Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Shooting on a DSLR

          Some videos like "Reverie" by Vincent Laforet, "Tick Tock" by Ien Chi, and most recently Act of Valor really captured my attention. There are a bunch of other short films I have seen on YouTube that are of really good quality and seem really professional. These video as I learn have been shot on DSLR's. What makes them stand out against other affordable cameras is the low light abilities. Other features that I liked is the amount of manual control on them and the ability to put different lenses on the body. 
          So over spring break I visited the person I interned for in senior year. He runs the TV station in my hometown. So I asked on advice for what type of camera to get, because I wanted my own and an upgrade from my Nikon D3000. The advice he gave me was buy the best body I can afford and then a cheap lens like the Canon 50mm F/1.8. And then for important projects just rent cinema lenses for the high quality. So that is what I did to a degree.
          I am starting to learn filming on DSLR's since I got one towards the end of the summer. I've only had two chances to film with it so far. So far I am very pleased with how they turned out and how everything performed. I got a neutral density filter so I can maintain low depth of field and it worked well outside. I was able to do a pretty good job considering I had no tripod or audio equipment, aside from an iPhone. The only thing I really slipped up on was not setting the white balance, but since it wasn't for a project or job I'm ok with that. Also I filmed two quick projects in the same day over a six hour span with unpaid-non-professional talent, so if I took extra time on it, they would have gotten really annoyed.
          I am looking forward to what I can produce from this camera, I have high expectations for myself and it. The last thing I want to share is a bit of DSLR humor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEwUnENlc9M&feature=player_embedded

James Majeau

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