Railfan Technology > Shooting Video; What settings do you favor?

For all the folks that shoot video, I'm intrigued by the variance in individual camera settings and preferences. Personal choice and time are obvious factors, as sometimes one doesn't have time to set up their shot and fuss around with manual settings so full auto is a practical choice in a lot of cases (and works just fine) - But for other times when you have the luxury of setting up your camera(s) does anyone go full manual and opt to dial in everything themselves? 

I do not enjoy the 'editing' aspect of photography and loathe to sit in front of a computer and fix and fake a picture from so-so to computer altered 'perfect' - To avoid hours of tinkering/altering pictures on the computer I like to try to get my camera settings dialed in as accurate as possible. So for video (as well as stills) I always try to shoot in manual with my white balance adjusted to current light, manual exposure/focus/aperture etc. I preset focus and prefer to shoot with manual focus on because I've found that no matter which auto focus mode I use, a moving train will cause the camera's sensor to constantly try to 'grab' focus, (even with image stabilization on) which results in choppy video. Setting shutter to a higher value is an option but I shoot 24fps so anything above 1/60 can cause flickering. I apologize as this might be TMI - Some guys prefer auto everything and let the camera do all the work, but having gone that route too I found the results are not all that great.

Normally I just shut up and shoot and don't get involved in any technical talk but recently I was able to devote a day of filming with a 3 camera set up and I opted to experiment with different settings for each camera and while I was filming a group of other folks taking video set up near me and we all got to talking about camera settings and I realized that not one person there used the same settings and everyone disagreed on the best route to go based on the 'rules' of photography and aperture/shutter speed/etc - I have a comfortable working knowledge of the basics/fundamentals of photography and would rather enjoy my time watching the trains instead of discussing the rules of minimum depth of field and other technical stuff, but I still know that these things are important too - So what settings do you use/favor and what works best for you?  Shut up and set to auto and just shoot the train or manual and dial in  .....? I'm curious to see the responses (if any) as this is a good way to learn some more pointers and tricks (and bore the non-photo tech folks to death - My apologies) - Thanks in advance ...

E Patton
Lancaster CA

Honestly, I just set my video cam to auto. For my dslr cam, I keep it set for aperature f/11 and let the camera figure out the speed.

The results are almost always good.

I'll shoot video with the Nikon D600. I usually
set the aperture at f8 and adjust the ISO and speed
according to what the light meter / histograms say.
I now just use prime lenses on manual. What you
really want is a rock-steady tripod with a good pan
head.

I take the attitude that I should get my settings
in the ballpark, and then do final adjustments in a
video editor, which is not really a big deal.

John.

Shooting movies is no different than shooting stills.  There is no such thing as 'this setting works well for me, it should work for you, too.'  Lighting conditions may be different standing 10 feet away from where someone else is, shooting the same train.  This may be the result of one photographer shooting wide angle and the other, long telephoto, due to field-of-view differences.  Weather differences, sun angle, and time of year all have their effects on lighting.

The exposure triangle hasn't changed.  Getting the best exposure is the 'best fit' of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO speed.  There are both advantages and disadvantages to increasing/decreasing any of the settings.  At best, it's an "acceptable compromise".  One may have to sacrifice a deep depth of field (DOF, aka, plane of acceptably sharp focus) from f11 by opening up to f4 or wider, for example, because of low light conditions.  Keeping f11 would necessitate a higher ISO speed (more noise) or slower shutter speed (possible subject motion blur).  Letting the camera decide on its own will almost always produce good results under well-lit conditions.  Cloudy days?  Subject in shadows?  Back lit?  Bright light sources in the image?  Focusing on the headlight of an oncoming train will definitely screw up the camera metering.  Getting a good result will require some manual intervention.  The changes necessary come from knowledge and experience with the exposure triangle.  Or, you end up editing out those portions of the video during post processing.  And 'artistic expression' in your work?  Unless one understands the exposure triangle, any expressionism will be limited. 

In short, if Auto produces results that are satisfactory to you most of the time, then, by all means, use it!  "Locking in" a good depth of field by setting the aperture to f8 or higher is a good start to getting sharp results that YOU want, not want everyone else produces.  However, the more you control your camera, the more control you have in the results. 

Thanks - I appreciate all of the responses. I use a Canon 70D and 10-18mm as my workhorse - I prefer wide angle in general and (as you and others suggested) shooting at a higher aperture is the starting point. For me, manually controlling aperture and white balance and then letting the camera decide ISO and shutter speed works out best. Although I think some of the best pics I've taken were merely on accident, the result of a quick set up when time was not a factor. Thanks again. 

I would suggest a shutter speed twice the FPS: I.E. 24 FPS=50th or 60th, 30 FPS=50th or 60th. If you go 125, or 250 or 500th of a second you will get a jerky video played back at 30th. On a bright sunny day, your stop might head beyond f/16 so get a ND filter.

Dennis Livesey
New York, NY

ChooChooDennis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would suggest a shutter speed twice the FPS:
> I.E. 24 FPS=50th or 60th, 30 FPS=50th or 60th. If
> you go 125, or 250 or 500th of a second you will
> get a jerky video played back at 30th. On a bright
> sunny day, your stop might head beyond f/16 so get
> a ND filter.

Hm! I've never had that type of problem with the
Nikon D600. Just saying...

John.