Starting out in video is a big move. A little smart phone success may lead to a desire to “go cinematic”, leading to many paths of growth, some needed, some not.
What would I recommend, as a budding video maker?
1
Plan
Be aware of what you want to achieve, what story you want to tell..
Work out what you are trying to make and watch the right videos or talk to the right people to learn how to. If you like low light, moody films, then think low light capable and minimalist lighting. If you like commercial grade interview style, then watch these video’s and learn how to make them.
D4Darius or Epic Light Media are perfect examples of vlogs that can set you straight early on. Want to make a low budget short film, then look at how to make those, not multi million dollar Hollywood epics. D4Darius has won awards using very basic kit and ELM even has a video on making a commercial with gear bought from home depot and a phone.
Good advice is always good to get, but the right advice at the right time is even better.
I learned this the hard way. Lots of bad choices, dozens of examples of Rodger Deakin, Wes Anderson etc doing their magic with massive budgets and a crew of dozens, not enough Mark Bone, Luc Forsyth and D4Darius early on to keep me grounded.
2.
Software
Decide on your workflow and stick to it.
I went with DaVinci Resolve from the start and the learning curve was and still is steep, but I am not being held back by something light weight, forcing me to learn-unlearn a new system as I grow. Premier Pro, Resolve, Final Cut, it matters little, but stick to one until it is no longer the thing that holds you back.
I chose DaVinci because it has two main benefits and one consideration. It is free to get enough to go on with and is becoming an industry standard, but it is also deep and complicated (the last one is a sword with two edges). Pick what works for you as long as it is not a dead end in the short or long term.
3
Understand technical realities
Get your minimum and maximum quality level set, understand how that is achieved and go straight to it. No point in taking pointless steps toward an end point if they fall short.
Understanding some tech stuff is required here, but it boils down to picture profile or codec (LOG or not), colour bit depth, frame rate options (for slo-mo) and resolution. Lots to know, some a little perplexing with plenty of opinions and contradictions. Comparing camera specs can help or equally confuse, so my advice is to look to vloggers like Caleb Hoover, Markuspix, Mark Bone, D4Darius or RICH Photography, then follow the associated links from there.
The thread is basically this; most use a LOG format, some don’t or don’t always and RAW format is seldom recommended for standard video work. These voices will help sort out the mess.
This is often where money is wasted for little benefit if you buy a camera and lenses before you get this right. Everything at the moment seems to be measured in 4k/60 terms and 6k is looming.
Good quality is possible with;
Quality 1080p or down sampled 4k.
422/10bit colour depth.
A Flat colour profile for decent dynamic range and flexibility in post.
Format does not dictate this and 4k resolution is handy but not required for broadcast level quality. The rest comes down to the rest, lighting, technique and practice. I have fund with video, doing practice runs and pretend scenarios is not the same as actually making something real.
The above is plenty for almost any uses. Less can even be used successfully, but is not necessary to compromise these days and lower quality should be a choice, not a forced restriction. The reality is, like with stills, you are after the end product, the “jpeg” equivalent, which may well be achievable out of camera and not need a ridiculous dynamic or colour range, but you need options if it is not easy to get.
LOG profiles, even RAW format are pushed hard for their extra DR, but walk your own path. Start at the beginning (a Standard picture profile) and see how close that gets you. There is a lot of good work being produced without resorting to LOG profiles which have their own needs.
Torture tests for dynamic range aside, people will accept inky black shadows as “creative licence” and lighting can fix these, but badly blown-out highlight elements if they are important, are like bad sound, un-ignorable. You can avoid what you cannot control.
Good quality can be upscaled, poor quality is still poor even if it is 12k. If you are happy with 4k/60 LOG as your top end, then there are a lot of cheap options, but make sure the other elements like colour depth are there also. Even Game of Thrones was filmed in 1080, then upscaled for 4k DVD sales. A bit like engines, it is not the size, but the application that matters.
I use 10bit/422/1080p at 50fps (Pal region), in Flat profile on my Lumix cameras (M43, APS-c and full frame). Flat profile also allows me to apply idynamic DR expansion. This is easy to grade, plenty if I am careful not to shoot everything with a bright window in the background and consistent. RAW is better theoretically, even full LOG, but for my needs (see point 1), this is enough. Remember that incoming quality is only trying to give you what you want to see at the outward end, so sometimes a Standard picture mode right out of camera may actually be enough, I found this out with my G9 Mk1’s.
4
Camera choice
Buy a good enough camera to meet the above criteria, with a little up your sleeve if you can.
Overbuy and things get harder, not easier. Concentrate on what is important to you. If you intend to use a gimbal or tripod, then internal stabilising is possibly irrelevant, if you intent to go “old school” and manual focus, then AF performance is equally irrelevant, meaning you can pick up a lot of very decent recent cams cast aside for more sure footed AF performers.
Not much point in worrying about AF performance if you intend to go this way.
Look at formats large and small, all brands (be careful of bias) and be sure to check out “best buys” for recent classics still relevant in the current world. The things that really matter are your own reactions to handling, colour, legacy of the brand and their full ecosystem. Gotta like your camera.
Light levels you want to work in may also effect both camera and lens choice, the two being linked. A smaller sensor with a faster lens and depth of field considerations can equalise the playing field.
Some cameras come with the “compromise” of a Super-35 crop in some settings, but all you need to do is take that into account when buying lenses (i.e. buy a zoom with decent wide angle or even a good prime that then has effectively two focal lengths).
If you may need more than one camera, this is something to consider now. No point in putting all your money into one expensive camera if you have to do the same simply for a second angle. A Panasonic S5 can cheaply be two or three in support of an S5IIx, a Sony FX3 can be matched to an A7 or A6000 series and the new GH7 can even matches an Arri.
Brands tend to share colour science across their offerings, but mixing brands can also work, you just need to research and have the skills to adjust them.
Falling loosely under this umbrella are drones. No real opinion here. If you have one, it will undoubtably become a useful tool, but the lack of one will do no harm either.
I went M43 for stills and I am happy there. For video, the smart move for me would have been to stay there, but I messed that all up with some full frame because my timing sucks. Nothing wrong with a mixed kit and as it turned out, my G9II and S5II are almost twins with their own strengths, it is just messier than it needs to be. In a multi cam set-up, cross-compatibility really only matters for colour and codec matching, which I can and various formats have their uses.
There is a little too much hate aimed at non-full frame cams at the moment, but keep in mind that 98% of movies shot up until about 5 years ago were shot in Super-35 mode (film and digital), which is closer to APS-c/M43 in size and many of the top digital cameras still use the format.
5
Lenses
Lenses are the best place to take a breath and ponder your real needs.
If your answer to the AF or MF question in point 4 was “AF please”, at least as an option, then you will be buying a modern AF lens. Old lenses can be good for effects, but be careful not to accept any flaw as cool, because some just aren’t and all are limiting.
A good 24-70 f2.8 zoom or equivalent for your camera format is plenty to start with, especially if you embrace APS-c cropping giving you 24-105 overall range (and you can shoot 4k to crop 1080 for even more versatility).
Cine lenses add benefits for rigged setups, especially manual focus based rigs, but are often more expensive than the very same lens in stills guise (IRIX, Sony, Sigma etc), or conversely, some cheaper cine lenses are actually better value than low end stills lenses (TTArtisan, 7Artisan, Viltrox, Sirui), thanks in part to their simplicity. .
Cine lenses are also meant to be mechanically similar, which the budget ones do well and match each other in colour and rendering, but the budget ones often fail here.
A lot of top end productions use “character” filled wide field of view anamorphic glass (Shogun, anything Wes Anderson), but these lenses cost and can be limiting (once captured, you cannot reverse the look). Anamorphic effects can be copied to some extent, so maybe instead use streak filters, retro glass or letterboxing with regular lenses? In some scenes of Shogun and even some recent Marvel series, people on the edge of frame are actually lost to lens flaws, so be careful what you wish for.
Rodger Deakin prefers to shoot “straight” then add effects after and pst processing or filters can add effects as needed.
After exhaustive testing, my take-aways are most lenses are sharp especially at more useful apertures like 2-3 stops in from wide open, especially in the centre where people look, but most have very different colour, blur rendering and flare control and some just suck in the handling department.
A massive hypocrite here or an example of the pitfalls of being lens obsessed. I have a little of everything from state of the art stills lenses, to retro refugees, entry level and better cine glass over three formats. I justify my bloated lens selection by mating them to the right cameras (S5 mk1 gets MF cine lenses, the better focussing S5II gets hybrid Lumix-S AF lenses) and can also I shoot stills. If pushed, I would recommend a good 24-70 f2.8 Sigma for full frame, the Sigma 18-35 f1.8 in APS-c or 10-25 f1.7 in M43 as a good start. For me personally, a 35mm on full frame, cropped to 50mm in APS-c is plenty, but I use zooms on M43 for versatility while moving.
6
Sound
This should be higher up the list, probably in point 3, but camera choice, shooting style etc may effect your direction.
The old adage “sound is 50% of video” is kind of right. Poor sound means basically no video, simple as that. Exceptional sound on the other hand can make even poor footage look like you meant it. The kicker is, really good sound can be had for about the same a mid range lens, so you have no excuse.
Run a decent shotgun (MKE-600 or similar) or decent LAV’s (DJI/Hollyland/Rode etc) into a similarly decent field recorder (Zoom F6, H6 or similar) and you are golden. Any mic, when close enough to the subject, can record more than acceptable sound. Better gear just means more range, reliability, cleaner starting sound. Research may drive you slightly mad, but remember, everyone’s voice is different, and there are many more controls and variables available, so take advice as meant, but not too much to heart.
Some useful bits to start with.
Effects and music are available from many sources, shop around here, you cannot really go wrong or for more fun, record your own.
My main kit, a mess like much of the rest is multi layered or I should say, lacking direction, but not options. I have taken my own advice and can run a few shotgun options into a variety of Zoom recorders (always good to have backups right?), there is also a full set of music mics, some LAV’s, direct to camera or computer choices and a ton of “bits” kicking around in case. My main mic for videography is not my MKE-600, but my SSH-6 on my F1 Zoom, because for general use I have found it more flexible or alternatively the MKE-400 which is far more useable. The MKE-600 is technically a better mic for booming etc, but like most shotgun mics, it is limited in other areas. I have a Zoom H8, H5, H1n and F1 with several capsules, all different, all useful in their own way.
7
Stability
Get……a……tripod.
Get a good tripod, not one of those “handy”, overcomplicated, undersized travel things. A simple, reasonably solid, fluid head (not ball) is where you will end up if you stick with this, so go there sooner rather than later. An exception might be if you are a travel vlogger who may use a gimbal most often, but for everyone else, get a tripod first.
Weight equals stability, recent in-built stabilisers are amazing and specialist gimbal-cams like the OSMO Pocket are also an option, but think on the style you are chasing, your actual needs compared to possible capabilities and applications. I see a lot of “like new” gimbals on ebay and that is for a reason. They need skill to use, tend to be a required, sometimes dominant kit consideration and do not fix everything.
I am not a gimbal guy, using the G9II and S5II’s with their excellent in-body stabe with a variety of old school tools to help with movement and hand held work, otherwise a mechanical slider and decent tripod (Manfrotto 190 with Neewer fluid head) are all I need..
This is me, able to do moving shots steadier than many top flight cinematographers use when shooting “steadycam” mode, but not as “perfect” as gimbal footage.
8
Filtering
In video, this is in partly unavoidable, but also partly optional. The unavoidable bit is a Neutral Density filter of some type, because the 180 degree rule requires fixed shutter speeds, fairly slow ones and that means your exposure triangle tends to be limited. The most popular types are the monstrously expensive variable ND’s bought in the biggest filter size you may need and cheap stepping rings used to fit other lenses.
An 82mm VND from a major brand may cost as much as a decent prime lens. You can use fixed value filters and some cameras have built in ND’s, but if you have those, you are probably not reading this.
Other filters are purely for creative effect, but some seem almost mandatory at the moment. Mist/Black Mist/Cine-bloom filters offer a deliberate softening and highlight blooming effect that seems to be very in at the moment (huh…Moment is a filter brand also). The irony of people spending multi thousands of dollars on top tier cameras and lenses and then softening them down to look like older film cameras is not lost on the industry, but it is not reducing their use either.
Other filters, like light streak, star or colour change filters are also used sparingly, but may be of more actual use.
the reality is, you may not need many or even any filters, but it is funny how quickly you can accumulate them without a plan.
My kit is a mess, because several times I drew a line under my biggest filter size then shifted it (62, then 67, then 82), but it is useable and I can use multiples of the same filter at once, which comes in handy. I use fixed ND’s (Hoya Pro 8/32/100 strength which is 3/5/7 stops) in preference to variable (which I also have) because they allow me to mount the lens hood back on (unwanted flare being……. unwanted) and I can calculate my exposure rather than the seamless VND roll, or for my very large cine lenses, I realised too late that a matt box and slide in filters were actually cheaper in big sizes.
I also use polarisers, weak 1/8 strength mist filters, differing brands giving me slightly different strengths and looks and blue and gold streak filters for a faux anamorphic look.
9
Lighting
This is last, because it is the most important thing!
Ok, what I mean is, light is everything, but it is also free to start with. Use natural light as long as you can, work angles, experiment and remember that all lighting in movies etc is trying to mimic natural light!
Then move to cheap, even free modifiers like reflective surfaces, diffusion cloth (shower curtains), “motivated” or available light, then add what you cannot find. Work into this. Visit the local hardware store or haberdasher to get ideas, buy single decent lights, then good supports until you feel bullet-proof for your style. The camera and lenses you choose may determine what and how much you need and your style surely will, so don’t rush this. Do it right, do it once.
My lighting is a you guessed it, a mess. I went cheap in quantity with the sound logic that I would have depth and versatility, until I pack it all that is. Several 60w COB lights and mid range LED panels can give me lots of options in small cases, but I have to set up a wall of lights if I want that 300w blast through a window. My interview kit is simple, an AMARAN 60d and a RB9 Weelite, but that is a one trick pony. I am lucky my stills kit has a lot of mods, so some money was saved there.
10
Rigs
What can I really here that I have not said, contradicted and said again?
Rig as you grow, change as you need, don’t do it just because it looks cool, don’t avoid it because it looks complicated. each of my three dedicated video cameras has their own application, their role to play, so they get their own rigging options.
Probably the most useful tip I can offer is try to go universal for tripod plates. I use cheap Neewer plate adapters for all my heads to make sense of my mix of Manfrotto, Arca Swiss, Neewer and non quick release heads. One button pushed and I can switch from ball head on a rail, to fluid head on a tripod, to gimbal, hand held rig or nothing.
My G9II gets a hand held monster rig (see above), the S5 is setup for extended recording on a tripod with cine lenses, the S5II one is left as is, with only a top handle to fill what ever role is needed.
11.
Well there is no eleven, just use it and make stuff.
To sum up;
Get an idea of what you want to do (assuming you have a story to tell).
Learn a programme enough to get started, it will come as you use it, but simple cutting and shaping is a start. DaVinci has a whole free learning module with included footage.
Set your expectations to reach your intended idea and your editing “chops”, which may require learning the “jargon” of video formats etc.
Buy a camera and lenses to reach the intended quality with a little to spare if you can.
Buy some filters if you need based on camera and lens selection.
Get your sound sorted as a priority, not an after thought.
Get your stability sorted and work out your “moves”.
Decide on lighting and how you want to control it, then control it. Less is more until it isn’t.
Make videos, learn, repeat.
If it were me starting now again with what I know, the G9II, G9I, 10-25 f1.7 Lumix, 45 Olympus, a Zoom F1 with SSH-6, H1n and some decent LAV’s, would be enough.