t2i video advice

[Chris Barnes]

In all my searching, the Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC has caught my eye. Will this be a good lens?

[Joe Shapiro]

I’m wondering what you gain over a video camera like the HVX-200 in this situation?

—
Joe Shapiro
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[Noah Kadner]

Yeah you need a real camcorder- your shoots are the opposite of what a DSLR specializes in. (except of course being cheap). But a little handycam style HDV camcorder sounds more like what you need.

Noah

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[Chris Barnes]

Aside from the ability to take photos, probably nothing. But I’ve got it now, haha. I purchased the t2i after receiving great reviews from cinematographers in the motocross industry. Most of them use a variety of canon dslr’s to film everything from short clips to full movie’s, so I went that route.

[Chris Barnes]

Anyone?

[Chris Barnes]

And let me add. I’m not saying I do not intend to use the capabilities of the DSLR in the future. I will definitely want to explore shallow depth of feel, with some freeride type edits. I’m just saying, that while I’m adapting to this new camera I think I need an all around “run and gun” style lens that I can use in most situations.

[Joshua Kerr]

Provided these motocross shoots are during the day you should have no problem on the t2i. The others are right, a camcorder will serve much better but we don’t all have the funds.
Don’t worry about a new lens its how you use what you have (yes a 28mm prime will give you a nicer image but it doesn’t make the slightest difference to the settings you need to use). You would need to lower the aperture to something beyond 16 to get a wide enough depth of field to keep things in focus and I assume being fast paced you need to have almost infinite depth. Then of course coupled with cranking up the shutter speed you loose more light. This only leaves you with the t2i’s iso sensitivity to compensate for the light loss. The t2i will give you some serious grain anywhere beyond 400 but like I said on a day shoot this will be no problem.

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[Joe Shapiro]

For run and gun the kit lenses are fine. I have them both – the 18-55 and 55-200. The image stabilization is a lifesaver. For handheld video it’s a must-have for any lens longer than about 35mm.

The main thing a better lens will get you is speed (wider apertures). But that gives you even shallower DoF which is what you need to avoid in run and gun.

One last thing- on Canon DSLRs it’s important to use only ISOs divisible by 160. All the others give you lots of extra noise. Google this for details. A program called Magic Lantern can help with this if you want to dive in to such. Good luck!
Joe

—
Joe Shapiro
Director / Freelance FCP Editor
206-420-6411

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1497731/
https://JoeShapiro.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo_(film)
https://NWFilmForum.org/PoliceBeat

[Chris Barnes]

Thanks for the help so far! Would I be better off going with the canon 55-200 lens rather than a sigma 18-200? Also, if I’m running the aperture at anywhere between 10-16, what kinda shutter speed should I be using in order to stay away from motion blur? I’ve been told to keep it at 2X the Framerate and also been told that when using a smaller aperture (larger number right?) that I need to up the shutter speed. Which is correct?

[Steve Crow]

Keep the shutter speed at twice the frame rate…if you go higher the video will start to look more staccato (like the super old fashioned hand cranked movie cameras used during the Charlie Chaplin era) and if you go lower it will get blurrier. You might try a few shots just to see the effect but you won’t end up using the footage more than likely.

You don’t have the skill or experience yet to bother with trying to maintain focus on moving subjects – that’s something experts camera operators can do with lots of practice…so keep your iris in in the high numbers – in other words smaller aperture holes letting LESS light in. I don’t think you will have any lighting problems since its daytime but you can raise your ISO to compensate for the high aperture, try to stay below ISO 400 or max 800 which should be very doable in your situation.

There’s also an exposure compensation function where you can raise or lower your exposure by 4 stops I believe without changing the ISO. (think of it like “Gain”)

Getting new lenses shouldn’t be necessary….I’d stay as wide as possible to begin with…remember that with the cheaper kit lenses as you zoom in….your picture will actually get darker…that’s because they don’t keep what’s called a constant aperture….the aperture changes as you zoom in and out. Therefore I’d set the lens up at a wide-ish setting and just leave it there….that will be good enough for filming racers going around the track. Invest in the best tripod you can afford…one with a fluid head – that’s going to make a major difference to the look and professionalism of your final video. Shaky handheld footage can be okay for a shot here and there but when everything is rocking and rolling like your camera is at filming from a boat in rough seas – that’s when audiences start to get nausea. 🙂

As you start to film B-roll of cars that are stationary, things around the track, people and so on – then you can try out the shallow depth of field look by moving your aperture down to the smallest numbers your lens can handle. Be aware that on a sunny day you may be limited to how large an aperture you can film at before overexposing your image…you may have your ISO set at 100 for instance, your shutter speed somewhere around 1/50th and the image will be way too bright…that’s where attaching Neutral Density filters come in…basically they cut down the light so that you can get that shallow depth of field look without blowing out/overexposing your image.