Gradual changes to my wedding over the years

Steve Burkett · May 6th, 2018, 07:33 AM

There are more suppliers and maybe less demand than before. Initially when drone fever took hold there were no doubt fewer companies and high demand. All you need for inflated prices. Of course as time goes on, you get competitors and that drives down the prices. I looked at half a dozen companies before making my final choice.

Tom Van den Berghe · August 27th, 2018, 12:02 PM

I shot last week my first paid wedding (year ago it was for friends)

I used my carbon steadycam (don't have a gimbal) with my sony A6000 zeiss 24mm F1.8 and a variable nd filter on it.
Also used a dummy battery on it so i could record longer periods if needed. (I did the time limit hack)

My question is: Inside the city hall I left the nd filter on it because I had no time to bring my tripod with my sony FS100. it was market that day and I had to place my car to far away.

I had luck it was a sunny day so rotating the nd to the least setting it avoided the grain in the footage.
(that's why I used a fast lens with this situation in mind)

The lens hood of the zeiss is less weight than the variable nd + adapter ring. Otherwise i could swap them for inside.

In the church I had more time and could place my car near the church. So here I removed the nd filter and rebalanced the steadycam + placed my tripod with FS100 in the church.

The couple was very happy with my aftermovie/highlight of the day so maybe in the future I have another wedding to do. who knows?

So how do you guys do this? All dslr types cameras don't have a nd filter. The FZ2000/2500 is the only one who has it but has a 1inch sensor.

Noa Put · August 27th, 2018, 12:41 PM

Eventough you should use a nd filter in sunny conditions I actually never do at weddings, it’s just too much of a hassle removing or adding it when I”m working under time pressure. In the past I allready damaged 2 expensive ND filters at weddings when they either popped of the lens or I just let it fall. What I do now is just ride the shutter to compensate for incoming light and since most of my shots outsde contain talking people who hardly move it barely notices when I have a very high shutter dialled in. Even on my gimbal it’s not so noticeable.

Nigel Barker · August 28th, 2018, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Eventough you should use a nd filter in sunny conditions I actually never do at weddings, it’s just too much of a hassle removing or adding it when I”m working under time pressure. In the past I allready damaged 2 expensive ND filters at weddings when they either popped of the lens or I just let it fall. What I do now is just ride the shutter to compensate for incoming light and since most of my shots outsde contain talking people who hardly move it barely notices when I have a very high shutter dialled in. Even on my gimbal it’s not so noticeable.

I too gave up using ND filters as they were too much hassle & unless you have really expensive ones always give a colour cast. The nerds on www.eoshd.com may obsess about the cinematic look with 24/25fps but in real life shooting weddings nobody notices if you just adjust the shutter speed to control exposure.

I no longer shoot weddings but the other day I was talking to an old friend who does although he has swapped from Canon DSLRs to Sony A7 & he too told me he has given up on ND filters & just shoots wide open & rides the shutter. ISTR that Danny from Minty Slippers posted here a while ago that they while their C100s have built in ND filters when using DSLRs they do just the same. I also STR that Still Motion who were early leaders in "cinematic" weddings with DSLRs also used to recommend raising the shutter speed to allow wide apertures to be used.

BTW Once you start raising the shutter speed the "look" will be the same whether you are using 1/125 or 1/250 or 1/2500 as once the image is frozen without motion blur it doesn't matter how fast or slow your shutter speed was the video will look the same i.e. no motion blur.

Steve Burkett · August 28th, 2018, 10:27 AM

You'd have to prise that variable nd filter from my cold dead hands. I use it all the time. I hate the look of fast shutter speed. Birds leaping across the screen. Water fountains look awful. Jerky movement. I did once experiment at a Wedding with higher shutter speeds and then forgot about it. I got quite a shock when I came to edit it and saw the material and I realised why it looked so bad. Perhaps I'm just senstitve to it. I see it in other footage and just hate the look. I'd settle for a colour cast though my ND is good enough to avoid this.

Plus I can adjust exposure gradually as I move from dark to lighter areas without using ISO or aperture, which can look like obvious exposure steps.

I'm sure my clients wouldn't notice, but I don't care. I do. And I've dropped my ND a few times. It's a tough old thing. Attaching it quickly has become a matter of practise. It takes seconds to screw it on.

Steve Burkett · August 28th, 2018, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

ISTR that Danny from Minty Slippers posted here a while ago that they while their C100s have built in ND filters when using DSLRs they do just the same. I also STR that Still Motion who were early leaders in "cinematic" weddings with DSLRs also used to recommend raising the shutter speed to allow wide apertures to be used.

Given how higher shutter speeds tend to make the video look sharper, I can well see the advantages in using it for Canon DSLR, which is so soft and 720p like, it needs all the extra detail a higher shutter speed can bring. :)

Tom Van den Berghe · September 2nd, 2018, 01:40 AM

thx for all the replys on my question.
I tested this yesterday with my sony A6000 + F1.8 zeiss lens.

I switched to manual mode and locked the F1.8, auto iso and raised the shutter speed to 1/4000!
I couldn't go higher in shutter speed I think. I just watched that footage and for me it looks great.

I still have that blurry background. thx for these great tips!

Noa Put · September 2nd, 2018, 01:53 AM

Shutterspeed or iso have no effect on a “blurred”background but only your f-stop does, so if you set it at F1.8 the shallow dof will be exactly the same if you use a high shutter or a nd filter. I also think 1/4000 shutter might not be enough for very bright sunny days.

Tom Van den Berghe · September 2nd, 2018, 03:42 AM

thx Noa for the advice. 1/4000 seems the maximum for the A6000. It was a sunny day yesterday (you know that to :))

But it looked ok to me.

But otherwise I will lock down the aperture if the shutterspeed is not enough to prevend overexposure .

May 6th, 2018, 07:33 AM	#16
Steve Burkett Trustee Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Romsey, UK Posts: 1,261	Re: Gradual changes to my wedding over the years There are more suppliers and maybe less demand than before. Initially when drone fever took hold there were no doubt fewer companies and high demand. All you need for inflated prices. Of course as time goes on, you get competitors and that drives down the prices. I looked at half a dozen companies before making my final choice.

August 27th, 2018, 12:02 PM	#17
Tom Van den Berghe Major Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: BELGIUM Posts: 401	Re: Gradual changes to my wedding over the years I shot last week my first paid wedding (year ago it was for friends) I used my carbon steadycam (don't have a gimbal) with my sony A6000 zeiss 24mm F1.8 and a variable nd filter on it. Also used a dummy battery on it so i could record longer periods if needed. (I did the time limit hack) My question is: Inside the city hall I left the nd filter on it because I had no time to bring my tripod with my sony FS100. it was market that day and I had to place my car to far away. I had luck it was a sunny day so rotating the nd to the least setting it avoided the grain in the footage. (that's why I used a fast lens with this situation in mind) The lens hood of the zeiss is less weight than the variable nd + adapter ring. Otherwise i could swap them for inside. In the church I had more time and could place my car near the church. So here I removed the nd filter and rebalanced the steadycam + placed my tripod with FS100 in the church. The couple was very happy with my aftermovie/highlight of the day so maybe in the future I have another wedding to do. who knows? So how do you guys do this? All dslr types cameras don't have a nd filter. The FZ2000/2500 is the only one who has it but has a 1inch sensor.

August 27th, 2018, 12:41 PM	#18
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: Gradual changes to my wedding over the years Eventough you should use a nd filter in sunny conditions I actually never do at weddings, it’s just too much of a hassle removing or adding it when I”m working under time pressure. In the past I allready damaged 2 expensive ND filters at weddings when they either popped of the lens or I just let it fall. What I do now is just ride the shutter to compensate for incoming light and since most of my shots outsde contain talking people who hardly move it barely notices when I have a very high shutter dialled in. Even on my gimbal it’s not so noticeable.

August 28th, 2018, 10:27 AM	#20
Steve Burkett Trustee Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Romsey, UK Posts: 1,261	Re: Gradual changes to my wedding over the years You'd have to prise that variable nd filter from my cold dead hands. I use it all the time. I hate the look of fast shutter speed. Birds leaping across the screen. Water fountains look awful. Jerky movement. I did once experiment at a Wedding with higher shutter speeds and then forgot about it. I got quite a shock when I came to edit it and saw the material and I realised why it looked so bad. Perhaps I'm just senstitve to it. I see it in other footage and just hate the look. I'd settle for a colour cast though my ND is good enough to avoid this. Plus I can adjust exposure gradually as I move from dark to lighter areas without using ISO or aperture, which can look like obvious exposure steps. I'm sure my clients wouldn't notice, but I don't care. I do. And I've dropped my ND a few times. It's a tough old thing. Attaching it quickly has become a matter of practise. It takes seconds to screw it on.

September 2nd, 2018, 01:40 AM	#22
Tom Van den Berghe Major Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: BELGIUM Posts: 401	Re: Gradual changes to my wedding over the years thx for all the replys on my question. I tested this yesterday with my sony A6000 + F1.8 zeiss lens. I switched to manual mode and locked the F1.8, auto iso and raised the shutter speed to 1/4000! I couldn't go higher in shutter speed I think. I just watched that footage and for me it looks great. I still have that blurry background. thx for these great tips!

September 2nd, 2018, 01:53 AM	#23
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: Gradual changes to my wedding over the years Shutterspeed or iso have no effect on a “blurred”background but only your f-stop does, so if you set it at F1.8 the shallow dof will be exactly the same if you use a high shutter or a nd filter. I also think 1/4000 shutter might not be enough for very bright sunny days.

September 2nd, 2018, 03:42 AM	#24
Tom Van den Berghe Major Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: BELGIUM Posts: 401	Re: Gradual changes to my wedding over the years thx Noa for the advice. 1/4000 seems the maximum for the A6000. It was a sunny day yesterday (you know that to :)) But it looked ok to me. But otherwise I will lock down the aperture if the shutterspeed is not enough to prevend overexposure .