Lens/Setting for decent video on a 550d?

[MrChips]

Evening all

Having gone through a bit of a mad few months getting the Tuscan back on the road, I decided that I would try to do a few films over the summer of some events and of the car itself. I've got a GoPro2 for the moving bits, a 550d and now also a decent mic (Rode Stereo Pro)

Despite my best efforts so far with the 550d in video mode, I just can't get anywhere even close to the style i'm after. So... ignoring the editing etc, anyone care to provide some tips on how to get video similar to this in style?

http://vimeo.com/11720471

or this one (which I think is from a PHer??): http://youtu.be/B6-_wXTMME8

What kind of lens is likely to be being used? Looking at it appears to be using a filter as well in terms of the colours? Are there any settings for video mode on a 550d that i'm missing, as I can't seem to change anything at all.

I have Sony Vegas to do some post editing but believing in the "rubbish in, rubbish out" theory then I want to make sure i'm getting the most of my current equipment before it hits the laptop!

Any advice greatly appreciated
Cheers
MrChips

[K12beano]

Well - for a start, rather than the "wobbly" shoulder shots of close up detail I'd be inclined to take still shots and use these within the video.

Next - it's a reasonably wide aperture/short telephoto for the isolating detail bit.

I have yet to try video in anger on my recent acquisition, but I believe 24 fps and 1/50s are ideal starting points.

You can probably do some of the effects in PP - I know you could in, say, Lightroom, so I am sure you can do something in whatever software you have.

Edited by K12beano on Wednesday 4th July 23:23

[Fordo]

I dont think they've used anything special - looks like the occasional bit of fast glass, 35mm or 50mm, iris fairly wide open to get those shallow depth shots. Lots of good shots and some funky editing. To get the best out of video on a dslr you really need to be using everything fully in fully manual.

Filter wise - cant see anything special. Might be using some NDs or a vari-ND, to control exposure without using a silly high shutter speed.

Colour wise - that'll be a grade afterwards in the edit stage.

Perhaps you can post up some of what you've done? A lot of it's just practice practice practice. Take a note of what you like in those edits, and replicate.

What lenses do you have?

I liked those edits, but personally I dislike the microshake of handheld dslrs. I dont mind handheld as a style, but just holding a dslr at arms length for video looks a little too jittery for my liking. some kind of shoulder support works wonders, as does a stick on viewfinder loupe- really helps with focus when doing focus pulls.

If you plan on doing quite a bit of video, older manual glass is your friend. They tend to have a longer, smoother focus throw. You can't beat old nikon manual glass, for value for money. canon / nikon adapaters are fairly cheap, only downside is nikon lenses focus the opposite way to every other maker of glass.

[K12beano]

Good advice from Fordo - of course.

Fordo said:

... only downside is nikon lenses focus the opposite way to every other maker of glass.

...but slightly erroneous in that the downside is that everyone else's lenses focus in the opposite way to Nikon.

[MrChips]

Thank you both, so the consensus seems to be it's not some mega expensive kit that i'd spend ages trying the replicate, so that's good news.

I have recently ordered one of These so hoping that it might help get a much better depth of field than the kit lens that came with my 550d. Albeit I didn't buy it for the video work, but it should help.

I did start playing around with different colour gradients, using the same picture. Results are here:
http://youtu.be/KK7tLUfNZQ8
Looks like I should be able to get a similar feel in PP by de-saturating a little, and boosting the blue shadow settings.

I don't have a lot or raw footage yet so that's the next battle, but it made sense to be confident that the footage I'll get will at least give me a good starting point