Tips Making Dslr Videos

Make idea for video
Take off your photographer hat and start thinking like a director, in stories and clips. A variety of angles and scenes is key to making an engaging movie.

You can’t just press record and film a whole long scene straight off the bat, professionally shot films are made up of hundreds of short clips ranging around two to twenty seconds each.

That may seem like a lot of video, but it’s easily edited down into a short film using computer software.

Plan it all out
Make a rough storyboard of the clips you want to include in your film, giving it a clear beginning, middle and end.

Planning first makes things much easier when you’re setting up and directing the action.

When it comes choosing your movie’s size, full frame, or 1920×1080, is the best choice for getting high quality footage.

Frame rate is the frequency at which consecutive images are displayed – our Nikon D3100 will only shoot at 24fps, but more sophisticated DSLRs give you more options – European videos tend to be shot at 25fps, whilst American video and action clips are normally 30fps.

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Lens Calibration

If you are wondering about how to calibrate lenses, this article has detailed explanations and different methods of AF fine tuning. Due to the nature of the phase detect autofocus system that is present on all SLR cameras, both cameras and lenses must be properly calibrated by manufacturers in order to yield sharp images. Various factors such as manufacturer defects, sample variation, insufficient quality assurance testing/tuning and improper shipping and handling can all negatively impact autofocus precision. A lot of photographers get frustrated after spending thousands of dollars on camera equipment and not being able to get anything in focus. After receiving a number of emails from our readers requesting help on how to calibrate lenses, I decided to write this tutorial on ways to properly fine tune focus on cameras and lenses.

 

• Why Calibrate

Why is there a need to calibrate lenses? With the release of new, high-resolution cameras like Nikon D800, it seems like calibration is becoming an important and hot topic. As I have explained in a number of my photography articles and reviews, while the increase of megapixels in our cameras has a number of benefits (see benefits of high resolution cameras), it can also expose potential focus problems. A slight focus issue might not be as noticeable on a 10-12 MP sensor, but will be much more noticeable on a 25+ MP sensor (assuming both sensors are of the same size).

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3 Problems Before Taking Picture

DSLR’s are awesome for video. They’re a great way to get great cinematic looks on a budget. They pack alot of power in a small package. The DSLR revolution has brought out tons of new filmmakers that are trying their hand at making some cool stuff. I bet that most of the videos uploaded to Vimeo are shot with a DSLR.

These are 3 simple problems that, as long as you think about them before you shoot, can be easily fixed.

 

• Shaky Footage – DSLR’s have a poor center of gravity and they’re small, so they receive every tiny hand shake and amplify it. Seeing shaky, jittery footage usually makes me turn the video off before I get a headache from watching it.

How to solve: Get some sort of support. I don’t recommend relying solely on a tripod, as you are limited and can’t walk around or get different angles. Monopods are great for keeping your camera steady, especially during long events. Monopods are a godsend when I shoot weddings. You can also invest in some sort of shoulder rig to go mobile, although it may wear you down after a long period of shooting with it.
People always try to cover up jittery footage with a stabilizer effect in post, but it usually looks horrible. So fix the problem in production so you don’t have to deal with it in post.

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