Showing posts with label Tips Tricks and Tutorials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips Tricks and Tutorials. Show all posts
Canon 7D and T2i AGC Bypass Trick
4.22.2010
Audio out of these cameras is not good. You really have to record audio separately to get a good sound. However, the main problem with the audio recording on these cameras is the AGC. So take a look at this tutorial for a cheap DIY workaround.
How To Fund an Indie Project
3.07.2010
I have all these great ideas that I want to do but it always seems like I am saying, "Man, I wish I had ten grand I would (insert pet project here)" So as an independent filmmaker or an aspiring one, I think the first and toughest obstacle we face is: Who is going to pay for this?
Art is great. Art without the financial backing is most likely going to remain an idea that never gets done. To me that sucks. I wonder how many of you out there have brilliant films/projects that will never see the light of day because you can't make it happen financially. I have the same problem lots of ideas but no viable way to make them come to fruition. Well folks, I may have the answer for some of you. I haven't tried it out myself yet and I only ask one thing of you in return. If you use this, please share your project with us. By that I mean either shoot me an email and tell me a little about it when it's done or even just shoot me a link to the finished product. I'd love to see what some of you ultra-talented filmmakers can do with a little backing.
Anyway so here it is check it out and let me know what you think. Again I haven't tried it yet myself but it looks amazing and it appears that others have had a great deal of success raising capital. Go here for a collaborative way to fund ideas and fuel innovation Read more...
DIY: Protecting Your Camera From Mother Nature
3.06.2010
Read more here.. Read more...
The DSLR Cinematography Guide
2.05.2010
I don't claim to know everything or even close to it when it comes to filmmaking or DSLR's.
That's the great thing about cultivating a useful online resource and community. You don't have to. We all need to help each other as much as we can. It elevates the bar. It pushes the community forward. We are only as strong collectively as our weakest link. So when you assist someone else
you make yourself better in the process. But enough of the "social commentary" diatribe. The point of it all is I would like to thank my good friend Chad Nickle from Wild Orchid Studios in Austin Texas for bringing this very,very informative article on DSLR's to my attention.
The DSLR Cinematography Guide Read more...
Canon 1D Firmware Released
1.28.2010
No Canon 5D MKII firmware yet but this is here.
Canon 1D MKIV Firmware released
Very Informative DSLR Timelapse Tutorial
I just wanted to share a link I found very informative and useful about shooting timelapses with
your DSLR. I learned a new trick from this and I will be applying it to the next one we shoot.
Timelapse Tutorial
$5 DIY Follow Focus
1.24.2010
This first video shows you the results. The second video shows how to make it.
$1.00 follow focus DIY from André Desrochers on Vimeo.
Cheap follow focus DIY from André Desrochers on Vimeo.
WARNING: Do this at your own risk I claim no liability if your lens is damaged.
Canon 5D MKII Drops Below $2500
1.14.2010
Canon 5D MKII Drops below $2500 and B&H is throwing in a 16 GB SanDisk and a shoulder bag.
Why is the Canon 5D MKII having this sudden price drop. Rumblings on the internet indicate that
Canon may be trying to entice people in the market for a camera to buy now before Nikon
releases the D700s the D800 and perhaps a bigger surprise. Hmmmm... is Nikon finally ready
to throw down and come to the party? Hey better late then never and anything that causes
competition can only be beneficial to all.
While your at it check out this
DSLR Workflow Read more...
Canon 7D Tutorials
1.13.2010
Here is something really cool I stumbled across.
There is a link to Canon 7D tutorials below,with a twist. You can play these on
your iPhone, on your computer or, Wait for it…. On the back of your
camera thru the LCD. Pretty awesome huh? I know all you filmmakers
and photographers out there have hectic and busy schedules so now
you can check these tutorials out in the field. Enjoy!
I also found this tutorial on Cinema5D.com it goes back to the fact that it isn't
the camera that is most important which I covered in an earlier post
Here's the tutorial he also has some other good ones on his YouTube Channel .
Read more...
When Disaster Strikes: Oops I deleted all of my footage two weeks ago!!!
12.21.2009
Scenario: Two weeks later you realize the footage you deleted off of your desktop is somehow not backed up anywhere!! Now what?
CF cards the media used for recording with the Canon line of DSLR's are a very robust media. They can withstand a lot of punishment that a DV tape never could.
Due to the cost of CF cards, however, you need to be constantly offloading the cards and backing them up. The importance of this was driven home to me at Re:Frame San Francisco by Den Lennie , the tapeless workflow guru and co-founder of F-Stop Academy . During his presentation he talked about the majority of problems with this type of media boiling down to one thing, human error. Well, anytime I do something good, or take part in something I am proud of, I am very quick to toot my own horn. Why should it be any different when I do something bad? Really bad. We had a few consecutive jobs that put us out in the field and had us juggling our Seagate 1 TB drives like a circus performer. Everything was backed up at least twice across 2 MacBook Pro's,an iMac,a Mac Pro with a RAID 5 Array,four 1 TB Seagate Drives and
two 500 GB Seagate Drives. Seems like a year or two ago that would have lasted us a lifetime as far as storage goes. Well not anymore. The Mac Pro was filled to the brim and therefore I could no longer edit on it properly. I called my partner in crime,asking what could be deleted off of the desktop. The answer was "Make sure Everything is backed up before you delete anything!" I did. I checked and double checked. Everything on the desktop was backed up on external drives.
Delete.
I then began working on the task at hand. Fast forward two weeks.
I am starting to work on the next job in line.I go into the folder and... empty. "Hmmmm, that's weird." I thought. So for whatever reason I check another project folder on the external. Nothing. Another. Nothing. I am officially at DEFCON 1!!! Alarms are going off! I'm officially freaking out!! It feels like my life is over.
It's too painful to remember everything I lost that day. Lets just say it was about 450 GB of video footage that I could never recreate.
If I would have shot these on a regular video camera I would still have the tapes. Damn you!! I cursed my ambition. My reliance on this new technology and my idiotic finger for hitting that delete button. In an utter panic and in between sobbing uncontrollably(some details have been altered for dramatic impact) I turned to Twitter. I downplayed the severity of the situation but my sheer panic must have resonated because in a matter of minutes I had a number of replies. They ran the full gamut from, please tell me this is a joke, to surely there's a backup somewhere, to condolences on your loss. Then I got a direct message from @CodyPChristian. It said he had a similar problem once and was able to recover his files. We went back and forth as he diagnosed the problem. What OS are you on? Where were the files? Back and forth.Back and forth. Then he sends the Tweet heard round the world.(some details have been altered for dramatic impact)
Data Rescue II. Two words and a Roman numeral.That was the solution. I ended up using Data Rescue III just because it was newer and I felt like I needed any new developments in technology to save me as this was a hopeless cause in my mind. The most tedious part of the entire task was going into the preferences and un-checking the majority of the massive list of files this thing can recover/reconstruct. I was only interested in Quicktime files as I wanted this thing to just focus on recovering all of that footage that was lost. It cost $99 but this thing worked a miracle. It recovered over 450 GB of information that was gone!! It had a specific search function for just such an occasion aptly called Deleted Files.
This tale serves a few purposes. Always,always,always back-up. Then back-up your back-up's back-up before you ever even think about hitting delete. If you do find yourself in this predicament, and you are using Mac OS, Data Rescue III worked a miracle for me.
Lastly,but probably the most important, I owe a huge thank you to @CodyPChristian This guy does a little bit of everything check him out at http://codypchristian.net/ He didn't need to help me out. He gained absolutely nothing from doing that, other then the satisfaction of helping a poor sap out that just deleted a lot of valuable footage. Regardless,he spent his time to find out what my problem was and to find a solution for me. That speaks volumes to me about the kind of guy he is,his character and willingness to help out when he can. So for data recovery I recommend Data Rescue III. For virtually anything else I recommend http://codypchristian.net/
Everything I Know About the Canon 7D I Learned from Louis C.K.
12.17.2009
So I have been getting a lot of emails and messages on Twitter asking me all sorts of questions about shooting with the Canon 7D . I am going to attempt to cover the majority of everything I've learned about the 7D since I started shooting with it.
The Canon 7D has limitations that have been well documented all over the web. I recently watched
A Constant Forge , a documentary on director John Cassavettes
And one line, in particular, rang true. He was talking about never wanting to shoot another commercial film because money ruined the creative process for him.
He said something to the effect of, “ Limitation is the key to inspiration.”
I think in the day and age we live in we have become a society with a short attention span.We want it bigger,better,faster and NOW.
It’s like the bit by comedian Louis C.K., Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy.
(Although I'm a huge Louis C.K. fan I missed this so I'd like to thank
@AmyPruett for sharing this with me)
We need to master our craft and get back to the basics. Shot composition and storytelling. I plan on working on those two myself.
Be thankful for the amazing technology we have at our disposal and stop whining like a bunch of spoiled children. Aliasing,WAHHHH. Moire,WAHHHH.
12 minute limit WAHHH, No Audio Control WAHHHHHHH. What do you want Canon to give you for $1700 ? Should it come with your own personal DOP to set all the shots up for you too? Do you remember what it took a few short years ago to get this type of look for a film? It would have been impossible to do what you can now for this type of money.
So, instead of this RED vs. the Canon DSLR civil war that is erupting in the filmmaking community, How about this ?
Take whatever equipment it is that you have the good fortune of owning and go shoot something amazing. Let your limitations be your inspiration.
Force yourselves to think in a way you never have before. Can’t afford a 7D ? Go get a Flip HD, shoot it on your iPhone. Just do it.
Sorry. Now back to the original point of this whole post.
What do I know about the Canon 7D that could be helpful?
Something simple yet one of the most important steps when shooting with the Canon 7D , Canon 5D MKII, and any other camera really, is flattening the color.
It may seem pointless to you. Why would I flatten the color? I want it to come out of the camera with rich vibrant colors. No you don’t. That’s why God invented color grading.
My weapon of choice for color grading is Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Looks . It is an absolute necessity for me. The things I can do with it in post are absolutely fantastic.
It’s one of those things where you can download the software and begin using it almost immediately. A very intuitive interface, and the ability to save your own custom
looks actually makes color grading fun. Who knew? Here is how you Flatten the Color on Your 5D (also works on 7d ) Thanks to Stu from ProLost for this.
Turn Auto Lighting Optimizer OFF. I haven’t seen this documented anywhere but I hate this feature. It basically sucks to me. Should be called Auto Make picture look crappy
IMHO. So disable this feature. Period.
You need one or all of the following. A tripod, a monopod, Glidetrack , Glidecam , Zacuto Rapid Fire or Tactical Shooter . Get yourself something to stabilize your camera.
There’s nothing that turns me off more then shaky handheld footage. It looks amateur.
With HD video it is very noticeable and rolling shutter is not kind to this type of shooting.
Not saying handheld shooting can’t be done with a Zacuto Z-Finder and sniper like breathing tactics it was actually done quite well as demonstrated in this post by John Moon of Northernlight Filmworks .
However,for the average shooter, myself included, shooting handheld is a good way to end up with a lot of useless shaky footage.
Lenses. Lenses. Lenses.
A very common question is what lens should I get? Well that is a difficult one to answer specifically,it depends on what you are shooting, but I can offer some guidelines. The 7D works with a 1.6
Crop factor so here is your simple math equation to figure out what a non APS-C lens becomes effectively on the 7D. Take the lens (i.e. 50mm ) multiply by 1.6. Here are a few lenses
already figured out for you.
16-35mm = 25.6 -56mm
35mm = 56mm
50 mm = 80mm
24-70mm = 38.4 -116mm
85mm- 136mm
70-200mm= 116 -320mm
Now which lens do you want to buy? I am a bit of a lens snob and also one of the key reasons I shoot with the 7D is for low light capabilities. So I personally would avoid buying a lens higher then a 2.8. Unless,you will be shooting in well lit situations or it is a lens to compliment the prime lenses you already have.
I have heard the 70-200 F/4 is sharper then the 2.8 but it also can’t shoot in low light so, I like the 50mm 1.4 as a very cheap workhorse lens. At a little more then $350 if you’re just starting out it’s a good lens to get you up and running. The 24-70 2.8 has a great range and is one of my favorite lenses.
Let’s say you shoot weddings, or you want to get close ups of people/things but from far away the 70-200mm 2.8 is absolutely wonderful. As far as the rest of the lenses go I haven’t had much experience with them so I can’t say a lot about them.
Here’s an idea though. Either rent the lens first or better yet see if any of your friends who are photographers already shoot with Canon. If you are out shooting something and you ask very nicely they may just let you try one
of their lenses. If they aren’t that nice? Maybe you will have to go out and shoot a little behind the scenes piece for them in exchange for some of their knowledge on lenses and to try out some of theirs.You not only will gain valuable insight but you may also make a great business connection and perhaps even a friend.
So there you have it. Hopefully that helps someone. It’s not everything I know about the Canon 7D but it’s a start.
Reel World: with Patrick Murphy-Racey
12.12.2009
Some of you saw my earlier blog post which included this amazing video shot with the Canon 7D.
SEC Championship Game 12.5.2009, GeorgiaDome from patrick murphy-racey on Vimeo.
There were a ton of questions about how this was done. First a little background on Patrick
Murphy-Racey because as we all know the toys are great but it's the man behind the camera
that makes the biggest impact.
"I'm a former Sports Illustrated photographer. I did a lot of work for SI from 1992-1998. I then began working on a book project on Tennessee football that took me away from the SI work, which I self published in 2003.
I've worked for a number of newspapers in my career as a full-time shooter but quit in 1992 to pursue a freelance career instead. I've been doing that ever since. I am really loving this new twist on how to communicate and tell stories. The Canon video capabilities are truly remarkable and simply produce eye candy every time I hit that button. Being able to shoot motion picture quality video on the full-frame chip of the 5DMKII is awesome.
My inbox is jammed with people asking me questions about how I did the SEC Championship video. Rather than try to answer everyone, I simply made another video explaining the process and what I did to get the results... I think it will prove helpful for many." - Patrick Murphy-Racey
I'd like to thank Patrick for taking time out of his busy schedule to help educate the filmmaking community
on this new technology. It is an exciting time we live in for filmmakers and photographers alike. So here it is.
Enjoy!
SECHD: how it was shot... by Patrick Murphy-Racey from patrick murphy-racey on Vimeo.
Check out Patrick's photography here. Read more...
Warning: If You own an Eyepiece for Your DSLR
11.30.2009
Remember when you were a kid and you held a magnifying glass over an ant to see what would happen?Well I never did that,it was my friend Billy I swear, but I know the idea behind it is that the magnifying glass would increase the power of the sun and thereby scorch the aforementioned ant. Now if you are using what has become an essential part of my kit when shooting, the Zacuto Z-Finder, here is a quick tip. Make sure you do not, for extended periods of time, leave the eyepiece pointed upwards. If the sun beats down through the eyepiece, it is going right into, what is effectively, a magnifying glass. This could cause damage to your cameras LCD, which is not cheap to fix. I still could not shoot properly with any DSLR without the Zacuto Z-Finder, it is an absolutely essential part of my kit. This is just something I had never thought of before, but has been brought to my attention. So I will still never shoot video with my Canon 7D without it, but I will definitely not be letting the Z-finder's eyepiece point towards the sky for any lengthy point of time.
Update:
This is not a product defect as I mentioned and has already been documented here.
http://store.zacuto.com/Z-Finder.html
Again, just something I hadn't even thought about but after a colleague discovered damage to his LCD we traced it back to sun exposure through the viewfinder so be careful out there. Read more...
Free 5D,7D,1D FCP workflow from Idustrial Revolution
11.24.2009
Just saw this and haven't had a chance to test it out properly yet but thought I would pass it along.
From Idustrial Revolution
"The Canon5DmkII can produce terrific results, but anybody who has tried to bring the files directly into FCP will tell you that they are difficult to work with and require constant rendering.
This unique workflow package allows the user to choose to edit in 1080p, 1080i or straight to standard definition 16x9 25fps. Custom droplets give one click access to compressor that will convert the H264 files into ProRes for editing. The user also has a choice whether to make the clip realtime (i.e. 30fps to 25fps) or timestretch so that one frame in 30fps is one frame in 25fps. This will result in a slowdown of 20% for pin-sharp results.
Compressor droplets are supplied to get the final 1080p/i self contained movie into standard definition 16x9 too.
An easy to follow workflow diagram helps plot the conversions needed to get the best quality from a Canon camera's HD output."
Free FCP workflow info and download from Idustrial Revolution
Can't Afford a Follow Focus?
11.15.2009
I have always run into the same problem when trying to get a shot of an inanimate object. For example, Let's say I am shooting a wedding and I want the rings to be out of focus and then to come into sharp focus. It always takes me about ten times to get it right. I have the rings out of focus. I turn the focus ring slowly and then just as soon as I have the rings in focus .... Oops I turned it too far and they are back out of focus. I can't afford a follow focus set up currently. So I had an idea yesterday while working on an edit. The hardest part of the whole process is knowing/being able to stop when the item is completely focused properly. So what if I work backwards. Get the rings totally in focus then rack focus backwards. Know the shot is a one take deal. Drop it into my NLE of choice,and reverse the clip. I am dumbfounded by the fact that I just thought of this. So I would be interested to hear if other people have already been doing this. So anyway this is my brilliant idea of the week. Read more...
HEADSHOT: The DSLR ROUNDUP
11.13.2009
A new segment in the blog where I will be doing a quick roundup of things I find interesting,helpful links, cool shorts and anything else I think is suitable.
Films I'm Digging This Week:
Perili Ev - canon 7d from Firar Güney Kayran on Vimeo.
An autumn's tale from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo.
This was just FUNNY and very informative...
How to increase the Canon 7D dynamic range (Tutorial) from Luka on Vimeo.
These aren't Exactly new but definitely amazing pieces of Art:
China's 60th Anniversary national day - timelapse and slow motion - 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
Hecq Vs Exillion - Spheres Of Fury from Tim.Chris.Film on Vimeo.
jc plus esther // all 7d highlights from stillmotion on Vimeo.
Venice's People: Canon 7D 24p from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
AND NOW FOR SOME USEFUL LINKS...
Firmware Update for 7D
http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos7d/firmware.html
Canon White Papers on 1D MKIV
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=1787
SNL shoots opening Sequence with 5D and 7D
http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/09/29/saturday-night-live-use-canon-7d-and-5d/
Hands On with Canon 1D MKIV
http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/2009/11/11/eos-1d-mk-iv-hands-on-with-brian-worley-of-canon-europe/ Read more...
F-Stop Academy
How to Flatten Color in your Canon 5D
Great tutorial on flattening the color in your Canon 5D thanks to the Stu Maschwitz at ProLost.
Check it out here.
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