose touching the lens (don't actually do that) and have it be in focus if the lens is at its widest and the focus is set right. There are chart and equations online and in Barry's book that show exactly what your focal range it at a set focal length.
 
Thanks for the answer.
I was shooting in 50i (sorry, europe here) shutter speed 1/55.6

It is true, perhaps I should have reigned in my talent, but I guess people are so used to AF tourist cameras that they don't realise that to get a good image I need 3 secs before. I was in a semi-professional setting : I'm a beginner, I get a mixture of payement and forgiveness for not being perfect. But I'm supposed to be learning.

Does Auto Audio levels exist? When I was using sony DSR brodcast cameras for local TV, we put sound levels on auto. It makes for slightly compressed sound, but never saturated and always at a constant level it works great for up-beat fast dynamic interviews (where you don't need the perfect cinema sound).

How does zooming "too far" prevent me from focusing? (I thought I'm supposed to zoom all the way, frame so only the distance I want is in frame, push the auto-button untill it is in focus, then zoom out and film normally)

I would trust wide angle to have a big focal range... in broad daylight, but not a dim theater...

And what about voluntairely getting into macro mode?
 
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I often shoot in a style similar to you "by myself" if you can imagine that. I use an Artemis (Sachtler's version of a Steadycam) with a shotgun mic on top. I love the look I get in interviews and it is easy to move the camera smoothly from one person to another when interviewing people in small groups. But now to your question about focus.

I have learned to focus based on estimating distance from the subject to the lens and using the readout on the monitor. I was first introduced to this approach when I was trained to do wedding photography years ago . . . . . before anything was automatic. I would have to estimate the distance to subjects and set the power of the flash accordingly. Of course a flash is more forgiving than focus, but it's the same idea. Now i use a varizoom focus/zoom/iris/record control on my Artemis and adjust the focus based on eyeballing the distance of the subject from the lens. When I can, I try to shoot at a minimum of 2.8, but preferably at 5.6 to keep the DOF range a little more fogiving. But once you get good at estimating distances, you'll be surprised how quickly you can adjust using the distance scale in the HVX display.

So far as low light goes, use an on camera light for situations like this. I've been using a small light with a dimmer on the back. I put a piece of difuser material over the barn doors to help knock down the glare on the subject's forehead and I adjust the light as more of a fill to the ambient light. An on camera light also provides a nice catch light in the subjects eyes. Small and very portable, on camera lights are pretty inexpensive and some can even be run on small batteries.

I agree completely with TMYs comments about the talent being a "team player" and working with you in tandem. In the real world, reporters do not leave their camera man behind and run around jumping from person to person asking interview questions. Camera, sound and talent have to work as a team. Regarding audio levels, YES. The HVX does have an auto setting for audio and has a limiter that can be enabled. Best thing you can do is get the Barry Green book and study it. It goes through both the manual switches as well as the menu settings. Being familiar with the settings allows you to adjust no the fly. You might also consider setting up scene files and storing them on your SD card when you first arrive at a location so you can go from one room and shooting condition to another quckly without guesswork.

Good luck on your next shoot.
 
Unfortunately, I can't get my hands on the DVX book, I live on the wrong continent.

I talked with a friend who's interning in a news station. She told me that when under pressure from her reporters to go impossibly fast, she gets up close, focuses (randomly) as close as possible and opens out as wide as the lense will go.

I did some experiments a JVC 500 (a sort of semi-pro reporting camera, in the 10,000 $ zone with a 1/3" 3CCD) which I'm more comfortable with. At dusk, (low light) I tried focusing at different distances, and then zooming out to see where it was still in focus. My fingers were in focus even within the non-focus zone (arms legnth, closer than that was out of focus. Note : I remember that on professional broadcast cameras, 2/3" captors, things weren't in focus at that distance, unless the lense was wide-angle.)
Well, when I focused as close as possible, (3 feet) things were still in focus at double the distance (6 feet). But the rest was blurry. When I focused at a medium distance, everything was in focus. And when I focused at infinity, everything (again) was in focus.
(Dah ! that was one of our first lessons during training)
So my conclusion : I should focus on a resonable "average" distance for the conditions I was in and hope for the best.

For the audio : yes, I found out : there is a semi-automatic sound level controller, but the manual says "you still must ajust levels". (Totally the opposite way from what I was doing with the broadcast cameras : all sound automatic and it really works well with the interviews. But at least it helps !)

And now, macro, manually?
 
There is another problem : price... :)
(someone has a second hand book in europe to sell or lend me, I'm willing, just pm me.)
 
i have a pdf scanned version of the book that i made but i don't think barry green would like that it would be given away for free :)

so i'm not going to send it.
 
Well, then I'll just have to do without for a while.

I looked at my footage : 30% isn't usable because of sound problems (saturation, or the micophone being turned off)
10% is out of focus.
Unfortunately, my client giving her reaction on camera isn't in focus and the sound starts off fine, but then the microphone points at the ceiling instead of her mouth...

But thanks to this discussion, I've improved : the sound on my last project was much much better. Thanks !
 
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