How do you set exposure for video?

[Vesku]

1. Always full manual M using 180 degree rule and ND filters

2. Shutter priority with 180 degree rule

3. Aperture priority to use bokeh or lens sweet spot

4. Auto exposure to adjust exposure easy and fast (like photos) and then AE-lock

5. Depends on scene and subject...

6. Other

I use aperture priority outdoors and shutter priority with auto iso indoors (or low light) with my Panasonic cameras.

[Jacek]

Depends on situation and gear I use, but never "Aperture priority".

[Cinegain]

I tend to use the manual mode for most stuff. Usually things are set to 4K 24p with 180 shutter closest 1/50th. I then first determine the depth of field I want to use and set the aperture accordingly. Whatever the exposure shows... I need to set my ISO accordingly. When ISO reaches ISO1250 and is still underexposing, I need to re-think my strategy. Maybe I can add light to the scene. Maybe I can trade-off depth of field for a better sensitivity. In turn, if it is overexposing, throw a ND filter in front. If I would have none on me, again trade-off one thing for the other, I'd more be willing to sacrifice the shutterspeed than I would depth of field by pinching the aperture. But I prefer to decide whatever goes for myself. That's one reason why I don't mind full manual lenses like the SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 25mm T0.95. Having that physical aperture control ring and manual focus. It doesn't bother me at all. Though, given, it's not for the extreme run'n'gunner. It's like fastfood... very convenient... but I'd enjoy live cooking slowfood more. But different folks, different strokes. There's no absolute right or wrong... though I guess you could say that there is 'conventional' versus 'unconventional'. Just gotta find something that works for you.

[Cary Knoop]

Manual, mostly 180 degrees but I am flexible. 

Aperture is most important to me and obviously depends on the scene.

 

 

[Davey]

Manual, with a variable ND if needing to keep the shutter speed down.

[Mat Mayer]

1. Full manual. ND8 filter. Occasionally let the shutter speed rule go. I think a stronger ND filter is needed for that. I think you forgot to mention white balance- essential setting for me especially as I usually shoot outdoors.

[ricardo_sousa11]

I might be in the minority, but, I dont follow any rule, nor use any ND filter. Fully manual, I set my shutter speed as if im taking a picture, for example, outside on strong daylight ? 1/5000 with f1.8 ISO 100. Very rarely people will notice the lack of motion blur, because on normal circumstances, there is little to no motion blur.

[Justin Bacle]

1. full M @ 180° and NDs
(but if I don't have enough light, I might shoot at 270° for the half stop of light ! (I don't have low light friendly cameras))

[Damphousse]

8 hours ago, Vesku said:

5. Depends on scene and subject...

This.

 

I use variable ND and 180 degree shutter rule on the cameras I own most of the time.  If I need more staccato for a particular scene then I use a faster shutter speed.  ND, aperture, and shutter are all used for particular creative purposes.  Getting a certain amount of light to the sensor is only one thing that is important in a scene.  Freezing or blurring motion is another decision and so is depth of field.  The best is to set shutter speed and aperture independently to maximum effect of each.  Then go in with ND to deal with how much light hits the sensor.

3 hours ago, Justin Bacle said:

1. full M @ 180° and NDs
(but if I don't have enough light, I might shoot at 270° for the half stop of light ! (I don't have low light friendly cameras))

This... too.

Realistically you have to use the camera you have with you.  Sometimes you have to do less than ideal things with aperture or shutter speed simply because of the limitations of your equipment.  I would be lying if I said in low light I use aperture purely to control depth of field.  Sometimes I am shooting at f/1.4 with a speedbooster because that's the only way I can get any kind of image on the sensor.

[aldolega]

Full manual. I shoot action and moving things, so motion is important. I shoot at a base of 30p (gasp!), and shutter speed stays at 180° most of the time, might go down to 90° in a pinch. For slomo I find that 90° or 120° looks better than 180, once slowed down. Shorter than 90 looks jerky and slower than 180 is way too smeary.

Aperture just depends on how much DOF I want/need for the shot, and ISO or ND are applied as necessary to get me there.

Since I switched to the Leeming LUT/workflow I generally follow his ETTR recommendations. Set zebras at 100 and expose hot but don't let anything needed blow out.

[Justin Bacle]

13 hours ago, Damphousse said:

I would be lying if I said in low light I use aperture purely to control depth of field.  Sometimes I am shooting at f/1.4 with a speedbooster because that's the only way I can get any kind of image on the sensor.

That is exactly true in my case too.

[John Brawley]

Well gee, everyone is manual over here on the motion forum....

I'm manual. almost always 180 degree shutter. I usually have a stop I like to work at, depending on the lenses I'm shooting. ( on the super speeds I'm shooting right now it's between T2 and T2.8)  I use ND's to keep me at that stop when required.  WB is always daylight or tungsten preset 99% of the time.  I never WB on set. I use FC for midtone, Zebras @ 100% to show clipping if the camera does them and then a well adjusted EVF or monitor to eyeball the look, preferably with the option to turn the show LUT or off....

JB

 

 

[jase]

Ok, so here is my coming out:

I shoot 99% of the time with aperture priority and let the camera do the rest (GX80). I set the maximum ISO to arround 1600 and only increase it by hand if I have to. I always shoot using auto shutterspeed. I know this might be not the "real deal", but for me doing only run&gun stuff it works pretty well. I never had that thought "boy, this looks rather choppy" while watching one of my recordings. But obviously this could be my personal shortcoming.

However, after being a forum member here I learned what aliasing and moire is and now I see it everywhere... Sometimes this is more like a curse than a blessing, because the normal audience doesnt really notice. Whenever I tell my girlfriend why a certain scene is ugly because of this and that in 99% of the cases she answers something like "mh, i dont see it - looks fine to me".

[mkabi]

Number 1 & 5.

Currently I don't have any ND filters, so time of day matters (never high noon).

If you have to know the process. Start at manual M & 180 degree, ISO 100 and open aperture to fullest. If its too dark, start increasing ISO, if its too bright start dialing down the aperture. The usual stuff. Then I start playing with WB. 

 

[Eduardo Portas]

I try to shoot old style to keep a certain look through the whole product.

That is, full Manual control with 180º shutter at 24fps. Aperture is cemented at F8. And yes, I really like deep DOF.

For me, only ISO is variable. I don't mind a grainy shot. But if I'm indoors, I'll ad some light myself or move my subject to available light.

I've found that keeping variables fixed, save for ISO, saves a lot of time in the field. 

(Setting with APS-C sized cameras. Could change with other sensors)

 

[tugela]

Coin flip.

[Stanley]

24 fps, 100/200 iso, 50 shutter speed, (sometimes 100 for slow motion only)  because I mainly shot surfing in very sunny conditions I don't want shallow depth of field but I have 2 stops ND to keep the aperture where I need it. And a couple of LED lights for interiors.

[wolf33d]

The best videos I have ever seen on Vimeo, that made millions of views, were all done with no ND, in semi auto mode, with little grading. 

I think here we always try to over complicate things, with all these settings and heavy gradings and so on. At the end we focus less on the image.

btw, the last  video I have  done I tried once to just shoot. Forget about settings and concentrate on what I am capturing. Guess what, it's the best video I have ever done. 

I shot multiple stuff with ND and shooting manual outside with the 180 rule is a pure nightmare. Completely impacts creativity and spontaneity of the shoot. 

My 2 cents. 

[dbp]

What I want to do: #1

What I currently do: #3, because I'm too cheap to afford a non shitty Vari-ND. Soon though, soon!!

[webrunner5]

7 hours ago, Eduardo Portas said:

I try to shoot old style to keep a certain look through the whole product.

That is, full Manual control with 180º shutter at 24fps. Aperture is cemented at F8. And yes, I really like deep DOF.

For me, only ISO is variable. I don't mind a grainy shot. But if I'm indoors, I'll ad some light myself or move my subject to available light.

I've found that keeping variables fixed, save for ISO, saves a lot of time in the field. 

(Setting with APS-C sized cameras. Could change with other sensors)

 

Wow my thoughts exactly. the old KISS rule. Keep it simple stupid. The less you can screw up the less you screw up!

#1 is the way you Should do it but a lot depends if you are shooting with fast primes or cheaper still camera zooms. Cheap camera, Cheap zooms, Cheap lights, OMG! WE all know there is no stead fast rule or we all would be famous.

But going full manual does have a Lot of risks, meaning you can have Everything that can go wrong go wrong. The results are fantastic when it goes right, horrific if a couple of parameters are set wrong. That is why I always hated shooting with different cameras that you rent, drove me sort of crazy. They all have quirks and they do bite you in the ass at the worse time. Get used to a camera that has great low light ability, New C series Canons and switch to a Blackmagic camera Holly Crap. It does keep you on your toes. Interesting business.