how to make t2i,60d,7d footage at its best?

D

Downtofilm.

Member
Hey DVX user, I recently purchased a canon 60d and I love it so far but I feel like I am not using it to its full potential.
What are some good tips on how to make your video quality at its best at 720 60p?
Any tips would be awesome!
The 2 lenses I am shooting with at the moment are; 10-20 sigma and 50mm 1.8 canon.
I know I am new to this forum so I probably am reposting or something like that but it would be helpful to get some tips.
Also If I were to purchase a lens what would be my best option a 17-40 or a 24-105.
Thanks guys
 
what do you film? i suggest getting a fisheye

but im in the same boat as you ive had my 60d for bout a week and i love it but i know
its capable of much more. im thinking about buying a dvd for the 60d since ive seen a few good ones out
there.


60d
55-250mm canon
 
To get the best from your camera, DO NOT shoot 720P. The quality of 720P produced by the T2i, 7D, or 60D is anemic at best. Alway shoot 1080P and you'll be much happier.
 
dan.carter said:
To get the best from your camera, DO NOT shoot 720P. The quality of 720P produced by the T2i, 7D, or 60D is anemic at best. Alway shoot 1080P and you'll be much happier.
Click to expand...

Unless our going for slow mo. Then I recomend using 60p and dropping it on a 24p timeline. Some people use it for that hyper reality look, but im not so fond of it. I would go 24p 1080 as the above poster suggests. If you plan on grading your work, then shoot with nuetral setting with sharpening and contrast all the way down.
 
There's really so many steps!

-Download two picture styles called Marvels Cine and Kodak Portrait, I personally find Marvels Cine to be the most realistic looking "flat"style, while Kodak Portrait really gives my footage the "best" looking real-life look - it's more contrast based. I've tried many others but none of them really suit me like these two do, maybe they'll work for you too. Also, make sure to dial the sharpness all the way down on any of them you choose.

-Truly make sure your exposure is correct and never trust the camera's meter. To get the "best" exposure on-the-go, switch you camera to manual photography mode and choose possibly evaluative mode or center-weighted average (these will only work when you use the viewfinder for the shots, not the live view mode). Expose with the meter using these modes, and when you get your ISO and Aperture correct with your shutter on 60, go type that into the movie mode. The meter will then be a few notches off from what the photography mode told you, but it's more trustworthy IMO.

-Always trust your eye, if something just doesn't look right on the LCD, change it to where it plain out looks better to you - make sure your LCD brightness isn't playing with you, though.

-Wide angle shots in video mode just don't look good with DSLR's. While it may not be the worst in the world, DSLR's, because of their aliasing and moire issues, are best for shooting "close-up" work, where the details of the shot are larger than the pixels and the invisible moire issues. Simply put, if you shoot a wide angle shot that is all in focus, it'll look like crap. Shot detail with these cameras really gets destroyed even if you don't get the rainbows and lines that make the reasoning behind it more obvious.

-Take a chance renting a Nikon lens to see if it works better for you. While I'm not sure if the test was truly accurate (I almost want to suspect the shooter messed up and just used a sharper picture style for one result), I saw a test once where a Nikon lens made a huge difference in sharpness on the Canon cameras, compared to many Canon lenses, and many people report that they prefer Nikon lenses for video work.

-Sacrifice some things to keep other things looking better - say you have a subject in a shadowy room, and there's a window behind the subject. Don't be afraid to overexpose the window quite a bit to get the detail for the subject; blurring the background window using your aperture will make it still look good. Or you can choose to have an extremely dark and blacked out subject with a less-bright window behind them, it's always better to be creative and sacrifice certain details in favor of other good things.

-Remember to use a ND filter for outside work - the lack of aperture will really start to make those outside shots look very crummy and camcorderish. Restoring some depth of field will be a miracle, and again, always remember that these cameras don't handle wide detail shots in video mode well at all, you generally have to keep a "head shot" mentality when dealing with it.

-Lastly, things like Light Compensation and the like tend to create noise, and if you have the 60D or 7D, there are certain ISO's that reduce noise best of all, and I honestly have to say that a lack of noise is pretty darn important with video mode. I like filmic noise just as much as the next Black Swan fan, but it's not something that electric cameras do well - noise really degrades the quality with these cameras, and it also is very color based noise instead of something you'd see with film. Keep the ISO around 100 and 200 at all possible times!
 
Snapper123 said:
There's really so many steps!

-Download two picture styles called Marvels Cine and Kodak Portrait, I personally find Marvels Cine to be the most realistic looking "flat"style, while Kodak Portrait really gives my footage the "best" looking real-life look - it's more contrast based. I've tried many others but none of them really suit me like these two do, maybe they'll work for you too. Also, make sure to dial the sharpness all the way down on any of them you choose.

-Truly make sure your exposure is correct and never trust the camera's meter. To get the "best" exposure on-the-go, switch you camera to manual photography mode and choose possibly evaluative mode or center-weighted average (these will only work when you use the viewfinder for the shots, not the live view mode). Expose with the meter using these modes, and when you get your ISO and Aperture correct with your shutter on 60, go type that into the movie mode. The meter will then be a few notches off from what the photography mode told you, but it's more trustworthy IMO.

-Always trust your eye, if something just doesn't look right on the LCD, change it to where it plain out looks better to you - make sure your LCD brightness isn't playing with you, though.

-Wide angle shots in video mode just don't look good with DSLR's. While it may not be the worst in the world, DSLR's, because of their aliasing and moire issues, are best for shooting "close-up" work, where the details of the shot are larger than the pixels and the invisible moire issues. Simply put, if you shoot a wide angle shot that is all in focus, it'll look like crap. Shot detail with these cameras really gets destroyed even if you don't get the rainbows and lines that make the reasoning behind it more obvious.

-Take a chance renting a Nikon lens to see if it works better for you. While I'm not sure if the test was truly accurate (I almost want to suspect the shooter messed up and just used a sharper picture style for one result), I saw a test once where a Nikon lens made a huge difference in sharpness on the Canon cameras, compared to many Canon lenses, and many people report that they prefer Nikon lenses for video work.

-Sacrifice some things to keep other things looking better - say you have a subject in a shadowy room, and there's a window behind the subject. Don't be afraid to overexpose the window quite a bit to get the detail for the subject; blurring the background window using your aperture will make it still look good. Or you can choose to have an extremely dark and blacked out subject with a less-bright window behind them, it's always better to be creative and sacrifice certain details in favor of other good things.

-Remember to use a ND filter for outside work - the lack of aperture will really start to make those outside shots look very crummy and camcorderish. Restoring some depth of field will be a miracle, and again, always remember that these cameras don't handle wide detail shots in video mode well at all, you generally have to keep a "head shot" mentality when dealing with it.

-Lastly, things like Light Compensation and the like tend to create noise, and if you have the 60D or 7D, there are certain ISO's that reduce noise best of all, and I honestly have to say that a lack of noise is pretty darn important with video mode. I like filmic noise just as much as the next Black Swan fan, but it's not something that electric cameras do well - noise really degrades the quality with these cameras, and it also is very color based noise instead of something you'd see with film. Keep the ISO around 100 and 200 at all possible times!
Click to expand...
This is why I love this forum.
 
Downtofilm. said:
Hey DVX user, I recently purchased a canon 60d and I love it so far but I feel like I

The 2 lenses I am shooting with at the moment are; 10-20 sigma and 50mm 1.8 canon.


Also If I were to purchase a lens what would be my best option a 17-40 or a 24-105.
Click to expand...

The 17-40 and 24-105 are both great lenses, but a little slow at f4. I just got a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for my 60D and it's also a quality lens and a good value.
As far as picture style I shoot everything neutral 0-0-0-0 and add contrast / CC in post. A lot of shooters here go much more flat than that. I personally think it's too far, but everybody has their own way. One thing is for with these cameras. Lower contrast light situations will produce richer colors and smoother looking images.
 
@DTF - You select one of the 3 custom picture styles when in video mode to choose.

@Lindquist - On your computer you open up the picture style editor with your camera attached(usb), then load it into one of the custom slots you have available.

*not entirely detailed since i dont have it in front of me, but that should give you some direction as to what to do/where to look :)
 
im a bit confused myself, so the camera has only so many ways to change a picture, (sat,contrast,ect..) Do these downloadable picture styles have something more? Or are they someones paremeters using the same options we have. I mean couldnt you just adjust the settings your self to dial in the exact same picture as the downloadable file?
 
maranfilms said:
im a bit confused myself, so the camera has only so many ways to change a picture, (sat,contrast,ect..) Do these downloadable picture styles have something more? Or are they someones paremeters using the same options we have. I mean couldnt you just adjust the settings your self to dial in the exact same picture as the downloadable file?
Click to expand...

They offer a lot more than that. For example, I have a super flat picture style that offers wayyy more flat image than cranking down everything in camera to the lowest setting to reduce contrast and so on.
 
besides settings in camera menu for contrast,sharpness etc. picture style can shift gamma and color balance,no magic here.
 
yea but when I go to video mode you cannot see the changes they look the exact same also the notches of the settings are default.
but when in picture mode I see them?
 
Kastro said:
@DTF - You select one of the 3 custom picture styles when in video mode to choose.

@Lindquist - On your computer you open up the picture style editor with your camera attached(usb), then load it into one of the custom slots you have available.

*not entirely detailed since i dont have it in front of me, but that should give you some direction as to what to do/where to look :)
Click to expand...

yea but when I go to video mode you cannot see the changes they look the exact same also the notches of the settings are default.
but when in picture mode I see them?
 
You have these profiles available in both stills mode and video mode - tweaking the stills settings leaves the video settings unaffected, and vice versa.
 
mr bill said:
You have these profiles available in both stills mode and video mode - tweaking the stills settings leaves the video settings unaffected, and vice versa.
Click to expand...

Yes I know that, But when you drop the picture styles in when you are on the computer you have to drop them in stills mode.
 
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