Ki Rin Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 I should probably write this on a blog,. but since I don’t have one (yet), I thought I would try to document my recent experience putting a video together. Hopefully it might provide some usefulness to other beginners getting started. This is the first project I’ve done which I feel came out -roughly- how I imagined it. Although there are still a LOT of problems with the footage and end result is far from perfect! It was a great learning experience, and I was able to experiment with a lot of techniques. Type of video: Dance / Music Video -> Technical Details: Camera: Sony A7RII Lenses: 16-35 f4, 28mm f2, 55mm f1.8 Lighting: Street lights, and Yongnuo YN360 Light Wand RGB for fill on some shots. Location: Osaka, Japan. Editing and Post: Davinci Resolve Budget: $0 Main Challenges: Biggest challenge was probably finding locations with enough available light. I didn’t really have the budget or space to set up lighting, and we were shooting in the middle of the night in the middle of winter. I had a lot of trouble getting shots to stay in focus, largely due to my own inexperience. Things I learned: An external monitor for checking focus is essential. I bought one straight after this project once I realized how many shots were out of focus. The autofocus on the A7RII is too unreliable with a subject moving like this. I should have just stuck to manual focus. Doing everything solo is really hard. I would have loved to have an assistant, especially for help with lighting. I need to learn a lot more about visual effects in post. I mostly just messed with layered footages and blend modes for this.. But I wish I had the knowledge to do more interesting effects. Using different shutter speeds / angles can be very interesting. I experimented a lot with both high shutter speeds to add stress and tension in some shots, and also with slow shutter speeds to add extreme motion blurring for specific shots to match the music. Getting the right shutter speed for the effect I wanted was tough though. Going too slow became a mess, but if it wasn’t slow enough the effect was too subtle. Planning is important. But so is having the flexibility to scrap a plan when see something and go with it on the spot. Color grading is hard and confusing. I need a lot more practice. Getting good exposure / dynamic range is way more challenging in video (I’m more familiar with photography). I ended up with a lot of blown highlights and crushed blacks. I would love some tips on how I can increase dynamic range or avoid under/overexposing. I’m still really unsure what settings I should be using on the A7RII. Especially for color accuracy and dynamic range. That’s about all I can think of. Questions are welcome. As is any feedback or advice anyone has. I know it’s far from professional work, but I had a lot of fun on this project and am looking forward to improving my skills in the future. Thanks for watching & reading! Shell64, Kisaha, BTM_Pix and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shell64 Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Yes, an external monitor is key for manual focusing. On my g7 I can’t use an external monitor while recording so I have to focus off of the tiny lcd screen. I end up missing focus a lot when i am outside because of how bright it is. It also doesn’t help that panasonic’s implementation of focus peaking is crap, and is barely effective unless you are shooting a super contrasts scene. Did you like the a7rii? Would you still recommend it for video? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki Rin Posted July 31, 2019 Author Share Posted July 31, 2019 I got the A7RII when it was pretty new. I guess that was about 3 years ago now? It made, and I guess still makes sense for me, because I do a lot of photography as well. If I were choosing a camera only for video, or buying today... it probably wouldn't be my first choice. But I mean, it still takes decent video. And the 42mp is nice for still photography. There are a lot of nice cameras out there now, but I haven't really felt the need to upgrade yet. And I can't afford it anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shell64 Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 You must be getting good use out of it then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heart0less Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 1 hour ago, Ki Rin said: I’m still really unsure what settings I should be using on the A7RII. Especially for color accuracy and dynamic range. Oh, c'mon.. Can't you see this big, fat banner underneath your post? Just kidding. ( : Thanks for the post! I feel you and can wholeheartedly assure you, that you're not alone in this solo-shooter struggle. We just have to keep shooting and learn from mistakes / experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrothersthre3 Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Great job man! Preserving highlights and shadows is definitely a lot different with video. You just have to choose what you want to expose for and stick with it, that usually means crushing some shadows or blowing highlights unless you can light your scene. The A73 or A7R3 is definitely an upgrade in terms of auto focus and color. It depends on your shooting style but it can be pretty hard if not impossible to manually focus when shooting solo. More so if you shoot really shallow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kisaha Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 5 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said: It depends on your shooting style but it can be pretty hard if not impossible to manually focus when shooting solo. More so if you shoot really shallow. Sorry, but this is just not true. People are doing their own focus solo for almost 100 years now! I am not a highly professional cameraman (sound is my expertise) but I always shoot manual. AF for video is just a drop in the filmic ocean of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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