Post production stabilization and best capture settings for a 5d Mark III/DSLRs

[brentfoster]

Hey all,

I can't believe how quick and great advice has been on this forum, so I figured I'd throw another question out there.

What are the best settings in terms of capturing footage and getting great results with a DSLR?

Right now, we're using Canon 5d MarkIIIs with either a 24-105 IS or a prime such as the 35 1.4 or 24 1.4
We're shooting in 24p (and I think we should be shooting in 60p?) but have been using 24 to try and match our footage on the ground.

From there, we're taking the footage into After Effects CS6 and then using the warp stabilization, and then re-exporting back into Premier or Final Cut 7 and then speeding it back up to the speed we captured in.

Wondering if this is the ideal? What mistakes are we making? Areas to improve for best overall results?

Thanks a lot!

Brent

 

[DucktileMedia]

you're better off in 60p if you are ok with 720p. I have shot in 24p accidentally and I was surprised at how well it turned out but it was slow controlled flying on a well balanced machine. There is NO tolerance for error. even 30fps will not allow fast movement without major motion blur. And motion blur is one of the biggest enemies of any post production process. So Warp in AE works really well. but you are not speeding it back up when you export it. it was always 24p in/out. If you shoot in 60p, final cut will know to match your comp settings. The problem you run into is that you are losing some frames. i.e. if you started with 60p and had a 30p comp, then you are only cutting the frame sin half. But when you go from 30 or 60 down to 24, you have to lose a frame. I cant remember the name of the software that does this that all the indi guys use. Its a down sample converter or frame rate converter app. Without it, when you play it back you will notice a slight jump that looks similar to when your computer has a hiccup during playback. I would still shoot in 720/60p as more is always better when doing aerials. Thats why a lot of people like the sony's, gp3 and panys that do 1080/60. Although 720 is still pretty damn good and almost impossible to tell the difference on line.

http://philipbloom.net/2009/05/30/how-to-convert-canon-5dmk2-footage-from-30p-to-24p/

 

[brentfoster]

Thanks a lot for your help! We're also going to give the Sony710 a try on the rig to see the difference that the built in stabilization makes. I'm such a die hard DSLR shooter that it's hard not to have one on there, but, in the end, of course we want the best results, and that's all that matters.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[DucktileMedia]

I know. the work flow of the dslr is very nice. I would personally focus more on getting your balance tuned and flying the dslr than investing in the Sony band-aid(aka BOSS). The image is quite good fromt he cx*** but the lenses, image and flow from your 5d will be unbeatable. I'm still having a hell of a time deciding between the GH3 and BMCC. Fortunately I have enough cameras to not need either one so they are both just reading material for me. Just know that the reason people normally shoot in 60p is less to slow things down but more to cover poor balancing and prevent motion blur. but you can set your 5d at a higher shutter speed and fly 30p and get even more amazing results. Having video without motion blur will also open up a lot more possibilities in AE such as using Twixtor, WARP, Mocha or any other effect that relies on pixel interpolation. The example with Twixtor shows it best, it is better to shoot at a higher shutter speed than it is to shoot at a high FPS and have motion blur. If you take 2 images that are crisp, the computer will know how to fill them in(interpolate) a lot better than 2 blurry images that are spatially closer together. make sense?

 

[brentfoster]

Totally makes sense. Thanks again for all your help. Really appreciate it, and look forward to sharing some footage soon! Best, Brent