[Phil Balsdon]

Or if you’re really on a budget black plastic sheeting.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

First up shoot the original footage in the highest quality possible, this means don’t shoot 720p in T2i, shoot 1080p. Also don’t expect anything but poor quality from the camera mic, use an external lav or boom mic. Really you should also record the master audio on separate digital audio device such as a ZoomH4n or Tascam and post sync, because the quality of pre-amps in DSLRs is not good. Alternatively choose a dedicated video camera, the process is far less complex.

FCPro 7 is not suitable for editing native H264 that HDSLRs record, you’ll need to bring it in as ProRes for editing. Shane Ross has an excellent workflow on how to do this. https://library.creativecow.net/ross_shane/tapeless-workflow_fcp-7/1

I believe FCP eX can play with H264.

For HTML 5 if you want to put the videos on your own server you need to make an mp4, webm and ogv version of each video then code using HTML5 and JQuery so each browser can play the video it requires. iOs devices can play Youtube and Vimeo in direct embeds but I know from experience if you want to build your own HTML5 playlist and player Vimeo doesn’t work yet because there a Flash element involved.

Suggest you might start looking here for some ideas on putting HTML5 video online; https://docs.sublimevideo.net/quickstart-guide . Sublime now has free version that puts a lower right supered logo at on the first few seconds of each play and paid versions with other extras that eliminate the sublime video logo. They also have tutorials on how to create the different codec versions for each browser.

Brightcove is also a professional but simplified way of getting your video into all browser but you need to set up an account that may not be viable for a small number of videos.

I’ve used an app called PrettyPhoto https://www.no-margin-for-errors.com/projects/prettyphoto-jquery-lightbox-clone/ to create a player on my own websites but still have some issues with HTML5, which isn’t quite fully ready for video yet.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

The first video looks like a camera with colour balance set on tungsten with the blue coming from badly over-exposed day light balanced monitors behind. There also appears to be a window letting behind day light from behind the camera which is causing the hideous reflection in his glasses that is obscuring his eyes.

If you are looking for ways to achieve creative and radical colour effects look into some tutorials for colour grading in your own NLE. In the end if you want your work to be original and stand out it’s better to create your own effects than use a plugin, this doesn’t mean you can’t use an effect you’ve seen and like as a starting point.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

If a Scarlet is in your price range and you like the HDSLR “look” then you might also consider the Canon C300. It’s less expensive than the Scarlet, when you’ve added all the necessary extras to get through a day of shooting. The testing I’ve done on mine so far shows that the onboard CF card MXF 4.2.2 recording gives an excellent chroma key.

Gone also are the moiree, aliasing, 12 minute per shot record limit, and it records full PCM audio.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

The only HDSLR camera available at the moment that you might have some success with is the Panasonic / Lumix GH2, particularly with some of the Magic Lantern hacks available.

The yet to be released Nikon D800 (US$2,999) may be able to give you a clean HDMI out, but there is a bit of confusion about how and the quality at this point.

Non of the Canon HDSLRs will give you a clean image out the HDMI port, it is a viewfinder image only ie it will have all the camera settings supered over it.
Added to the Canon issue is is that when you connect an external device to the HDMI port it disables viewing in the camera, you will need an HDMI splitter to view what you are recording.

The soon to be released Canon 5D MkIII is rumoured to have a higher on board bit rate, but who knows for sure exactly what that will be?

The reality is none of these cameras are really suitable for composite green screen work. Low depth of field is also a feature you don’t want for green screen because you will need sharp edges on your foreground subject to get a clean matte for the key.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

Don’t know anything about them, but these always looked interesting to me; https://www.bracket1.com/

Also putting a sturdy quick lock shoe / bracket between the camera body and all the accessories always made sense to me as it allows the camera to be quickly detached from the rig for quick handheld shots.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

They maybe after market plugins, did he back up his previous system before doing the clean install?

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

and is the Z5 in DV mode not HDV mode

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

From my website you can email me from the contacts page. I’d prefer to keep recommendations off a public list.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

Hi Caleb,
You need to decide which is more of a priority because specialised macro lenses are not suitable for low light and low depth of field.
Macro lenses and macro imaging need a deeper depth of field and are therefore made with a much smaller iris aperture.

You might consider purchasing a close up diopter filter or reversing adaptor (not a particularly convenient option for EOS lenses due to lack of manual iris) for the 50mm f1.4 until you afford that specialised macro lens.

Some of the reputable other brand lenses such as Sigma, Tokina and Tamron hold up very well performance wise and another option is to purchase good used lenses. Companies such as Novoflex make very good adaptors that enable you to fit other brands such as Nikon to the Canon camera (they become a manual lens but this option gives you the benefit of a manual iris on the lens, that with with a small modification can be de-clicked to allow smooth video / film style iris pulls).

Finally buying the best quality lenses you can afford is a good investment, they will outlast all the technology in your camera body by many generations.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://philming.com.au
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/