[Steve Crow]

Just keep in mind that when someone shows you a clip and says that was filmed on a 50mm lens you have to know what kind of sensor/camera the lens was used with…the reason is something called the sensor’s “crop factor” but maybe it should be called something more like magnifier, or multiplier.

My Canon T2i uses an APS-C sized sensor which has a 1.6 crop factor. So if I attach a 50mm lens to my T2i – the image I get will look more like a 80mm – much more zoomed in. That is when compared to a camera with a “full frame” sensor – something like the Canon 5DMII. How do I fix this? I step back a few steps…my manual dolly.

Another example, photographers say an 80mm lens is just about perfect for portraits but if I were to put an 80mm lens on my Canon T2i what I would effectively be getting is an image that looks more like a 128mm – so significantly closer in. (80 x 1.6=128)

[Steve Crow]

I’m very happy with the T2i but don’t buy the kit lens, get just the body and then purchase separately the 50mm 1.8 prime ($100) or ideally the 1.4 prime (aprox $300)

You’ll want to be filming in full manual mode and the 50mm is a great lens to start off with that gives you that beautiful bokeh/shallow depth of field look. Next you will want to buy a wider prime lens – something in the 24mm area. And yes you can use Nikon adapters in the meantime.

That’s my advice…but it is an opinion.

Steve

[Steve Crow]

Wow something like that is going to put you in the upper end of the camcorder market, something like the AF100 I would think. Matching that look isn’t going to be cheap but excellent question.

As far as these upper end camcorders go I don’t think they are a set it and forget it type of experience plus it’s an expensive camera to just walk away from and leave filming, what if some drunk guest knocks down your tripod and ooops, there goes your camera????

Before I purchased a DSLR I was trying to go the route of the standard camcorder with a Depth of Field adapter…on Vimeo there used to lots of fantastic footage of cheap camcorders like the Canon HV20 with a DOF adapter attached that got some really cinematic images going. However, the Canon T2i was the solution for me, cheaper than a camcorder and no DOF adapter. Still you can’t use something like a T2i/T3i the way you are talking about; 12 minute clips, overheating, etc etc

[Steve Crow]

I agree 100% with Ryan. H.264 is a great format to deliver your video but it’s really bad to edit in unless all you are doing is simple cuts and nothing else. ProRes is my choice too – the ProRes files are about 3 times as large as the H.264 but it actually plays back much smoother.

I even see this stuttering in Quicktime Pro on my desktop – so even before the file is in Final Cut.

[Steve Crow]

“With a group of speakers, I go for a single track for each speaker. There’s no advantage to be had from using stereo pairs unless the audio was mixed to stereo on location (which is very unusual in my experience)”..…

That’s interesting…what I have been doing is taking my mono signal from the wireless lav, duplicating it into 2 tracks and then setting it as a stereo pair within FCP….seems like you are saying this step is unnecessary.

I can see that with your technique I could play with the controls that determine if the sound is coming from the right or left speaker for each audio track (each person speaking) to give the soundtrack more of a sense that one person is sitting to the far right, another is in the middle somewhere and then there’s one person seated on the left.

[Steve Crow]

Well an obvious workaround would be to first export to your desktop and then MOVE that file to your external drive. The real question is why is Final Cut Pro crashing…just based on logic it seems like the issue involves this particular project since you didn’t mention that it has started to happen on every project you directly export off the timeline.

Does the project always FCP at the same point?

Just basic stuff I know.

Steve

[Steve Crow]

Hi Peter,

Cost and the ease of operation for a one-man-band production crew are main factors. Yes, I could add 2 more sets of wireless or even wired mics to let me record up to 4 people but (for the wireless) that’s $1,000 before I even consider mixing.

Right now I record my wireless signal into a Zoom H4N but that only has 2 xlr inputs – not the four that would be ideal for me.

I did see a four input mixer on Amazon that got a good review for around $462 but I believe it only had 3 XLR outputs. (Azden FMX-42 Pro)

So I am just hunting around for solutions – as I believe you were suggesting, yes I could attach a small personal recorder to my subjects and then mix them together in post but there’s no way to monitor that live and it’s 2 more record buttons I have to remember to push before filming – that may not sound like a big deal but in the field when you are responsible for everything – it’s easy to forget and then you are f*%#ed

Given all these issues, it’s not surprising that everyone is suggesting hiring a sound guy and that might be my solution if I can’t figure out a reasonable work around.

[Steve Crow]

Hey I LOVE filming with DSLRs but I think you may be creating a big challenge for yourself. In this case I’d go with standard camcorders – particularly since it doesn’t sound like you need HD or shallow depth of field. You didn’t say how long the event is you want to film but DSLRs are not that great for capturing live events like speeches, plays, or even live music although it CAN be done.

DSLRs are not designed to film “long” segments – 12 minutes in a single “clip” is all you will get AND if you keep filming and filming overheating becomes a problem – DSLRs are best when you can stop and start to give the camera time to cool down.

I assume you already have a separate audio solution in place but as you know – DSLRs have terrible built-in mics so you have to use something else – best of luck to you – if you go with the DSLRs post back and tell us how it went for you!

[Steve Crow]

Hi guys!
Thanks so much for the thoughtful replies.

Ty I agree with you i may be reaching the limit of what a one person crew can schieve yet I’d still like to stretch my capability to record 4 people in a sit down situation at least

2 more sets of wireless lavs will cost me about 1 grand plus whatever mixing/monitoring solution i can come up with – i don’t know frankly if my Zoom H4N can stretch to supporting this situation and give me 4 SEPERATE audio tracks to work with

[Steve Crow]

Actually going all the way so at the end the full clip with the effect is shown would be ideal. Thats why i thought a transition effect wouldnt be the way to go but i will try your suggestion out