- Feb 22, 2001
- 3,044
- 543
- 136
This just couldn't go to plan. It was an impossibility.
I have a friend who was getting married this past weekend; he asked a friend and me to do photos and video for the event. The other photographer is a very good photographer with a non-video centric camera ( D7100 ). I am a decent hobby photographer with good to very good video cameras ( G85 and Z6 ).
I offered to do the video, thinking my gear would be the better choice. (Yes, the gear was better... but it isn't always about the gear.)
I have never done video before, but figured I'd wing it. I mean, people post beautiful videos from their iPhones... how hard can this be.
I did some very basic tests at home the week before, verifying I could at least trust focusing. I watched a youtube video - what else could there be?
The one thing I did right was set up the G85 on a tripod, slightly behind where the main vows would take place. I also smartly placed my Rhode (super basic) external mic on that camera. With my 32GB card, it captured 42 minutes of 4k video. The wedding lasted 39 minutes. Phew.
So, I do have a safe... if static... video 'in the bag.'
Where I went wrong... horribly wrong... was with the Z6.
The Z6 has normal IS/VR plus "extra VR" which applies a small crop to the video. I turned on the "extra VR" at the start of the ceremony, having never used it before... because I figured "i'll be extra safe." I think that caused some weird jitters to the video on pan.
The much much larger issue I had was: I shot with my 70-200 f/4 most of the ceremony. And I shot at > 150mm a lot.
The thing you don't notice when shooting long lenses for photography is how much you move around - because you get the 1/500th of a second shot and it looks fine. But in video... dear god. The Z6 has nice VR built into the body. The 70-200 f/4 has nice VR as well. But they did not work, even on a monopod, at 200mm. The footage is a jumpy mess.
My only hope now is to use the main footage from the G85 and splice in (very short) segments from the Nikon that might be steady long enough to give a different perspective.
If I had to do this again, I would have kept all my shots wide ( < 50 mm ).
Not sure the monopod helped much - maybe at wider focal lengths it would have. I know the steady-glide cam type peripherals can help - but I'm also not sure how they would help with zoomed lenses.
TLDR;
Newbie videographer uses telephoto zoom to do video and learns that's a bad idea without better stabilization techniques.
I have a friend who was getting married this past weekend; he asked a friend and me to do photos and video for the event. The other photographer is a very good photographer with a non-video centric camera ( D7100 ). I am a decent hobby photographer with good to very good video cameras ( G85 and Z6 ).
I offered to do the video, thinking my gear would be the better choice. (Yes, the gear was better... but it isn't always about the gear.)
I have never done video before, but figured I'd wing it. I mean, people post beautiful videos from their iPhones... how hard can this be.
I did some very basic tests at home the week before, verifying I could at least trust focusing. I watched a youtube video - what else could there be?
The one thing I did right was set up the G85 on a tripod, slightly behind where the main vows would take place. I also smartly placed my Rhode (super basic) external mic on that camera. With my 32GB card, it captured 42 minutes of 4k video. The wedding lasted 39 minutes. Phew.
So, I do have a safe... if static... video 'in the bag.'
Where I went wrong... horribly wrong... was with the Z6.
The Z6 has normal IS/VR plus "extra VR" which applies a small crop to the video. I turned on the "extra VR" at the start of the ceremony, having never used it before... because I figured "i'll be extra safe." I think that caused some weird jitters to the video on pan.
The much much larger issue I had was: I shot with my 70-200 f/4 most of the ceremony. And I shot at > 150mm a lot.
The thing you don't notice when shooting long lenses for photography is how much you move around - because you get the 1/500th of a second shot and it looks fine. But in video... dear god. The Z6 has nice VR built into the body. The 70-200 f/4 has nice VR as well. But they did not work, even on a monopod, at 200mm. The footage is a jumpy mess.
My only hope now is to use the main footage from the G85 and splice in (very short) segments from the Nikon that might be steady long enough to give a different perspective.
If I had to do this again, I would have kept all my shots wide ( < 50 mm ).
Not sure the monopod helped much - maybe at wider focal lengths it would have. I know the steady-glide cam type peripherals can help - but I'm also not sure how they would help with zoomed lenses.
TLDR;
Newbie videographer uses telephoto zoom to do video and learns that's a bad idea without better stabilization techniques.
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