[racingsnake]

hey guys! hope all is well.
so me and my band are hitting the studio tomorrow to track some drums (me being the drummer).
our guitarist asked me to bring my camera along to shoot some video about the process.
so i would like to ask your advice as to what lenses to use and what settings to apply as i have no clue.
my gear:
k-3
lenses: 15, 21, 31, 43, 77
good tripod.
room - i'd say 35 sq m. not the brightest of lights.
i have no idea as to what iso, shutterspeed, aperture to select.
i am not concerned about the audio aspect of things as in the end the studio file is gonna be used to overlay.
any help is appreciated.

[LensBeginner]

DSLRs aren't really made for continuous video recording, the sensor heats up pretty fast.
Be sure to turn recording off as much as you can, and try to capture 5' at a time tops.
There should be a limit of about 15-20' continuous recording depending on the model, so check the manual.

[Fries]

Bring a tripod and don't do movements like panning ore tilting to minimice the risk of rolling shutter. Don't use shake reduction. In movie mode it is a sub par software based solution. Keep the shutter at 1/50 ore 1/60. Keep in mind that the material will fall apart much sooner at higher iso's then what you are used to shooting stills. So if you can have any influence on the amount of light...

Good luck with the shoot!

Edit; a fast lense like the FA31mm will help with trying to keep the iso as low as possible but keeping stuff in focus can be problematic.

[racingsnake]

Sweet, thanks a lot for the input. I've managed to grab a friends gopro as well so the K-3 would be for tripod shooting and gopro for moving around.

[Fries]

Keep in mind that you somehow need enough usable material to complete the full length of a song. Otherwise when you edit the video the music continues without having a usable shot available... I would use the GoPro for a stable shot (but not so wide that it includes you. Perhaps use some tape on the floor just outside the field of view of the GoPro to mark the area) and the K-3 for close-ups and medium shots. That way you alway's have a continues shot to fall back on. And I imagine the K-3 will produce better shots close up than the GoPro. A fast zoom would be nice because shooting from a more fixed location does mean you will have to change lenses to capture both close-ups and medium shots.

[racingsnake]

Keep in mind that you somehow need enough usable material to complete the full length of a song. Otherwise when you edit the video the music continues without having a usable shot available... I would use the GoPro for a stable shot (but not so wide that it includes you. Perhaps use some tape on the floor just outside the field of view of the GoPro to mark the area) and the K-3 for close-ups and medium shots. That way you alway's have a continues shot to fall back on. And I imagine the K-3 will produce better shots close up than the GoPro. A fast zoom would be nice because shooting from a more fixed location does mean you will have to change lenses to capture both close-ups and medium shots.

Sounds like a plan)thanks a lot

[sunny16]

Hey! You should try to keep your shutter speed double the frames-per-second (FPS) that you choose... so if you're shooting at 30fps, your shutter speed should be 1/60th. For 24fps, use 1/50th (as it is close.)

I think the K-3 allows you to set the mode (P A S M) in the video options menu so you would just want it to be on "M" so that you can keep your settings consistent. This will mean that your aperture and ISO will be your main way of adjusting your exposure. As Fries said, keep your ISO as low as possible but also keep in mind that in terms of editing later, your footage will be basically like editing jpegs... if you underexpose and have lots of black, you won't be able to save it later by raising exposure in an editing program... the info will just be lost to black (same with your highlights "blowing out".)

The point is just try and get your exposure "in-camera" as close to what you want it to ultimately look like and you should be good. Fortunately, with it being indoors, it should be the same over time so once you get your exposure where you want it, you shouldn't have to mess with it too much.

I don't know how much you will be manning the camera (versus just letting it record.) Even if you need to leave it while you are recording, try and move it to a few different places throughout the time so that when you go to put it together later, you have a few different angles to cut to so it is not all from a single perspective. You'll probably end up using mostly the wider lens, but if you have some time do some clips with either the 43 or 77, you'll again have some variety to work with later when you put it together.

Just depends on how fancy you want to get. :-) Good luck with the session and have fun!

[TaoMaas]

Keep in mind that you somehow need enough usable material to complete the full length of a song. Otherwise when you edit the video the music continues without having a usable shot available... I would use the GoPro for a stable shot (but not so wide that it includes you.

This is what I would do, too. The GoPro is going to be able to handle recording an entire song much better than your DSLR so use it as your overall wide shot of the band. That way, you always have something to cut back to when you don't have enough close-ups. You can also go through each song 2-3 times and move the GoPro to a new location each time. First time around, get a wide shot of the band. That doesn't mean you have to get way back, though. For instance, you could have it relatively close to the lead singer, but far enough away from him/her to include most of the band. Second time through the song, set the GoPro up so you get a semi-wide shot of the drummer maybe. Then the third time set it up so it emphasizes the lead guitarist perhaps. On each pass, use your DSLR to shoot your cutaways of the things that aren't being shot by the GoPro. Shots like nodding heads or tapping feet can be used in lots of places, whereas shots of someone singing can pretty much only be used when the lips match the words so keep that kind of stuff in mind as you shoot. Good luck...and have fun!

[racingsnake]

This is what I would do, too. The GoPro is going to be able to handle recording an entire song much better than your DSLR so use it as your overall wide shot of the band. That way, you always have something to cut back to when you don't have enough close-ups. You can also go through each song 2-3 times and move the GoPro to a new location each time. First time around, get a wide shot of the band. That doesn't mean you have to get way back, though. For instance, you could have it relatively close to the lead singer, but far enough away from him/her to include most of the band. Second time through the song, set the GoPro up so you get a semi-wide shot of the drummer maybe. Then the third time set it up so it emphasizes the lead guitarist perhaps. On each pass, use your DSLR to shoot your cutaways of the things that aren't being shot by the GoPro. Shots like nodding heads or tapping feet can be used in lots of places, whereas shots of someone singing can pretty much only be used when the lips match the words so keep that kind of stuff in mind as you shoot. Good luck...and have fun!

Oh it's gonna be only me since i am tracking drums. No other band memebers are gonna be playing for a change)

[kadajawi]

DSLRs aren't really made for continuous video recording, the sensor heats up pretty fast.
Be sure to turn recording off as much as you can, and try to capture 5' at a time tops.
There should be a limit of about 15-20' continuous recording depending on the model, so check the manual.

I've shot for hours with my K-5 without a break, and my K-5 has an older, hotter sensor plus shake reduction which adds to the heat. I wouldn't be too worried about recording long takes, and plenty of them.

Bring a tripod, turn off Movie SR, because it is evil, and terrible, and did I say it is evil? It will badly screw up your video.

The GoPro is great for being left alone on a, well, anything, really, while DSLRs are better for things like close ups etc. However the issue with SR remains... there is no stabilization in the K-3 (K-7 and K-5 yes, K-r or whatever the entry level one was that records video too). If you have one of those old cameras, reactivate it. It's better than the K-3. Not sure how you'd go about doing close ups without SR, maybe on a tripod?

If you can do several gos of the drum track that'd be great, however the drummer needs to play pretty much the same thing again. No improvisation allowed.

You Tube

You Tube

The audio was recorded, but lost before it reached me, so I had to sync it up to the CD. It was a nightmare, every few seconds I'd need to cut and resync. It was shot using a Pentax K-5 with a 50mm (moving the camera around), a Sony NEX-5 (shooting from the left, on a tripod... and this camera did overheat, while my K-5 didn't) and a GoPro 2 Hero shooting from the right (the fisheye lens...).

Ideally you don't stop recording with each of those cameras. If you want to shoot from a different angle etc., just let it roll while you move the camera. That way you only need to sync once. Just cut away to the GoPro for example when you're moving the camera.

If you're shooting with multiple cameras, try matching up white balance and exposure as much as possible, try to match up the image profile, etc. All of that is going to make editing so much easier and make it look better.

[LensBeginner]

Hey! You should try to keep your shutter speed double the frames-per-second (FPS) that you choose... so if you're shooting at 30fps, your shutter speed should be 1/60th. For 24fps, use 1/50th (as it is close.)

I think the K-3 allows you to set the mode (P A S M) in the video options menu so you would just want it to be on "M" so that you can keep your settings consistent. This will mean that your aperture and ISO will be your main way of adjusting your exposure. As Fries said, keep your ISO as low as possible but also keep in mind that in terms of editing later, your footage will be basically like editing jpegs... if you underexpose and have lots of black, you won't be able to save it later by raising exposure in an editing program... the info will just be lost to black (same with your highlights "blowing out".)

The point is just try and get your exposure "in-camera" as close to what you want it to ultimately look like and you should be good. Fortunately, with it being indoors, it should be the same over time so once you get your exposure where you want it, you shouldn't have to mess with it too much.

I don't know how much you will be manning the camera (versus just letting it record.) Even if you need to leave it while you are recording, try and move it to a few different places throughout the time so that when you go to put it together later, you have a few different angles to cut to so it is not all from a single perspective. You'll probably end up using mostly the wider lens, but if you have some time do some clips with either the 43 or 77, you'll again have some variety to work with later when you put it together.

Just depends on how fancy you want to get. :-) Good luck with the session and have fun!

Also match framerate between the two (or more) cameras beforehand!!!

[Fries]

Lots of good info here guy's. Great to see fellow members responding this way.

[racingsnake]

thanks for all the input guys! i am loслув and loaded! k-3 and the gopro are feeding their batteries at the moment.
once all is done i'll be sure to share the end result with you!

[PiDicus Rex]

DSLRs aren't really made for continuous video recording, the sensor heats up pretty fast.
Be sure to turn recording off as much as you can, and try to capture 5' at a time tops.
There should be a limit of about 15-20' continuous recording depending on the model, so check the manual.

Yeah, Nah, don't worry about overheating a Pentax while shooting video.
I've only recently seen what the Temp Warning symbol looks like, for the first time after owning the K-01 for three years.
It took being in direct sunlight on a 39deg Celcius day (IIRC, about 105 degrees F) for it to happen.
I've recorded bands for up to an hour in a hit, just hitting the button to start a new file every 19 minutes, and never saw the temp warning.

[kadajawi]

Yeah, Nah, don't worry about overheating a Pentax while shooting video.
I've only recently seen what the Temp Warning symbol looks like, for the first time after owning the K-01 for three years.
It took being in direct sunlight on a 39deg Celcius day (IIRC, about 105 degrees F) for it to happen.
I've recorded bands for up to an hour in a hit, just hitting the button to start a new file every 19 minutes, and never saw the temp warning.

Exactly. You have to really push it to get a Pentax to overheat... I mean seriously, really push it. I guess the mirror box helps... there's just more space for the heat to go, and the metal frame helps too.