Newbie to Video - Nikon Z6 ii

[Joe94]

Hello, video is something I’ve never really got into before, however now I have the Nikon Z6 II, I’d like to have a go.

At this stage I don’t think shooting RAW & having to colour grade in post is the best place to start, so I wondered if any one could advise on the best settings that would produce acceptable footage out of camera? Without the need to add/enhance the colour…

I suppose the jpeg of video. Not sure if this would be down to using a particular colour profile??

Thanks

 

[ScottT]

You have 2 options:
1. put it in auto and go out and shoot.
2. put it in manual, shutter speed should be twice your frame rate 25/25fps (frames per second) 1/50th, 30fps=1/60th, 50 fps 1/100th and 60fps 1/120th, the higher frame rates are for when you might need to slow the action down, slow motion. Stick with 24/25fps while you start. ISO as low as possible but dont worry if you have to crank it up 800/1600 is nothing to be worried about. Aperture to get your exposure right (on bright days i've shot at f32 just to get the exposure right at 1/50th) use your histogram and adjust accordingly.

Just pick one of the above and go out and practise, practise, practise. go with the same WB settings you would use if you were photographing the same place.

If you have come from landscape photography forget the obsession with having everything razor sharp, its just not done in video. Walk away now watch 5mins of TV, look, pause it look again very little is fully sharp or fully in focus.

In video only 2 things really matter, the story and the sound. If your story is boring people will switch off, if the sound is bad people will switch off. A £30-50 mic with a dead cat muffler can make a huge difference, or delete the recorded sound and use background music.
Try and keep the camera as steady as possible and dont move it quickly (unless you are following a quick moving object). The worst one i see people doing is the side to side pan, you are doing this to show the viewer the all round view, dont rush it, the sort of standard is moving 180deg in 30seconds, most pans i see we get a 180deg view in about 3-4 seconds and you just cant take in what you have been shown.

A lot is going to depend on what you are planning to film, the best suggestion I can make is to watch how the pro's do it. Sit down with a note pad and put a program on the TV of the subject you would like to film, as you watch each clip try and work out how they have shot it. Is the camera high/low? Is it a close up, a medium or a wide shot? did the camera move? If so why did it move? You'll also notice that the majority will have 2-5second clips before the camera angle/lens changes, Filming and trying to do it right is a very time consuming job.
I'll warn you it will ruin watching tele, since i've been shooting video i spend more time looking how shots are done than watching the program

 

[Joe94]

You have 2 options:
1. put it in auto and go out and shoot.
2. put it in manual, shutter speed should be twice your frame rate 25/25fps (frames per second) 1/50th, 30fps=1/60th, 50 fps 1/100th and 60fps 1/120th, the higher frame rates are for when you might need to slow the action down, slow motion. Stick with 24/25fps while you start. ISO as low as possible but dont worry if you have to crank it up 800/1600 is nothing to be worried about. Aperture to get your exposure right (on bright days i've shot at f32 just to get the exposure right at 1/50th) use your histogram and adjust accordingly.

Just pick one of the above and go out and practise, practise, practise. go with the same WB settings you would use if you were photographing the same place.

If you have come from landscape photography forget the obsession with having everything razor sharp, its just not done in video. Walk away now watch 5mins of TV, look, pause it look again very little is fully sharp or fully in focus.

In video only 2 things really matter, the story and the sound. If your story is boring people will switch off, if the sound is bad people will switch off. A £30-50 mic with a dead cat muffler can make a huge difference, or delete the recorded sound and use background music.
Try and keep the camera as steady as possible and dont move it quickly (unless you are following a quick moving object). The worst one i see people doing is the side to side pan, you are doing this to show the viewer the all round view, dont rush it, the sort of standard is moving 180deg in 30seconds, most pans i see we get a 180deg view in about 3-4 seconds and you just cant take in what you have been shown.

A lot is going to depend on what you are planning to film, the best suggestion I can make is to watch how the pro's do it. Sit down with a note pad and put a program on the TV of the subject you would like to film, as you watch each clip try and work out how they have shot it. Is the camera high/low? Is it a close up, a medium or a wide shot? did the camera move? If so why did it move? You'll also notice that the majority will have 2-5second clips before the camera angle/lens changes, Filming and trying to do it right is a very time consuming job.
I'll warn you it will ruin watching tele, since i've been shooting video i spend more time looking how shots are done than watching the program

Thank you so much for this! Honestly, this is really helpful and I really appreciate it.

I’ve already learned soo much from reading this and you’ve given me lots to think about to get started!

One thing if I may, that I’m still a little confused about is colour and post colour grading? Like photography you either shoot JPEG where the camera applies the colour and processing based on the profile you select… or RAW, where you then apply the colour and processing in post..

So what is the equivalence to this with video??

Thanks again for your help with this

 

[ScottT]

One thing if I may, that I’m still a little confused about is colour and post colour grading? Like photography you either shoot JPEG where the camera applies the colour and processing based on the profile you select… or RAW, where you then apply the colour and processing in post..

So what is the equivalence to this with video??

Its more or less the same thing, shooting video in log (raw) format gives you the same options as taking a photograph, so you can totaly change the look of a film, its why every film these days has the same colour scheme all the way through it.
Example: quite a few serious pro films have been made on iphones, but they are rubbish in dark conditions, so they shoot it during the day then colour grade it to look like night.

Colour grading seems to be a hard skill to learn (i'm slowly getting to grips with the basics), i just try and get it as right as possible when i'm shooting it and only really colour grade when i'm trying to get 2 different cameras to look similar, or as near as I can. 95% of what I film is of the local area for locals to watch, go to far with colour grading and you'll just get called out on it all the time saying it doesnt look right.

Again though, would you watch something with a really good story but poor colour, or something with really great colour and no story?

What are you wanting to film? That will decide how far you want to go down the colour grading route as some things really need colour grading and some need to look natural. There is going to be a lot of new things to learn on this journey, stick with the stuff you really need to know about and work on the rest once you are comfortable.
Things like sporting events, being in the right position with the best possible view and the right lenses, moving the camera counts for a lot, plus editing and sound
Where a wedding video means composition, sound and colour grading (so the brides fake tan doesnt look to orange!) are key things.
Wildlife can be sitting for hours then a few frantic seconds, lens, camera movement and sound are key, do you have a 600mm lens to pick out that tiny bird and will your mic pic up its sounds, getting a great shot of a rare bird chirping away is great, but without having the sound its making its a failure.
Lots to learn, but when you get that few seconds of special footage its the same feeling as nailing a shot in a photograph.

Just getting your head around the editing side is going to take up a lot of your time, stay away from colour grading till you can shoot decent stuff and edit it right, unless you have plenty of free time.

 

[Adam-G]

I've been getting into video more recently and as far as I'm aware most cameras will have a "standard" REC709 colour space profile that you can just go out and shoot in and it will likely look great in 90% of scenarios.

Same as photography, shooting in a log (raw) format will give you more flexibility in keeping the maximum dynamic range.

I would invest in a variable ND filter in case you are met with super bright conditions and your frame rate doesn't allow a decent shutter speed without resorting to stupidly narrow apertures.

It's also worth reading up about "shutter angle" and how that relates to how motion looks in your video.

More video centric hybrid cameras allow to you choose a shutter angle and forget about shutter speed calculations as it does all the work for you. 180 degrees will give you a natural, filmic motion in your moving subjects. At the other extremes, if you push towards 360 degrees (faster shutter speed) you'll get choppy, hyper real motion which can look awful but also can be used creatively. Head back towards 0 degrees and you'll increase motion blur. Again, it can look awful but can be used creatively too.

An example of a lower shutter angle (undercranked) is the scene of the beach landing in Saving Private Ryan where the poor confused soldier is looking for his arm. It doesn't look aesthetically pleasing but it conveys the almost other-worldly hellishness of the situation with the smearing and stuttering of the frames making it almost look like a bad dream. This contrasts with the overcranked, higher shutter angle used earlier in the scene to make everything look hyper real.

So, much like photography, you can play with motion as well as depth of field and focal length to get the look and feel you want.

I've always graded from scratch because I'm stubborn and geeky. A good resource to learn this skill from is Qazman on YouTube who is a professional colourist.

My knowledge is still at a beginner level but I'm always happy to help with what I know if you've got any specific questions.

 

[beyond the blue]

A lot of good advice there. The only thing l can add is if you do intend to get into editing, and l find it as interesting as videoing is, 1, take as much footage as you can. 2, let the camera run for at least 5 seconds at the start and end of a clip. 3, watch for continuity issues, 4, take B roll footage (it will get you out of trouble more than you think). 5, don't do too much zooming and remember a reveal is often more interesting than a zoom.

 

[4wd]

There's a lot of know-alls about video because there are a lot of things you gradually become aware of.
Nowadays most cameras will do a great job in auto to get you going with some material to edit.
Editing is where you make most difference after handling the camera in a smooth way to minimise shake and clumsy movements.
There's a lot to learn about rendering at different settings for different uses too.

 

[beyond the blue]

Watch a couple of episodes of Gardeners World for lots of basic techniques.

 

[realspeed]

just one tip may be worth noting. If panning a view going too fast will cause "camera roll" juddering. You can easily pan across a scene at about the right speed (depending on distance) by counting 7 to 10 seconds for an object to go from one side of the camera screen to the other.

 

[Joe94]

Its more or less the same thing, shooting video in log (raw) format gives you the same options as taking a photograph, so you can totaly change the look of a film, its why every film these days has the same colour scheme all the way through it.
Example: quite a few serious pro films have been made on iphones, but they are rubbish in dark conditions, so they shoot it during the day then colour grade it to look like night.

Colour grading seems to be a hard skill to learn (i'm slowly getting to grips with the basics), i just try and get it as right as possible when i'm shooting it and only really colour grade when i'm trying to get 2 different cameras to look similar, or as near as I can. 95% of what I film is of the local area for locals to watch, go to far with colour grading and you'll just get called out on it all the time saying it doesnt look right.

Again though, would you watch something with a really good story but poor colour, or something with really great colour and no story?

What are you wanting to film? That will decide how far you want to go down the colour grading route as some things really need colour grading and some need to look natural. There is going to be a lot of new things to learn on this journey, stick with the stuff you really need to know about and work on the rest once you are comfortable.
Things like sporting events, being in the right position with the best possible view and the right lenses, moving the camera counts for a lot, plus editing and sound
Where a wedding video means composition, sound and colour grading (so the brides fake tan doesnt look to orange!) are key things.
Wildlife can be sitting for hours then a few frantic seconds, lens, camera movement and sound are key, do you have a 600mm lens to pick out that tiny bird and will your mic pic up its sounds, getting a great shot of a rare bird chirping away is great, but without having the sound its making its a failure.
Lots to learn, but when you get that few seconds of special footage its the same feeling as nailing a shot in a photograph.

Just getting your head around the editing side is going to take up a lot of your time, stay away from colour grading till you can shoot decent stuff and edit it right, unless you have plenty of free time.

Thank you very much again. There is certainly lots for me to think about. Really appreciate it!

 

[Joe94]

I've been getting into video more recently and as far as I'm aware most cameras will have a "standard" REC709 colour space profile that you can just go out and shoot in and it will likely look great in 90% of scenarios.

Same as photography, shooting in a log (raw) format will give you more flexibility in keeping the maximum dynamic range.

I would invest in a variable ND filter in case you are met with super bright conditions and your frame rate doesn't allow a decent shutter speed without resorting to stupidly narrow apertures.

It's also worth reading up about "shutter angle" and how that relates to how motion looks in your video.

More video centric hybrid cameras allow to you choose a shutter angle and forget about shutter speed calculations as it does all the work for you. 180 degrees will give you a natural, filmic motion in your moving subjects. At the other extremes, if you push towards 360 degrees (faster shutter speed) you'll get choppy, hyper real motion which can look awful but also can be used creatively. Head back towards 0 degrees and you'll increase motion blur. Again, it can look awful but can be used creatively too.

An example of a lower shutter angle (undercranked) is the scene of the beach landing in Saving Private Ryan where the poor confused soldier is looking for his arm. It doesn't look aesthetically pleasing but it conveys the almost other-worldly hellishness of the situation with the smearing and stuttering of the frames making it almost look like a bad dream. This contrasts with the overcranked, higher shutter angle used earlier in the scene to make everything look hyper real.

So, much like photography, you can play with motion as well as depth of field and focal length to get the look and feel you want.

I've always graded from scratch because I'm stubborn and geeky. A good resource to learn this skill from is Qazman on YouTube who is a professional colourist.

My knowledge is still at a beginner level but I'm always happy to help with what I know if you've got any specific questions.

Thank you very much for this. Again lots for me to think about and I really appreciate it

 

[Joe94]

Thank you so much everyone for your help and support here! You’ve all given me lots to think about for sure. But I really do appreciate it

I’m sure I’ll have more questions to come aha

 

[realspeed]

if your ever thinking about microphones I have had a couple or more. I find the small ones are ok ??? but sound reproduction does vary a lot. Having done a lot of research from well known makes to less well known ones and I came across one I can recommend
It is the Azden SMX-30v. not that small and cost around £250. It is a stereo and/or directional all in one which can do both or either indivually via a back dial. Power is from the camera/camcorder od from 2 AA batteries and auto off when camera is off when in auto mode. seperate audio cable so no worries about damage and making the microphone useless.

no need now for 2 micrphones

together with a "deadcat "(wind muffler) by Azden with long hair over the foam one, this cuts out most wind rumble across the microhone.
example in strong wind

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHG_4Wj4tt0

 

[realspeed]

Tip No 2
also made this support rig for about £10 for my camcorder but would work just as well for a camera

it is a flat tripod bar ( long to clear the cam. screen when opened) and a handle I got dead cheap off the evelbay. what it does is allow both hands to support a camera/camcorder with the hands in different positions. I find even with skaky hands it hold my camera rock steady. Tip I picked up from a well know videographer on another site