Camera Advice (What to Rent)

[Brock Burwell]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I'd say you don't know the camera, there certainly are better performing dslr's in lowlight but if you use the right lenses you can shoot in very dark environments and show it the way you see it with your own eyes. If my client wants to have only candle lights at their first dance they get to see it in their video the way I saw it and I am not going to add light and ruin the mood, a gh4 is capable in doing that but you need to use fast glass, with a a7s you could turn that same scene from night to day but why would you ever want to do that? It won't look the same as the client had envisioned.

Below link is a post I made about a wedding I did together with a forummember and it's mainly Panasonic gh camera's you see in action: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-...ing-ghent.html

Also and very important, a m4/3 camera is much easier to focus, you will have fun trying to nail focus on a 6d and a a7s, especially in a fast moving environment like a wedding.

Nice Noa

I have been using the 12-35 and 35-100 and maybe it's just what I'm doing with it combined with the lenses only going to 2.8, but I haven't got very good lowlight quality out of it. Maybe a faster lens would help or maybe I need to do something differently.

Let me ask you this. Part of the reason I wanted the A7Sii is not necessarily to bump up the light too much in those situations, but so that I could shoot at a higher frame rate to potentially slow it down during my highlight video. Do you ever do that? Does that make sense at all to do or do you normally just shoot it with as much light as you can get and not slow it for those videos?

[Brock Burwell]

Originally Posted by Steve Burkett

The GH4 relies on fast primes for good lowlight. The 2.8 zooms are great in their own way, but need a bit of light to bring out the quality. I run 2 GH4s plus a GH3 and GH2 and get great results as long as I use the right lenses.

I find an unmanned camera works better as a safety camera. By all means monitor it, but manned cameras for safety, I find for some operators, the temptation to fiddle can be too much. I assume you have all the audio covered, so like others have suggested, if the Sony is the one you want, get that. The C300 you mentioned feels like overkill. Others have suggested a camcorder, but if you have multiple operators, running pure DSLR is less an issue as you have someone to restart the camera and monitor it live.

That's a great point about someone fiddling with the camera. Maybe I should only have my wife and I with my wife walking back and forth making sure everything is running properly while I run the third camera. Good advice.

[Brock Burwell]

Originally Posted by Robert Benda

For audio, I do the same, except I have 2 more recorders so I can put one on a podium for readers, or by the musicians, if I want.

I asked about camera, because I wondered about the processional (getting faces as they walk in), and close ups of each face during the vows. I have some uber zoom lenses on my Canon crop factor, so I have a reach of over 300mm and love getting the over-the-shoulder tight shot of each face during vows. If you have 3 operators and 3 cameras....

Like this

Really nice. I'll have to plan for that as well. Perhaps we keep the camera in the back to capture everything and then my wife and I can be at different angles up front during the processional. Good stuff

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Brock Burwell

Maybe a faster lens would help or maybe I need to do something differently.

Maybe? :) I have the 12-35mm f2.8 and never use it in the venue because it's not fast enough, then I use a 25mm f1.4, 12mm f2.0, 42,5mm f1.7 and 75mm f1.8. You need at least a f2.0 to shoot in a venue without issues.

Originally Posted by Brock Burwell

Let me ask you this. Part of the reason I wanted the A7Sii is not necessarily to bump up the light too much in those situations, but so that I could shoot at a higher frame rate to potentially slow it down during my highlight video. Do you ever do that? Does that make sense at all to do or do you normally just shoot it with as much light as you can get and not slow it for those videos?

I shoot at 50p all the time, unless I shoot at 4K, then it's 25p, but that doesn't affect lightgathering in a lens, I keep my shutter at 1/50, no matter if I shoot at 25 or 50p. The advantage with m4/3 is that I can shoot wide open all the time with fast primes meaning I can utilize the lens light gathering to it's max, try to do that on a full frame and you know what I mean.

[Brock Burwell]

I have always heard to follow the 180 rule. So if you shoot at 50fps, you still stay at 1/50? Interesting. I should go test it out with my GH4 to see how it looks. I need to learn when and when not to break that rule.

[Brock Burwell]

So let's say I rent the A7sii and want to shoot the entire wedding at 60fps. Would you advise me to shoot at 1/120 or lower?

[Noa Put]

Rules are there to be broken :) I don't visually see any difference between a shutter of 1/50 and 1/100 if I shoot at 50fps and because it makes a difference when shooting at low light I mostly have it at 1/50. If I have to shoot outside in the sun and if I don't have a nd filter I ramp the shutter up very high, you will notice a difference if something is moving but for talking heads it's also hardly visible. The clip I linked to is shot in that way and it's not noticeable something is not shot with the 'right' shutterspeed. Ofcourse you can always try to follow the general rules of filmmaking but at a wedding there is often not much time for that so you stick with what is easy and what works.

[Steve Burkett]

I'm more a stickler for the 180 degree rule, mainly as I hate the fast shutter look that comes off as a cross between stop motion and the old 12fps footage of the old movies - at least to my eyes it does. After hearing of others breaking the rule, I did try in a Wedding last May and regretted it as soon as I saw the footage.
I think for 50/60fps, there is more latitude either way. Though if you're upping fps in order to slow down the footage in post, you'd get better results if shutter was set to 1/120 for 60fps. Though I suppose that depends if you're slowing down a romantic kiss or fast dance move. If simply using it for smoother motion in much the same way as 50i, then I don't suppose it matters if shutter is 1/50 or 1/60.

[Dan Tolbertson]

i shoot at 60p with all my cameras and always use a shutter speed of 60 in lower light situations. I mostly use 1.8 lenses so I am usually not struggling for light but in rare cases I might drop to a shutter of 30 as long as there is not a lot of movement as there may be a strobing or stuttering look.

[Brock Burwell]

In case anyone was curious as to what I did, I went ahead and rented a second GH4 with a metabones speedbooster. Since I already have so many canon lenses (70-200 2.8 IS ii, Sigma 35 1.4, Sigma 50mm 1.4, 100 Macro IS, tokina 11-16) I figured I could just use the GH4 with my lenses and it would make up for not having any fast micro 4/3 lenses.

The wedding is in 2 weeks so we will see how it goes. I'll make sure I post the video when I get it finished up.

Thanks everyone

[Steven Davis]

I hope it goes well, if you were a little closer, I could come out and hold your Pepsi.

[Brock Burwell]

Haha thanks.

I guess now I'm just worried about being in the right place at the right time. Does anyone have a suggestion on camera placement during the ceremony? Reception?

I had planned on having 1 in the back of the ceremony, me walking around with 1 on a monopod (70-200), my wife walking around with one on a tripod and a GoPro somewhere. Is that a normal set up?

[Steven Davis]

Typically the bride is where I start my placement theory, then the walk. I'm a little odd in that I don't like to move, it's distracting, but that's just me.

[Steve Burkett]

1 fixed camera on wide at the back; that's your safety camera. Try to avoid blocking it if you can; if you can get it up higher then do so. Its one to cut to when needed. The 2 roving cameras are your main ones. I suggest one at the front covering the couple and 1 behind or to the side of the couple covering the audience. However for rings, the camera behind the couple can often get a good shot down the aisle; depends on the service and layout.