Phil Balsdon
Forum Replies Created
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The Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 is a good tripod, it doesn’t have a head levelling mount though so you’ll have to level the camera by adjusting the leg lengths, or purchase a levelling unit to go between the pan head and legs.
The difficulty with using any light weight tripod with a light camera is stability. Consider carrying a short loop of rope that you can attach to the tripod and anchor the tripod tightly to your backpack on the ground directly underneath the tripod while shooting. This will pull the tripod down firmly to the ground and prevent it moving whilst shooting and reduce some of flexibility of the tripod. A climbers ascender or jumar on the rope would make this a quick procedure.
And as Jason points out the lens height should really be set for the subject in preference to your comfortable eye height.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
This is a video I shot at 720p 50p and 1/120th sec shutter speed on a Canon 7D; https://vimeo.com/13637278
Editing was done in FCS (3) with a ProRes 1280 x 720p 50fps setting. It was a bit of an experiment doing a lot of things that were not really recommended with an HDSLR.
The first four introductory shots were conformed to 25fps in Cinematools. This was then slowed another 50% in FCP 7 frame blending OFF. Not speeding up the shutter speed to faster than 1/120th (or 180 degrees) left me some blurring on the movement, which for dance leaves a smoother motion flow. There is very little actual camera movement (panning and tilting) I felt that speeding it up more would have created a strobing effect where each frame seems to step to the next (you can see a bit of that in the sharp background of the wider 4th shot as it pans left to find the next dancer). This effect is worse when the camera is panning, tilting or zooming faster as the strobing transmits to the background as well.
Having said that when I used to shoot action sport in SD with SP Betacam for a broadcast network they liked 1/400th sec shutter speed, any faster looked a bit unreal but 1/400th looked good. If you are looking for those sharp droplets of sweat coming off a boxers face a faster shutter speed will give you that, if it’s a wider shot of the boxers exchanging punches and you are looking for “graceful” smooth motion effect it might look better if you choose 1/120 and leave in a little motion blurring.
You might also like to take a look at Twixtor for your slow motion post work. There’s a few really nice slo-mo examples on line that have used it, but I didn’t.
Let us know how you go.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
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Umm… This is the Final Cut Pro Forum for Final Cut Pro discussions. Final Cut Pro only runs on a Mac.
Doesn’t matter how specked up a PC is Final Cut Pro isn’t compatible.
Might be better posting over here; https://forums.creativecow.net/adobepremierepro
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
The Canon 5D MkII will only do 1080p @ 24, 25 or 30fps.
Other Canon HDSLRs will record at these same 1080p settings and also 720p but only @ 50 or 60fps.(Maybe your 1280p was a typo)
There are various ways of converting the H264 to ProRes, Mpeg Streamclip, Magic Bullet Grinder, Compressor or with the Canon EOS Movie plugin (which allows Log and Transfer directly into FCP6 or 7 are your selected ProRes quality).
Converting 1920 x 1080 frame size to 1280 x 720 shouldn’t present much of problem, shooting at a different frame rate will.
It would be much easier to use a second HVX200 though, unless there is a valid reason for using an HDSLR.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
You’ll still need the “eyecup” to shade and magnify the lcd viewfinder when using a shoulder mount.
If it’s budget that bothers you buy the eyecup first then the shoulder mount.
For what its worth I personally have never seen the need for a shoulder mount, these cameras are so light they’re easy to just handhold without any support. If I’m doing handheld VOX pops or interviews and want extra stability I prefer a monopod with a very lightweight pan and tilt head fitted.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
Take a look at XXID film here, and also “the making of” sequence.
https://cinemaeos.usa.canon.com/The results are quite amazing. I don’t think I’d necessarily select the EOS C300 as my ideal camera of choice to do a project like this, but it’s encouraging to know that it is capable of this result even from the files recorded on its CF cards.
Most orders for this camera will probably be placed by cinematographers who will select it for it’s ergonomics and operability, vast range of EF lens options, low light performance (where it’s at least equal to the Alexa), 12 stops of dynamic range and superb resolution. For a lot of cinematographers these are far more important features than codec speeds.
Also getting the external 4.4.4 output from the Sony X3 also requires a $3800 firmware upgrade to the camera.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
This blog post should answer your questions. He’s had a “hands on” with the camera and confirms that it does.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
Hi Steve,
I think you’d have to way up the effect on the ergonomics / usability impact on the camera package against a very small impact on the compression.
It’s really a personal choice usability versus codec trade off thing.The bayer system on the new 4k chip gives it a leg up over other similar cameras which greatly improves the 4.2.2.
I’m taking the stance that if I really need better compression for more sophisticated post production I’ll rent an Arri Alexa for that particular job, but for 95% of my work the EOS C300 will be perfect because of its simplicity, and that it’s the only camera that’ll deliver the onboard 4.2.2 quality at this price. (And hopefully it’ll be as reliable as all the other Canon kit I’ve got).
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
Because DSLRs are an inexpensive piece of equipment doesn’t mean they’re easy to use. In fact done properly they’re as complex as operating and shooting with a 35mm film camera.
Their shallow depth of field properties make them difficult to focus, indeed even on a simple interview when shooting at a wide f stop it’s necessary to continually track focus (on the interviewee’s eyes). This process is made even more difficult by the poor quality LCD viewfinders that are standard on these cameras.
Sounds like your operator wasn’t up to the task, in that he wasn’t familiar enough with the equipment, nor experienced enough to know how to handle the focus tracking. You probably then need to ask yourself why he was given the job, because elementary focus issues are something very difficult to overcome in post.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/ -
You just need the plug in from Canon. It’s the same one they use for the XF300 / XF100 series of cameras.
You can download this plug in from Canon now.From there the Log and Transfer process will be much the same as with the 5D.
Why use an external recorder when it’s the same compression as on the CF card in the camera (4.2.2), it’s just makes what is a simple and elegant package more cumbersome. No other camera in this class can record this quality on board except the RED Scarlet, but working with the 4.4.4 os the Scarlet with FCP in post is far more cumbersome.
The results coming out of this camera are excellent, especially it’s low light performance.
Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/