Filters for Outdoor Shots?

[Steve Siegel]

Error, no post intended.

[Steve Phillipps]

No need to apologise Steve, you're right to not accept something without being shown evidence.
I haven't got anything to show it, I just remember years ago on Digibeta shooting a flying raven at 1/2000th sec thinking it'd be a good idea and being shocked at the result - horrible horrible! Lesson learned.
The other thing that always surprises me is when people talk about having too much light - come a work in Britain! With 6 stops of ND in camera on Varicam etc., if you set f5.6 that equates to f45 at 1/60th or 1/120th second - just how bright is it out there in Florida!?
I too would be interested in a little definitive clip - but having said that Steve, you know your footage and if it looks OK to you then I've no reason to doubt you and so it must be OK.
Steve

[Paul Cronin]

Steve S. I think it is great you question others input that is what this site is all about.

What type of camera are you using? My EX1 and F800 have ND filters on the cameras. The F800 are optical. I have only had to add a ND filters to the outside of the camera when shooting in snow. I shoot in Miami and the Keys yearly and have been fine with UV on the front and ND’s in the camera.

If you have to pull stills with a moving object higher shutter speeds will help keep the motion blur to a minimum and make a better picture. But for the amount of motion blur our eyes are use to 1/60 or twice the frame rate is what we are use to seeing.

I have a monthly shoot for a biological survey of birds and use shutter of 1/500 and 1/60. Would love to show it to you but it is government work and not viewable. The biologist look at the motion 1/60 footage before the 1/500 footage then they pull stills and blow them up. This is a double camera shoot. Reason for the second camera, which is an expensive set up in a helicopter on the same gyro is the 1/500 shutter makes most people fee sick when they view the footage. So they view the 1/60 then mark the time code and pull from the 1/500.

I have been able to use 1/120 with some fast action sports with good luck and even higher with really fast motion action sports. But for normal motion when shooting 29.97fps I stay at 1/60 but you and your clients might like a more shutter motion view.

Do you have clips at 1/500 that you like and can post?

We all have our own creative way of presenting our footage and I think that is great. No need for you to change your ways just because we don’t like 1/500 in certain shots.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

And 1/48 if it is 24p. Since there is no 1/48th shutter speed, the nearest is 1/50.

I film with a DSLR (Canon 1D Mark IV). Either you use shutter priority and set the shutter at 1/50. However, the aperture can change. So you can go manual and select the shutter and aperture and change ISO according to the light (lowering or increasing as is needed).

I agree that at times the natural colour appears to be vivid. In the cities we are used to the green colour of leaves muddied by dust etc. Watch the same leaves after rain. One can then realise that the greens are not "unreal".

If you are using a split ND filter, then some care needs to be exercised if panning is involved.

I have dropin filters at the rear for my long tele lens (Canon 400mm f2.8 L IS). Even at the rear, the filters accumulate dust. So one needs to be careful.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Dale Guthormsen]

Good afternoon,

I have been away most of the summer and just now ha ve time to look over this thread again..

Changing the white balance is a good idea, one I had not thought of doing . So, How does one change that balance, use of warm cards??? my H1 and sony fx would let me do that easily. Suggestions?

I would like to have a setting for winter for certain as we shoot a lot at that time!! I would love to not use any filters!!!

From reading the prior posts am I to understand that some of the ND filters in cameras are not optical!!!

As for faster shutter speeds, strobing is a problem in my opinion. I think what we actually see, what we perceive to see on TV or film are actually different. Wing flicker to me is just un acceptable, I believe much of that problem is shooting interlaced too!! I could easily shoot examples.

Has been a truly interesting thread!!!!

[Doug Bailey]

Hi Guys,
I've been shooting nature with a 7D for about 6 months and feel I've learned to use the camera for what I do. I have polarizers and ND filters, but don't like the look of the polarizer over water and haven't needed the ND filters yet. Camera settings are flat except saturation, which is up a notch or two. I'm still blown away by the translucent HD look.

There's no right or wrong in this, it's just an art form and what looks great to me may not suit others.

Wishing you all well and happy shooting.

Regards,
Doug.

[Sam Mendolia]

Dale,

like you haven't looked at this post for a while.

I had asked this question elsewhere, and was told that the wb on warm cards, was how they achieved the look.

I think I saw it on exposure room, and asked it there.
Paul Fredericks comes to mind, as I like his techniques.

Now I have made up some cards, but haven't been doing much video of late, so haven't tested or tried this, to see if the result will work for me with my present gear.

Sam