School Nativity - Help Advice??

Oxford_Matt

Oxford_Matt

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Hi Guys,

My Sons has his School Nativity tomorrow.

Unfortunately the Guy that was going to film it has pulled out for unseen circumstances.

I have a 5DMKII but have never really used the Video mode.

Few things I need help with.

1: Whats the Best Settings for a nativity play under Average lighting?
2: Will it stop recording after 20 mins?
3: With No Mic and using built in mic will it buzz from motor interference on Camera?
4: If I record it whats the best way to add Text Titles etc when editing / converting the film.

Really want to do this but dont want to volunteer and mess up.
 
1. Manual mode keep shutter speed at 1/30th (I think) and adjust the ISO for the aperture you want. Hopefully you have enough light but the 5D handles high ISO noise well.

2. 29:59 (4Gb) I think. You can switch cards or restart at an opportune moment

3. It will sound terrible. If you make any noise at all like change settings or zoom or move near the camera it will be picked up. You really need a radio mic setup but guess you can't.

4. Use Sone's software which seems easy to use but be aware you need a powerful pc to edit the high def video from a 5D.

I'd steer crear and do perhaps a slideshow of stills if you can (using recorded mucic of the show).

THe 5D is fantastic at shooting video but sound could be the enemy and the lack of editing experience.

It can be done though.... Just be prepared that the sound may be the killer.
 
Thanks Jim.

I was thinking of placing it on a Tripod setting it to cover the stage and not moving it.

I may just stick to the Photo's :)
 
It will work..... Just that cound will be poor depending on where its set up.

Do you have a spare camera? Do both :)
 
As Jim says, restart frequently at an opportune moment.

Another option for audio, you could use a sound recorder such as the Zoom H4, that way you would have continuous recording, you could also place this closer to the stage.

If you have a second camera, you could either use both to record video, overlapping the restarts or, take some stills to cover the breaks.

To add text, you would need some video editing software, there are a lot of these with free 30 day trials.
 
Settings wise would say Manual as stated but 1/50 (thats what I was told by someone who shoots video on the 5D MII for a living), editing wise I bought Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum from amazon during the Black Friday deals, but they advertise it at around £28 now, does the job for me, easy to use, can add titles etc.
 
cosmix3 said:
Settings wise would say Manual as stated but 1/50 (thats what I was told by someone who shoots video on the 5D MII for a living), editing wise I bought Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum from amazon during the Black Friday deals, but they advertise it at around £28 now, does the job for me, easy to use, can add titles etc.
Click to expand...

Regards shutter speed I was advised that it should be close to but not slower than the fps speed but that was probably rubbish :)

I googled it and noticed it should be nearest double the frame rate. So a 24p video should indeed be 1/50th and a 30fps movie clip should be shot at 1/60th

So looks like he was right :)
 
Oxford_Matt said:
Hi Guys,

My Sons has his School Nativity tomorrow.

Unfortunately the Guy that was going to film it has pulled out for unseen circumstances.

I have a 5DMKII but have never really used the Video mode.

Few things I need help with.

1: Whats the Best Settings for a nativity play under Average lighting?
2: Will it stop recording after 20 mins?
3: With No Mic and using built in mic will it buzz from motor interference on Camera?
4: If I record it whats the best way to add Text Titles etc when editing / converting the film.

Really want to do this but dont want to volunteer and mess up.
Click to expand...

1: No idea what you mean by average. But you're probably going to be opening up the aperture a lot if you want to avoid high ISO, judging by some of the nativity plays I have seen. Practice your focus pulling skills, you may be doing a lot of it.
2: No, it will stop recording at 29:59 if there's not much changing inbetween frames. However if the camera is recording flat out at its maximum bitrate of 330MB per minute, it'll stop recording after 12 minutes because you'll hit the FAT32 maximum file size of 4GB.
3: No but to pick up the audio of the nativity from a long way away you will need to jack the microphone sensitivity right up, and you'll get a lot of hiss. If you leave automatic gain control on you'll just get a varying amount of hissing.
4: Unless you have a professional NLE, something like Windows Movie Maker will do but don't add stupid effects or transitions because it'll just look like every other video on Youtube that has been made by a 14 year old.
 
Last edited:
EOS_JD said:
I googled it and noticed it should be nearest double the frame rate. So a 24p video should indeed be 1/50th and a 30fps movie clip should be shot at 1/60th

So looks like he was right :)
Click to expand...

Yes the 180 degree shutter rule says that your shutter speed should be double the framerate. It doesn't HAVE to be though, you can vary it for effect, the lower the shutter speed the more motion blur you have, the faster the shutter speed the more jerky it will look (like the beach landing scene in Saving Private Ryan).

The PAL TV standard is 25p/50i so you should be shooting at 24 or 25fps, not 30fps. Also bear in mind if you shoot at shutter speeds in multiples of 1/anything other than 50, and the venue uses magnetically ballasted lighting, you'll get banding on the video.
 
Shutter speed should be double your frame rate or close as possible. Check in the menus whats its on may be 24fps or 30fps, so aim for 1/60 shutter and as said before adjust aperture n ISO for the correct exposure.
 
If this is in the UK your camera should be set to PAL video mode and when shooting under fluorescent lighting you should use either 1/50 or 1/100 shutter or you will run into problems with banding if the lights use magnetic ballasts.
 
ohara said:
How did it go?
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for all the advice.

It was a nightmare!

The play was fantastic, but we was sat right at the back and Had all the late comers stand right in out view.

I ended standing on a Gym Horse and using a 70-200. But was photos only unfortunately :(

But on a positive note, I did get some lovely pics and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Merry Christmas :)
 
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