s100cky Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hi All, Hope you can help with my newbie situation. I’m trying to make some lovely sharp and nice looking HD video shots with my canon 600D. I’m using the stock 18-55mm lens, and although I know this isn’t the best lens to be using, my videos just look pretty rubbish. They don’t seem as sharp or crisp as I would expect. I’ve had a look over a few forums, and youtube to try and work out what I may be doing wrong, but at the minute I’m rather clueless. As you can tell I’m rather new to all this, so not really up there with the technical stuff, (Which im slowly trying to learn). I’ve included some photos of my settings? Hopefully I’m doing something wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 firstly are you focusing manually?? or trying to use auto focus?? - dont ever use auto focus! its rubbish on Canons always focus manually - this makes things instantly sharper..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelbb Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I routinely use Quick AF before pressing record. This flips down the mirror & hits focus just like when taking stills then flips the mirror out the way again. After pressing record you need to focus manually. I really couldn't tell one or another if there was anything wrong with that video as YouTube compresses so badly. It looked OK just remember that all the Canon DSLRs are pretty soft & don't have anywhere near the resolution of a Panasonic GH2/GH3/G6 or even a proper camcorder. This is often an advantage as it is flattering on close-ups of faces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s100cky Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hi andy lee, In terms of focusing I half press the shutter button, to get into focus and then leave it? Do you suggest just doing a manual focus instead? I often wonder if i will nail the focus as its only a small screen? (maybe thats just me) When i look at the video the plants in the garden are really noticeable in a bad way, they have no sharpness to them at all. I have just bought a 50mm f.18 lens. Hoping this will give me a better look. Big thanks andy lee and nigelbb for the tips! Hopefully and slowly i will improve! I have seen some really stunning short videos shot on the 600D so hoping to get halfway to that standard! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 that explains why your images are not sharp!! do not use auto focus to shoot video on Canons ever!! I have shot alot of pop videos for MTV using canon cameras and ALL the focus is done Manually start again and try this use the x10 zoom function so you can see to focus on the rear screen I always use the screen on a Canon to focus try this!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s100cky Posted December 11, 2013 Author Share Posted December 11, 2013 Top man I shall give that a go. Thanks for taking the time to help, didnt know if I would get laughed at for such a basic question. onwards and upwards! Do you have some of your work I could look at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ebrahim Saadawi Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Excuse my bad English as it's not a language I use at all. I use lower-end Canon DSLRs (550D, 600d, 650d, 1100d) on daily basis as my main filming tools, thus I am quite familiar with the way they work & their limitations. My first advice would be: -please don't use Canon's Standard ''Picture Style'', instead use the ''Neutral'' Picture Style and turn the Sharpness & Contrast ALL the way down. This will give you a flatter image with much better Dynamic Range to work with in editing. Yes it will also give you a less contrasty, softer image, but adding sharpness in post is MUCH better than adding it in-camera. So is Contrast. I've tested and tested. This alone can make your footage look horrible. You can also take this even further and download the Cinestyle Picture Style by Technicolor (free). It's an incredibly flat image (though I found it too flat for my usage, too hard to exspose for and even focus with. That's an opinion not a fact. thus I stuck with the Neutral one mentioned above) 2-Never exceed ISO 1600 on these APS-C sensors, you will get unsable noise levels. If the image is too dark and you need to go higher than 1600, then your camera can't do it. Use faster lenses instead of going over 1600. (the 50mm f/1.8 is a great low-light lens) For this reason alone I'm saving to get a 5D III, Full-frame sensors allow usable 3200, 6400 ISOs for my eye. Incrideble! -Install Magic Lantern. It will give you the ability of using intermediate ISOs (160, 320, 640, 1250). These result in significantly less noise (also tested and tested) In addition is gives you very helpful tools for Exposure & Focus assist (Zebras, Peaking, Histogram, etc) Built-in intervalometer for timelapse, and MUCH many more. Give it a try. -Focus manually, autofocus on these cameras does not work (except on the 70d). Use the 5x and 10x magnification function to focus percisely. It's more than enough (at least for me) for critical focus. -Expose to the right (ETTR). This means over-expose your image until you start clipping the highlights (don't clip the highlights, just to the point before that). I've found this technique to give me less noise and better overall image than under-exposing) Cheers. Ebrahim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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