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(Page 2 of 7 pages for this article < 1 2 3 4 > Last ») Filed under: Cameras •Production •Tips • My First Shoot with the Canon 5DFor a still camera it shoots pretty nice HD
My first experience with the 5D involved shooting a spec spot for director Simon Sommerfeld. Simon normally works as a DP, but when a client of his asked him to direct a short piece to help sell a TV ad campaign to the client’s board of directors, Simon jumped at the chance to use his 5D to tell the story. And it was my great good luck that he asked me to shoot it for him.
Initially we puzzled over the camera, trying to discern what settings belonged where in movie mode. We knew that there was a way to drill deep into the engineering menus and create a look but we didn’t know how to do it. Simon poured through user groups looking for tips, and he found some settings that seemed to yield a nice flat image suitable for capturing the widest range of contrast possible for post color correction. These same settings also kept detail enhancement low, which is always a benefit in HD: an overly-aggressive detail circuit can be very unflattering to flesh tones and can result in a “newsy” look. Detail can always be added later, if needed, but it can’t be removed. (I’m trying to get more details out of Canon as to how one creates custom movie mode settings. Anecdotal evidence points to using Canon desktop software to create a look using a still image shot on the camera, and then saving the resulting look instructions to one of the camera’s built-in look memory slots.) Judging exposure was both simple and complex. In movie mode the 5D offers no telemetry regarding exposure: no histogram, no zebras, nothing. (There is a hack that creates zebras in movie mode but it is not blessed by Canon.) It’s possible to see a histogram during playback, but without the benefit of clairvoyance that’s not a very helpful feature. What I discovered, though, is that the 5D’s LCD screen is actually quite accurate: it’s not perfect, but it is possible to judge exposure and contrast accurately. The best way to avoid clipping is to change the F-stop and watch for highlights that don’t change value, and then close down the exposure to taste. This procedure works fairly well but it does require post color correction. Let me emphasize this: you should definitely plan on color correcting 5D footage. More on that later. Focus is another matter. On the LCD screen, in movie mode, is a small box that can be moved around the frame using a joystick controller on the back of the camera. Placing it on an area of interest (usually a person’s eye) and hitting the magnify button yields what appears to be a pixel-for-pixel view of that part of the image. This is the only reliable way to set critical focus. It’s fairly simple to see when an object comes into focus, but not so simple to see whether focus tracks a moving object. A fellow cinematographer gave me some advice: never shoot wider open than a F4, and shoot at F5.6 whenever possible—just to make sure focus holds, as I won’t know for sure it held until post. For the most part I followed that advice, although I occasionally snuck the aperture open to F2.8 for specific shots. Turn the page for behind-the-scenes action…
(Page 2 of 7 pages for this article < 1 2 3 4 > Last ») 
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The Best of Stunning Good LooksA directory of my best articles, sorted by topic.
This entry is a guide to my best articles, sorted by topic. Enjoy! |
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