Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I've had my 5D Mark II now for about 8 months but I've never used the video feature before today. I'm shooting an awards ceremony at City Hall on Thursday night.

I'm using a 24-105mm lens for practice and I'm finding that I lose focus when I change the focal length (zooming in and out). How do I prevent this from happening? What setting is best for most videos and low light situations?

Thanks!

I know how to fix your problem. Get a video camera!

If it's something as dynamic as such an event, maybe the DSLR isn't the best approach since you have to manually focus and you need like 4 arms to track focus a subject you have no idea where they will move to which trying to keep the image steady. Not to mention, you can only record 12 minutes at 1080p or 24min at 720p at any one time (correct me if I'm off on the record times). You may be better off with a regular camcorder with AF for this type of scenario. Just my 2

The solution is manual focus.... it isnt designed to dynamically change its focus as you change the focal length.

Increase the aperture to give you a deeper depth of field.

Outside of that..a video camera.

I have a 7D and it does take some time to learn to focus on the fly, but damn it takes great video.

The event sounds like a high profile one and it is in some sort. I'm only shooting one individual, not the entire event. This includes the introduction by Mayor Miller, the handing of the certificate and the acceptance speech. The whole thing should only take about 5-7 minutes. I will also take a video of the guy's friends during the short reception afterwards. Altogether, the entire video will be about 15 minutes at most. It will be played on a laptop at a party the next day for those not present at the ceremony to see. I'm quite impressed with the quality of the footages I did today except the focusing issue.

Any tips you guys want to share?

Manual focus. None of the Canon DSLR cameras today really have any auto focus capabilities compared to video cameras. Trying to zoom and focus at the same time might be difficult if yet impossible to do smoothly and possibly - best to walk closer for zooming while focusing manually.

[quote="Carlton"]If it's something as dynamic as such an event, maybe the DSLR isn't the best approach since you have to manually focus and you need like 4 arms to track focus a subject you have no idea where they will move to which trying to keep the image steady. Not to mention, you can only record 12 minutes at 1080p or 24min at 720p at any one time (correct me if I'm off on the record times). You may be better off with a regular camcorder with AF for this type of scenario. Just my 2

Most of the serious video shooters have camera rigs with follow focus controls. This is the way to go if you are going to get into any kind of serious video with a dslr. Otherwise..... It's a mix bag of results. The key is stabilization..... You could look into some kind of shoulder support for your camera to eliminate shake, otherwise it's going to be tricky. As already mentioned, focus is tricky.... The 5d apparently will Af during shooting by pressing the AD-ON button, but you don't want that during an important piece of footage. My comment to get a real video camera wasn't far from the truth..... These things are not designed for serious shooting without all the add on expensive stuff.

For a basic acceptance speech, you could just put the 5D on a tripod, lock focus and just record. Get ready to hit START/STOP when it gets close to the 12 minute mark!!!!

Here's something similar for another Mayor.

http://www.vimeo.com/16295778

Audio was done with the Sennheiser MKE400 on a 60D, Sigma 30mm f1.4.

If its just a speech it should be easy to do just be ready to adjust focus if someone steps forward or back.

As most people have already said, manual focus. I just started using the video feature on my Mk2 and it's great for simple video capture but unless you invest in thousands of dollars worth of video rig your video may not look so professional.

The 5D Mk2 does 720p? I only see 1080p (24 or 30) or 480p.

Thanks David. This video isn't gonna be a serious one. It's just for a friend who is receiving an award and I offered to take a video of it. It's just for fun but I wanna do it right using my camera. No zooming in and out, I guess and every thing should be in focus.

This is basically what I'm hoping to do. Was the mic attached to the hotshoe? What was the camera settings? I have 3 pcs 4GB cards. Do you mean to say that I can do a 1920x1080 HD video that's no longer than 12 minutes on each card?

I think the files are 12 minutes because they are limited to the FAT32 file system 4 gig limitation 2^32

But it should keep recording onto another file - I think. You can merge them later after you copy them to a filesystem that supports > 4 gigs such as NTFS etc.

Doh! You're right. It's 1080p or 480p on the 5D MKII.

Unfortunately, unlike video lenses, still photo lenses are not designed to be parfocal (focus maintained through zoom range), although some end up there anyway (or close). This lens attribute is an absolute necessity if you intend to do any zooming during a shot.

This would allow you to not only maintain the same focus point regardless of any changes to the focal length of the lens, but zoom in prior to your shot to accurately focus.

Maintaining this attribute is such a necessity that Pro video lenses have an adjustment ring (back focus, or flange focus) that exists purely to ensure that you can maintain your focus point throughout the focal range of the lens. Changes in temperature, warped lens mounts, etc need to be compensated for.

The Sennheiser MKE400 mounts on the hotshoe or has a thread if you want to mount to a mini tripod.

Another option is to pick up the Zoom H1, it might be still on sale at Vistek for $120. The H1 is a high quality stereo mic and recorder but you'll have to sync up the audio in post.

Or

The RODE VideoMic is $150~ and great quality but the drawback is its HUGE when mounted on the hotshoe.



Me on the left, MKE400 on the right.

Henry - since this is the first time you've used your camera for video, it might be wise to borrow a traditional video camera and an extra tripod so that you have a backup. This sounds like an important event and you only have one shot at it.

I can lend you my Canon HV20, all you'll need to do is get a miniDV tape a tripod and set up is easy. ON, ZOOM in to frame, press REC. Done. You just have to pick it up near Leslie and Sheppard.

The video can be downloaded to iMovie on your macbook very easily and relatively quickly.