urgent advice please on canon HF S10 / HF S100 ideal settings

[Jenny London]

Brand new canon HFS10 just arrived What might be typical Ideal outdoor settings and indoor to try first ?
Hi guys!

I appreciate some of this is trial and error that said I want to cut some time out hence ask about some ideal video camera settings to use for likely scenarios (indoor and outdoor scenic-see in a moment...) that I am sure some of you will recommend for me to try etc for my new canon HFS10 just literally arrived as I type this along with wide angle lens and filters, tripod, Rhode mic and many things-wow excited!

Firstly, I want to say what a great group you are and soooo looking forward to learning from you! As owning a video camera and learning about settings, hardware and the editing is all so new to me and a little daunting , please be patient as I may post a few things and questions from time to time.

Here is my question (oh and please reply in real simple laymen’s terms!)

In short, I am planning to take with me on a mountain hike this weekend with lovely scenery and soon also to Yosemite National Park in afew weeks time.

So....

I was wondering those of you who have a similar video camera HFS10 ideal settings to try and play around with for typical outdoors likely scenarios (as everyone gets!) say sunny, hazy and say partial cloud etc what would you do say auto settings wise perhaps and then say switched to manual with and without wideangle lens?

(my wide angle is Raynox .6600 pro with hood-thanks to reading your forums!)

Also I plan to do indoor shooting video work for say youtube and website blog (tips/coaching etc) with external various lights and play around angling these

so my question is what again is some good settings to play around on say auto and manual…?

Oh and When would one be likely to need to do white balance set up typically please... and how would you do it with this specific camera?

Many, many thanks to you all hoping you can advise.
Regards Jenny

[Ron Cooper]

Jenny, first thing I would advise is, get familiar with the manual settings. This is a fantastic little camera for manual controls. Being an audio nut, I always have the sound on manual & ready to alter via the little "Set" button, - push this to the right (from left edge), and the level goes up, push it to the left (from right edge), and the level goes down - great, & you can do it on the fly if you have a steady hand. It is quick & effective. If you're outdoors in the wild, you will need a good windsock on your mic. I use the standard Canon accessory mic which plugs directly onto the hot shoe so I can't forget to switch it on and it comes with a very neat windsock as well ! I find it is a very good arrangement and not too bulky when I go travelling.

When in the great outdoors with not much close sound, I usually have the level, (gain) up, (indicated by the little orange bar below the level indicator), to capture good low-noise ambience but you need to be able to quickly reduce the gain when you're in traffic or close to crowds.

The other most important control is the exposure control which is simply three pushes up (press on bottom edge), on the "set" button and then pushing it in the middle, puts you in manual mode and you then simply operate it as explained above but now it works for exposure instead.

This is extremely useful when you are in shade with a bright sky background which you want to bleed out to lift up the shaded details and and vice versa.

I am just an amateur trying to get near pro results quickly without too much fuss and find I can get away with a lot by just using these two manual controls. I rarely adjust white balance and usually all is fine.

Finally, Ron's Rule #1 Fit a wide angle lens and improve your sound ! *

Ron's Rule #2 Don't forget rule #1 !

* It enables you to get closer to your subject !

Hope this helps.

RonC.

[Jenny London]

Thanks Ron.

I will have a good play this week, good of you to share your setting info.

I will eventaully be uploading tips and brief chats type videos to website blogs and youtube etc, say stuff filmed indoors or outside scenery wise and perhaps talking to the camera, so with web site and youtube in mind then ....what typical settings might you therefore use on the camera and what about use of modes such as 60 30p 24 etc Iwaht are your thoughts on these for what I want as above?

'd really appreciate your thoughts and feedback!

By the way when does one need to perhaps typically check and do a manual white balance?

I will edit in sony veags pro 9 out of interest do you use Cineform Neo Scene to convert your files first before bringing it into your editing software?

look forward to hearing from you
Jenny

[William Boehm]

i have just purchased the hfs100, and have the same question that jenny has. i have used a canon xha1 and sold it last fall, now got this little gem on sale for about $700. what do you all recommend as settings for outdoor, overcast, or filming a sunset with low light..say ocean surf? i would think going tv would be key for shutter speed, but in lower evening light, shoot manual with a change in white balance or gain? its not too dark and with low light, to the alpenglow on surf just after the sun sets below the horizon. do most of you also shoot in daylight under the P setting? bill

[Ron Cooper]

William, I am not familiar with your model but I would suggest you repeat the question under a new thread, as most may not open your post here when it is about the HF-S10.

Now Jenny, as for manual white balance, I find most of the camera settings, (indoor outdoor etc are pretty good), but I occasionally do a manual setting when shooting in
artificial light, indoors etc. - Usually I am in too much haste to have this time luxury. In your case I may suggest other times when say, you're in shaded areas under trees where you may get a strange or difficult lighting situation resulting in a poor color balance.

RonC.

[Ron Cooper]

Jenny, (forgot to check other queries), I too, use Vegas pro 9 and don't use cineform, - but probably I should, as I am always after ultimate quality and in PAL land. However, I am about to build a new quad core PC & hope that all will be OK with AVCHD when I do this. In your case, as you are mainly editing for the web etc. you probably won't need Cineform as you are working with a lower res. render stream.
As for your settings, I don't don't feel confident enough to advise you but there would be many others here to help you.

Actually, if you want a host of quick answers, try asking this question in the "What Happens in Vegas" section on this forum.

RonC.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by William Boehm

i have just purchased the hfs100, and have the same question that jenny has.

Originally Posted by Ron Cooper

William, I am not familiar with your model but I would suggest you repeat the question under a new thread, as most may not open your post here when it is about the HF-S10.

No need; this thread is fine, and most folks understand that the HF S10, S11 and S100 are very close, nearly identical triplets so I'm sure William's post will get enough play here. Besides, I'll edit the title to include the S100... done.

[William Boehm]

thanks chris...i have not received any answers yet...used the xha1 and sold it last fall...but the questions pertain to if i should vary the white balance, manual overides, color=vivid? etc. bill