Today I'm filming a commercial for a local water softener company. I plan to shoot a variety of shots of water being used in the home. Water coming out of a shower head, filling a glass with water, man taking a shower, etc...

I plan to use a lot of back lighting to make the water stand out, but I don't have enough experience yet with our EX3 to know what would be the best shutter speeds and maybe even S&Q settings for this. I've thought about:

1) Trying a faster shutter speed to show the water drops coming out of the shower head. (1/500th?). But I'm not sure if this will make for an attractive/interesting look or not.

2) Shooting at 720 30P 60fps (S&Q mode) to get the water to slow down while it's filling the empty glass cup Should I use a faster shutter speed for this as well?

I'm shooting with a Letus Ultimate and it's "supposed" to be able to handle faster shutter speeds. (I should have tested this before the day of the shoot!)

Thanks in advance! :)

I agree with using S&Q mode. I'd experiment between having the shutter at 180 as well as increasing it - even if you have to do it on set. It will be a different look and you'll be able to see what you prefer, so have a good monitor to view it.

Also, don't forget to make sure the shutter switch is in the "ON" position!

Also, don't forget to make sure the shutter switch is in the "ON" position!

Hahaha! Been, there done that! (I'm so stupid sometimes!)

I wish I had a way to bring a monitor with me. Hopefully I'll be able to tell how it looks in the viewfinder. I hope I have the time to experiment.

I can't decide whether a sharp look (lots of DOF and a very fast shutter at normal speed) is appropriate or whether a soft look (short DOF shot in slow motion) would be better. But I gotta say, it's nice to have options! :)

Thanks Ted.

If was my choice, I prefere short DoF, OverCrank (for an SloMo efect) 180º Shutter. This will bring you a nice water drops that travel the frame in a continue motion,

rather than a lot of drops in focus, that are "frozen" in diferent places of the frame.

Anyway the LCD screen is enough for judge this (you have to shoot S&Q and then play the clip to see the SloMo efect).

Good luck, and remember that cameras and water are not friends, so get a rain cover or wrap it with plastic foil (the same mother use for sandwichs)

Andres

Thanks for the replies. I ended up liking the overcranked (slow-mo) look with shallow depth of field. When shooting in 720 30P 60fps, I couldn't see a difference between a 1/60th shutter and a 1/250th shutter. But when shooting 1080 30P 30fps, I could tell a difference between 1/60th and 1/250th. In that case, I liked the look of the 1/250th shutter. I ended up shooting everything 4 different ways.

The funny part was that we shot inside a model home. When we got to the part where the male actor/model was to take a shower, we quickly found out that the hot water heater WASN'T TURNED ON! The water was freezing, but the actor/model was unbelievably calm and you'd never know by watching the footage. He did complain about having a "brain freeze" similar to drinking a Slurpee too fast! hehehe