How do I achieve this quality « Videomaker Community Forums

Anonymous

I've offered my help to a non-profit who is looking to capture footage from an event - in particular interview floating-head-and-shoulders style. They know I'm not a video expert and I have just a humbleÂ PowerShot S3Â IS camera but I want to try and reach for the quality seen in videos like those found on the Vimeo HD channel.

An example of the quality and the effect I would like to achieve can be found in these videos:

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The Canon 550D is mentioned a lot in the description for these videos and I'm well aware that its not just the camera that gets you the quality. Lighting and post-production are as important of course. But if we're just talking about the equipment, what are the recommendations? I'm clueless about lenses - will the one that comes with a 550D (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS) be appropriate for achieving the quality seen in the first link or should I just buy the body and get the lens separately?

I've mentioned the 550D because that's what a lot of people are using for the videos that I've seen which I like. If you tell me it's all about post-production and I can get a £200-300 camera instead then I'm more than happy to hear the suggestions. Bear in mind that I'm not going to be shooting lots of video all the time and I'm not looking to go pro. I just want to do something better than the quality of video that I know how to shoot - which is basically just using a point-and-shoot to create home-made-style videos.

Also want to add that I have a Mac and I've only ever used iMovie but more for making cuts rather than doing any proper post production colour manipulation/effects. Presumably I need something like Final Cut or dobe Premier to achieve some of the effects that are seen in these videos which I'm happy to invest in and learn/experiment with. Unless there's a video editor out there that does to video what Instagram can do to photos?

To put it really bluntly, I want to move from my current ability which can produce video quality equivalent to that on the right and bring it as close to the quality shown on the left:

Posted 4 months ago #
Mike Wilhelm
Staff

The big difference between the shot on the right and the shot on the left is depth of field. Unfortunately not all cameras are created equal in that department. If you're using the 500D, simply turn your f-stop down. The lower you can get that number, the more extreme your depth of field will be.

Posted 4 months ago #
Anonymous

Thanks Mike. Can you or anyone talk about the colour - is that a post-production effect that I could add through a video editing suite like Final Cut?

Posted 4 months ago #
Matthew Carr
Member

Very good article. I think, such types of article and comments enhances this forum.

Posted 4 months ago #
Kenkyusha
Member

@Chocolatecoco
You can tweak the colors in FCP, but you'll want to shoot as 'flat' as possible to provide the most latitude for CC- that coupled with a good manual white balance, open aperture (with appropriate ND or CPL filters, if needed) and reflectors/lights will go a long way toward achieving your desired look.

Posted 4 months ago #
macmichaels
Member

I agree that the 550D will show you a marked improvement in video quality. Your S3 shoots 640x480 and the 500D will shoot full HD. There's just a whole lot more digital information in each frame. That and once you get to individual lenses, like those for the 550D, the optical quality is improved a great deal in contrast, color and resolution, along with the control you get in depth of field---all factors of the video you've noted compared to point and shoot cameras. It's really a world of difference. The 18-55 lens probably won't give you as shallow a focus (background blur) as you're seeing in this video, but if faces are relatively close without distorting, you'll get some of this effect with the aperture open wide.

It's a sure bet you can enhance your creativity with better editing software, but I'd encourage you to consider spending your money first where it counts most, the camera and lens. If you still have money left over, I'd suggest adding an off-camera mic if you're going to do interviews like those shown here.

Nonprofits are great places to help out. I wish you luck!

Posted 4 months ago #
hunterhimself
Member

what lens would you recommend to obtain that DOF? Something like a 50mm lens?

Posted 3 months ago #
Jack Wolcott
Production Host

As Mike says, depth of field is very different between the two pictures. But it's the lighting that makes the left picture excellent and the right picture less so. I'd rather have a good light kit than a lens that gave me greater control over depth of field.

A well lit face or scene will trump a scene with an out-of-focus background every time. Learn to light well, then begin playing around with the nuances.

Jack

Posted 3 months ago #