Please help with HD settings for filming weddings

J

Johnny Bueno

Active member
Hey all,

I have have recently started shooting weddings within the past year and I always adjust and learn as I go depending on the previous wedding. The one thing that I keep trying to adjust and make better is the HD footage in general. The HD image I produce with the HVX is good but to me doesn't feel that its as crisp as it could be. I feel that I am not using all of the potential my HVX has. Now I might be wrong and in that case there is nothing I can do, but I would like to know for sure. Can I please get some suggestions as to what settings I should be using for wedding events and other events alike. For example, should I be shooting Film CAM or Video CAM? What Gamma or matrix settings should I be using? The biggest issue/obstacle I'm having is that I only have to P2 cards with a Macbook pro as my only way to dump footage from the cards. The reason this is an issue is because I have to try and get as much time out of my cards as possible in which I have always shot in Native modes. Now the problem is that I only have an option of 30pn or 24pn in Native mode. If I'm understanding correctly the lower the frame rate the harder it is for the camera to auto focus in low light. Even in bright light sometimes I've noticed. Yes I do shoot weddings with Auto Focus as I and the guests are moving too much and too fast for me to keep up with manual focus.

So back to the problem. I want as crisp sharp HD as I can get out of my camera and also have the fastest Auto focus. But to achieve this do I need to switch from Native modes to the higher frame rates of 60p? If anyone can help me in this situation and help me in better learning and understanding my camera settings, it would be greatly appreciated. Overall in summary, I want the highest quality HD I can get from my HVX, I want the fastest Auto Focus I can get, and I need to know what settings are best for wedding and what settings will help me achieve this. Thanks again.

Johnny
 
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I'm pretty new at this myself, I suggest you get an assistant who will also shoot (either close or wide) and then cut the footage together. I don't think there are any 'magic':violin: settings for focusing.
 
I just meant which settings are best for a camera in auto focus that is constantly moving. And which settings will give me the best HD results.
 
its all a sliding scale depending on what youre shooting. there isnt a "best" setting (didnt we cover this with brandondull?)
best thing to do is read the manual and/or barrys book. or just hook up a hi-res production monitor and play with all the settings and LEARN what they all do.
 
I fully understand what you are saying. I guess what I really need to know is, if Im shooting with Auto Focus would It be better for me to shoot in 720/60p instead of 720/30pn? Because sometimes the auto focus takes too long to focus when shooting in 30pn. Would Shooting in 60p help this at all? Thanks again.

PS: again I read this in the HVX book by Barry Green. So I hope I'm not sounding crazy when I ask or claim if its supposedly better for the Auto focus to shoot in higher frame rates.
 
While auto focus is not recommended due to the poor performance of that funciton- you will get your best auto focus results when shooting 1080 as opposed to 720. And you will get better auto focus performance when shooting 60i instead of 24p.

Jim
 
Thank you for the info. Unfortunately though I have to use Auto focus for events as they move along too fast. Otherwise I might miss something that i wasn't able to manually focus in time. Thanks again for the input.
 
I can't remember the last time I used autofocus. Probably my XL-1 days. Then the DVX-100 came out and didn't support autofocus in 24p and I was forced to go manual and haven't look back. My advice is to ditch autofocus forever and deal with manual, you won't regret it. Just pretend autofocus doesn't exist.

I've shot many weddings years ago without autofocus. It's more than possible.
 
I shoot weddings with the HVX and never use autofocus. I do use a spiderbrace when I'm off the tripod, and use the varizoom remote to control the camera from the spiderbrace. I get, IMHO, great footage. Just takes practice, but you will find that the manual mode flexiblilty is superior. And I use 24pn for max P2 time.
 
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