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Need your suggestions to improve my Video result on Quality.


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Hello,
Here i would like to clear some questions raised before starting a new project.. as i shared my equipment i have and the question how to use them for better result..

I am now doing a job for the first time on DSLR and have so many questions and need all the help you all can provide.
The gear available to me:
5d3, 1dx
Zeiss 14, Zeiss 35, Zeiss 135 (on its way)
Fluid head tripod.
Lexar 1000x 32gb UDMA 7 card
A three year old Imac for editing.
Nature of job and crew:
I will be going to small villages and shoot lifestyles of people as artistically as I can.
I will shoot lots of interviews with audio.
I have a focus puller and lighting assistant.
I want efficient frill free equipment set up that does the job. However, keeping gear light is not the first requirement, getting professional output is.
The edited videos will be viewed mostly on internet and at times projected on a mid size screen.
My questions:
1. Do I need another monitor besides the LCD on the camera to check focus etc?
2. Which is the best slider for price for DSLR?
3. Which is the best way to record audio? Do I record on camera or external recorder and sync using a slate? I have a BeachTek DXA-SLR available for free. Is it any good?
4. Should I use Magic Lantern software or original Canon RAW? If magic lantern, then which version?
5. What is the ideal ISO for video? And if not ideal, what is the acceptable range for noise free work.
6. Is 1/50 the only shutter speed to work at or it does not matter?
7. Will my Imac be ok for the edit? I will not buy an Imac now until it is refreshed, but just want to prepare myself on the speed of edit.
Thank you!
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  • 5 months later...

I'm surprised no one commented on this yet. But anyway, I will to try to answer all of your questions to the best of my ability and knowledge in the field.

1) The only time you'd need a 2nd monitor would be if there's another director that calls all the shots for you, or perhaps say you're the director and someone else is doing the camera work for you. Then you'd need another monitor to make sure the shots being taken are what you're looking for. If I were to decided, I'd only get one monitor for the camera operator and just view the footage after yelling cut to double check. It's much less expensive that way.

 

2) Best slider? I haven't really tested a lot, other than what I have now (Glide Gear 23"), and some sliders I've seen in the store such as SevenOak 23" and 47", Kamerar Slider and slider Dolly. I hated the SevenOak versions, they require high maintenance, performance is affected once you start putting in camera and lens on top of it because it drags the camera thus making a noise that could get picked up on the audio recorder. Same thing with Kamerar. Why I like mine though is because it doesn't make any noise and slides smooth. Cheapest for price? I'd say get the Jag35 basic slider, I believe it's full manual as it doesn't come with a friction control, which for me has its advantages and disadvantages. I would take my time picking out the best slider that works for you, if I were you.

 

3) I record with a separate audio recorder on a Zoom H4n most of the time. Then with my camera, I use a Rode Videomic just so I'm not stuck with on-camera audio in case I need to add short audio clips on top of a background music, or something like that. If you have the Beachtek already, I suggest getting a shotgun microphone like the Rode mic or something like the Zoom H4n. Using the on-camera mic with the Beachtek still won't give you better results compared to recording audio with a different recorder. Search up on YouTube ways to record great audio and you'll find lots.

4) I can't say much about Canon RAW since I haven't used it yet, but I find Magic Lantern very helpful. For color grading every shot I take easily, for recording more footage longer than 12 minutes, and just having more creative control overall. However Magic Lantern's RAW feature is still in BETA so I'd wait a while for them to get it working properly.

5) For ISO, it really depends on your camera body because they have limits before camera noise shows up on footage. For example, you can go up to 1600-3200 ISO range during lowlight situations on your 5D Mark III with just minimal noise on your footage, compared to when you do the same thing to a Canon 7D or an older body. As for video, I try not to go above the limit of 800-1000 ISO when doing video. If I can compensate for good lighting condition by changing aperture and shutter speed, I'll go for it.

 

6) 1/50th is not the only shutter speed to use. I don't want to say that it doesn't matter. Of course it does, it just depend on what footage you want to shoot. Normally I match the shutter speed and sometimes even double the shutter speed for the focal length I use. For example, if I'm shooting with a 50mm lens, then I would go for 1/50 or higher (1/125) if somehow along the way I choose to slow down my footage in post. This also depends if you shoot at either 24fps (1/30-1/50), 30fps, 60fps, etc.

7) Why don't you post the specs of your imac here so we can check. Normally you'd need at least 6-8GB RAM, with minimum of 2.0ghz and minimum of Intel i3 processor to edit using Adobe Premiere Pro or FCP. My current PC of 4 years only has Intel i3, 4GB RAM, 3.0ghz, DDR3, etc. but it still works fine with many softwares I've used, except DaVinci Resolve, which requires a much better PC in order for it to work. None of these specs may matter, but when you start using plugins and other color correcting stuff on top of your editing software, that is when you'll start to notice when your computer's performance is low.

I hope this helps. If there's anything else I could help you with, just send me a message.

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  • 10 months later...

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