DV Shooting Techniques (camera settings)

[Todd Siechen]

Hey Guys

I have been having a blast with my GL2 the past year doing a variety of shooting and learning more and more about what works and doesnt work. I come from a 20 year photography background so its been fun adapting my skills to video and seeing things in motion that normally I take still photos of.

I am wondering what kinds of settings on your camera you all use for specific situations like run n gun stuff, tripod for sports, events etc etc. When do you choose to use manual focus vs. autofocus? Do you find yourself using aperature priority or auto and for which situations do these work best in your line of shooting?

Would love to hear about what kinds of shooting you do and what settings you have found work best for you. I am anxious to learn more and get better as I'm sure we all are.

Do share!! 8))

[Graham Bernard]

Todd, first off - how come you haven't asked this on th GL2/XM2 forum? I bet you'd get more response there . . ok, that being said . ..

Ok, big statement here . . .learn Manual - PERIOD! But . . . . .

1/- run n gun stuff: I do a lot of this and yes very little time to reapply manual. The more pro cameras make it far easier to do manual. We have to accept this with the XM2. We have split buttions and forwarsd and backwards location of activation "toggles" . .. so until you get proficient be prepared for a lot of fiddling about and making tons of mistakes .. . ok . ..

2/- "tripod for sports, events etc etc." - Well, OIS is supposed to be off, when on Tripod . .. I'm not sure on this omne . .. I leave it on all the time . ..

3/- "When do you choose to use manual focus vs. autofocus?" - HO! BIG question . . but really you should be proficient to always go manual focus. This is not soley 'cos of the "focus" hunt .. it is my opinion that if your aren't then the "other" settings get affected too.

4/- "Do you find yourself using aperature priority or auto and for which situations do these work best in your line of shooting?" . .Well I'll let others to chime in here . . but I've had pors tell me that they don't know why this is actually on a camera at all! . .


So, use manual focus; get to using mnaual settings asap and make mistakes!

Now, what you haven't brought up is Auto White Balance and the Manual WWBs . . this is up there with the focus and exposure settings. IMHO I would say getting the WB corrrect FIRST for what ever situation you find yourself in, is the primary casue of failure for my work. I've improved my manaul focus by getting the WB correct - I'm serious!

. .. Ho, lots more but I'll scram and let others have a go . .. My experience stretches back only 24 months!

Grazie

[Todd Siechen]

I was going to ask on the GL2 forum, but I figured this was a more general question for all videographers rather than specific controls to the GL2. I realize certain controls on other cameras for these things must be easier or harder and would welcome this information in the response.

I have been using manual on my GL2 almost exclusively because I like having full control of what I am shooting however when I am in situations where the expsoure and focus distance are constantly changing and I can't possibly keep up with them by trying to manually control the camera and at the same time composing my shot and running around keeping it all together.

I'm still a bit in the habit of using aperature priority or full manual as this is what I use 99% of the time in my still photography. Plus there are just times in my shots where I really want to control my depth of field as much as possible. I do a lot of shots on tripod where I either don't move the camera at all or I am doing very slow controlled panning/tilting and can easily pre-focus manually as well as set up the aperature and WB for exactly the type of look I am after.

I guess I am just more interested in the stuff where a cameraman is having to run around while trailing a subject from bright to dark, close to far etc etc and how much manual control he is using vs. auto. I can't imagine being able to manually control everything while doing this with any camera despite how easy the controls are - maybe I'm wrong. A good example of this would be the camera guys in the movie EDtv who have to follow Ed around filming everything he does.

I would love to hear more from others about their type of shooting and how they set their cameras up for this.

Thanx for the response Graham! 8)