Howdy,

I'm going to film an equine event (horses jumping over fences) using XL1s in dv, I have standard (automatic) lenses and full manual lenses. I'm asking for any tips and insight on how to do it the best possible (speed, lenses, technique, etc...).

Thanks in advance.

A little question with lots of possible answers. Having shot a lot of motorsport in both daylight and under lights I've found that the basic rules of good shooting apply. Beyond that, you need to choose how you want your video to look. You can shoot at 1/50 for a natural look or run it up to 1/250 or faster for crisper images and what some would term an unnatural appearance. If you want to do any slomo in post, a faster shutter will help. 1/100 would help that but avoid the series-of-still-images look of faster speeds. If you're shooting indoors in iffy light or under a scutty sky your options will be more limited.

You might also want to do some planning on when you want to change tapes. I've wasted a bunch of blank tape taking advantage of natural breaks in the action for tape changes but it's better than running out at a critical moment.

As a personal preference, if there's some place that you can mount a locked off camera, you'll have options in post. A flash memory camera works best for this and SD flash cams are pretty cheap now.

Hello,

Thanks for the quick reply. I've never been on the place of the event, I know its outdoors and could last till night time, so artificial lighting will be switch on at some point and it could be cloudy too. The footage will be burn into dvd. I guess I would like to look very natural and more into the film look than video, but I would like to avoid artifacts for recording at 1/50, but depending on light conditions maybe a wont have any other chance. Doing multi-cam would be great but I don't know if I'm going to be able.

Any insights about using the manual or the auto lenses? Manual is more control but much trouble keeping focus all day and moving horses all around the circuit. The auto lens might have a focus search problem at some point but I think it would work fine most of the time...don't you think?

Hi Jose,

If you'll check out my past posts, you'll find a wealth of info on this subject - from me and from many others. I show the equipment I built and use, and why and how - as do others.

You really must get out to the site to determine where you can set up (try to be at least 5' to 10' above the ground and able to see all the jumps), what equipment you will actually need, what the lighting is likely to be, what power source is available - etc. If electric was not available, I then used RV batteries and other smaller batteries, now I also have a Honda 2000i Generator that can power up everything for 13+ hrs.

You should be just fine using the Auto Lens. At Tripp suggests, try to run a bit higher shutter speed - in case your clients want to slow-mo their events for closer study.

If you plan to do this for any particular clients, then talk with them prior - to see if they want an up-closer view or a wider view of the action. Then try to give them that view as you record them.

If your going to do this for more than an hr, I suggest hooking up a monitor to watch - rather than the Cam's viewer.

Harold

Hello again guys,

Thanks for your tips they are straight to the topic and straighforward! and really good value.

Jose.

The other thing is the event confined to an arena such as showjumping or is it a cross country course?

If its showjumping then things will be easy as the course is confined to an area about the size of an olympic pool, so you can follow each horse during its run. Additional cameras would be good for the sideon shots of the jumps, as would a feed from the commentary booth. You just need to be a little above the scene and have an uninterrupted view with good light.

If its the cross country event, then its harder, and you really need multiple cameras scattered all around the course, as these can be up to 5Ha in size... have around 15 jumps and are around 200m apart..

For the One and Three Day Events, each rider and horse has to compete in three events; dressage, showjumping and cross country. The dressage takes five to ten minutes, the showjumping about two, and the cross country around ten minutes per competitor, and usually ALL three courses are running simultaneously.

Dont forget the basic rules; dont do anything or wear anything to distract the rider or spook the horse, and at the dressage, stay bloody still.

HTH
Ben