Taky
Well-known member
Just finished a 6 hours wedding the first time using DSLR. I planned this a month ago. Been ordering all that I need. Here’s a list of what I ordered
Here’s a few things from my experience.
Focusing
Manual focusing is a pain. I can do well with the focus ring gear and a 7” monitor. However, my assistant was not familiar with DSLR (and so am I). For the first half of the cermeony, he has the wrong focus. Luckily it’s the B-roll only. I still have my main cam footage covered. Also, the couple goes with standard definition DVD package only. Sizing down the HD footage to SD will make the out focus not noticeable.
12-Minute Time Limit
I thought it would be an issue. It turns out, I always remember to pause recording whenever I can. As the other cam is rolling, there is no lost of footage. Now I realized the problem is not the 12-minutes time limit, it’s T2i’s way reporting remaining time on LCD display. It makes it difficult to know when the card is about full.
Overheating
I am aware of the overheating issue and I tested the cameras. For that 6 hours coverage, I have the overheat warning appears twice on my main cam. None on the second cam. I turned off the camera right away. Flip it back on after 10 seconds, the warning went away. I still have to keep in mind whenever I’m not recording, or standby, just turn off the camera.
Follow Focus
After the first hour, I already noticed it is useless to use the Follow Focus. The reason is, after I zoom, I don’t have enough time to move my hand from the zoom ring to the FF to adjust for a good focus. For live event, it just impossible. I trained myself to adjust the zoom ring with my thumb and index finger. Then adjust the focus immediately with the ring finger. Therefore, the FF is not necessary. The focus ring GEAR is necessary for such quick and accurate moment.
However, the Follow Focus + rail does give a stunning look of the whole rig. It gives a lot of talking point too.
Audio
Everybody agrees T2i's onboard audio with AGC is bad. The Rode VideoMic will comes handy. Not only it makes the rig looks good, it does actually record great sound. I'm also recording audio with a wired lav mic with a audio recorder hanging in front of the speaker, I can get a master audio track for synchronization in post.
Recording Good Sound at Event | L.A. Color Blog
Slider
I really like the effect done by the Slider. However, at a short event like that, I don’t have a lot of time to get the slider to be used. Used it twice only.
Battery
As a guy selling batteries, using a lot of the LP-E8 battery is not a concern at all. I have 12 batteries all fully charged. At the end of the night, used 10 and 2 left. So I need more if I don't want to hunt for outlet to charge battery throughout the day.
Memory Card
I have ten Sandisk class 6 16GB card. Used up 9 of them at the end of the night. Of course I have 4 more backup SD cards that I didn’t open yet. Now I know I need to get even more to prepare for a full day wedding.
Copying footage takes about 15 minutes for each card. Compared to the realtime capturing in the DV/HDV days, it saves me a lot of time. In the old days after a full day wedding, I have about 15 to 20 tapes. That always take 2 to 4 days just to capture them.
Steadicam
Since I have a Merlin steadicam already, it is not on my investment list. I have a t2i on battery grip (must use battery grip because the merlin plate blocked the battey door). The added weight surprisingly makes the merlin balance way much better. Later on, I added a Tokina 11-16mm lens. It balances even better till almost perfect. I have never been so happy of my Merlin with HV30. Now the whole setup won’t sway. The Tokina lens rocks too in low light!
Lens
I am using a Caon 18-135mm lens on the B-cam. It is good enough at 18mm with aperture f/3.5. Since the b-roll is mostly at wide zoom out all the time, it captures bright scenes. On my main cam, I am using a Sigma 18-250mm, f/3.5-6. It performs poorly at zoom. However, I do need the zoom range and I have the Comer 1800 lights to fill. It works even better than my XH-A1 with the 20x zoom.
The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 is a solid super wide angle lens. It's perfect to be used with Merlin to achieve cool close up feel. It's pricey but totally worth it.
External Monitior
The big 7" screen Lilliput monitor makes it much easier to focus. However, there is one big problem. T2i HDMI output switches from HD to SD after the record movie button is pressed. Because of the switch of signal, the monitor screen goes blank for 3 to 5 seconds. I have to guess or just wait for the screen to come back om. It’s a bit annoying but I can get over it. Also, the screen is much brighter in default mode. Some of the recorded footage turned out much darker. I will need to lower the brighness of the screen to match the actual output.
*****
Overall, I would say the shooting was a success. It won’t be perfect but it’s a good start. I love the DSLR output with the shallow depth of field that I could never achieve with my Xh-A1. There’re all these limitations to deal with but I can manage it. .. and there're still so much more to learn. =)
- Canon T2i x 3 (with difference lens and lens kit)
- Canon Battery Grip x 3
- Sandisk 16GB Class 6 SD card x 10
- Rode VideoMic x 2
- Lilliput 7” Monitor x 1
- Cinecity Rail x 1
- IndiFocusMini x 1
- IndiSliderMini x 1
- LP-E8 Battery x 12
Here’s a few things from my experience.
Focusing
Manual focusing is a pain. I can do well with the focus ring gear and a 7” monitor. However, my assistant was not familiar with DSLR (and so am I). For the first half of the cermeony, he has the wrong focus. Luckily it’s the B-roll only. I still have my main cam footage covered. Also, the couple goes with standard definition DVD package only. Sizing down the HD footage to SD will make the out focus not noticeable.
12-Minute Time Limit
I thought it would be an issue. It turns out, I always remember to pause recording whenever I can. As the other cam is rolling, there is no lost of footage. Now I realized the problem is not the 12-minutes time limit, it’s T2i’s way reporting remaining time on LCD display. It makes it difficult to know when the card is about full.
Overheating
I am aware of the overheating issue and I tested the cameras. For that 6 hours coverage, I have the overheat warning appears twice on my main cam. None on the second cam. I turned off the camera right away. Flip it back on after 10 seconds, the warning went away. I still have to keep in mind whenever I’m not recording, or standby, just turn off the camera.
Follow Focus
After the first hour, I already noticed it is useless to use the Follow Focus. The reason is, after I zoom, I don’t have enough time to move my hand from the zoom ring to the FF to adjust for a good focus. For live event, it just impossible. I trained myself to adjust the zoom ring with my thumb and index finger. Then adjust the focus immediately with the ring finger. Therefore, the FF is not necessary. The focus ring GEAR is necessary for such quick and accurate moment.
However, the Follow Focus + rail does give a stunning look of the whole rig. It gives a lot of talking point too.
Audio
Everybody agrees T2i's onboard audio with AGC is bad. The Rode VideoMic will comes handy. Not only it makes the rig looks good, it does actually record great sound. I'm also recording audio with a wired lav mic with a audio recorder hanging in front of the speaker, I can get a master audio track for synchronization in post.
Recording Good Sound at Event | L.A. Color Blog
Slider
I really like the effect done by the Slider. However, at a short event like that, I don’t have a lot of time to get the slider to be used. Used it twice only.
Battery
As a guy selling batteries, using a lot of the LP-E8 battery is not a concern at all. I have 12 batteries all fully charged. At the end of the night, used 10 and 2 left. So I need more if I don't want to hunt for outlet to charge battery throughout the day.
Memory Card
I have ten Sandisk class 6 16GB card. Used up 9 of them at the end of the night. Of course I have 4 more backup SD cards that I didn’t open yet. Now I know I need to get even more to prepare for a full day wedding.
Copying footage takes about 15 minutes for each card. Compared to the realtime capturing in the DV/HDV days, it saves me a lot of time. In the old days after a full day wedding, I have about 15 to 20 tapes. That always take 2 to 4 days just to capture them.
Steadicam
Since I have a Merlin steadicam already, it is not on my investment list. I have a t2i on battery grip (must use battery grip because the merlin plate blocked the battey door). The added weight surprisingly makes the merlin balance way much better. Later on, I added a Tokina 11-16mm lens. It balances even better till almost perfect. I have never been so happy of my Merlin with HV30. Now the whole setup won’t sway. The Tokina lens rocks too in low light!
Lens
I am using a Caon 18-135mm lens on the B-cam. It is good enough at 18mm with aperture f/3.5. Since the b-roll is mostly at wide zoom out all the time, it captures bright scenes. On my main cam, I am using a Sigma 18-250mm, f/3.5-6. It performs poorly at zoom. However, I do need the zoom range and I have the Comer 1800 lights to fill. It works even better than my XH-A1 with the 20x zoom.
The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 is a solid super wide angle lens. It's perfect to be used with Merlin to achieve cool close up feel. It's pricey but totally worth it.
External Monitior
The big 7" screen Lilliput monitor makes it much easier to focus. However, there is one big problem. T2i HDMI output switches from HD to SD after the record movie button is pressed. Because of the switch of signal, the monitor screen goes blank for 3 to 5 seconds. I have to guess or just wait for the screen to come back om. It’s a bit annoying but I can get over it. Also, the screen is much brighter in default mode. Some of the recorded footage turned out much darker. I will need to lower the brighness of the screen to match the actual output.
*****
Overall, I would say the shooting was a success. It won’t be perfect but it’s a good start. I love the DSLR output with the shallow depth of field that I could never achieve with my Xh-A1. There’re all these limitations to deal with but I can manage it. .. and there're still so much more to learn. =)
