Everyone who shoots with DSLRs for video knows the problems with high speed panning, the dreaded “jello vision” or rolling-shutter effect.  This is caused by the way the camera’s sensor records the information, top to bottom.  As you pan, the image that the sensor starts to record at the top, is shifted slightly to one side by the time the sensor has finished recording the data at the bottom so the subjects appear to bend to one side.  But this does not really effect your video if you want to perform a tilt at high speed because relative to the vertical lines on the sensor, the subject is not moving. A couple of days ago I wanted to try out my 300mm f2.8 L IS for filming with my 1dMKIV.  I was attending a snowboarding competition and I knew that with such a long lens I was going to need to follow the action pretty fast.  Instead of setting up for a standard panning movement, I climbed high above the action and shot a high speed tilt instead, thereby making full use of the cameras abilities and not allowing it’s main weakness to effect my ability to get a cool shot.  There is some panning motion in there too but it is a much smaller amount than it would have been if I was side on to the action.  Also bear in mind that I have conformed this from 60p to 30p in cinema tools, so the actual speed of tilt was twice as fast as it appears, and the footage held up nicely.

100601_1908_dancarrIf you have taken more than a passing interest into the video capabilities of your DSLR camera then you will probably have thought about getting some sort of viewfinder for the LCD screen.  With the DSLR cameras lacking the ergonomics of traditional video camera design, such viewfinders are probably the most useful accessory to aid video shooting.  Not only do they permit easier manual focusing with a clear view of the screen, but they also add stability to hand held shooting with an extra point of contact to your body. Continue reading »

5dH4If you shoot video with a Canon DSLR you already know the audio sucks.  Or even if you don’t, maybe you have read my guide to audio and microphones for these cameras ! Recording your audio separately is without a doubt the way to get the highest quality audio track but it adds a couple of daunting extra steps to your production. Firstly the simple process of making sure you record the audio and not just the video while you are shooting, 2 record buttons to press!  And secondly syncing that audio to your video track in post-production.  I guess you could also add in an extra middle process in there of keeping all the audio files organized in a way that you can relate them to the video clips.  This all sounds pretty time consuming but for the last year or so lots of people have been singing the praises of a piece of software called PluralEyes from Singular Software.  Available as a plug-in for Final Cut, Premiere and Vegas, it takes your the audio track that is associated with your video track and automatically analyzes the waveform to match it up with your second separately recorded audio track.  Great if you have one of those 3 editing programs, but consumer video users were left out in the cold. Not any more though…… DualEyes is a new program in beta testing from Singular.  And rather than being a plug-in, it is now a totally separate program meaning that anyone can use it all the way from iMovie makers to pros already using Final Cut , but wanting a more streamlined workflow for audio syncing.  Take a look at the demo video that they posted on their website, it really looks very easy and would be perfect to use with the new Zoom H1 audio recorder or the H4N.

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