BV III: Know Your camera

This is the third post regarding an introduction to video blogging, which covers: the basics of camera equipment, sound, editing programs, composition, angles, shots, cuts, and so on. This post will deal with some of the more important technicalities of cam equipment and although this section will be geared towards users with a camcorder, there is much overlapping with anyone who might be interested using a DSLR or any other type of recording device for the purpose of vlogging.

Everyone wants good looking video but the technical aspect may scare off a great deal of people from achieving greater quality when in fact, a boost in quality can be achieved with as simple as a touch of  a button.

Before shooting you might want to take a few minutes to get your settings right:

Resolution: Refers to the dimensions of your video by pixels. Get your resolutions wrong and your video can end up having those ugly black pillars on the side’s or on top.

It would be my suggestion that you record in the largest possible resolutions  as that will keep more finer details.  Details can degrade as you mess around resolutions on editing programs, encode or decode into different formats, and even change when you upload them. For camcorders recording can go pretty high, but for DSLRs it might only make it to 720 HD, any higher could push the cam to overheat sooners.  Recording in the highest settings allows you to tinker and edit videos freely without worries of loosing details or “blowing it out” later if the recorded resolution is much smaller than how it will be displayed. If that happens (blowout), the videoplayer will makeup for the smaller video by making it larger and pixelating things, loosing valuable details and clarity.

Going from a larger resolution to a smaller one won’t give you this effect, but trying to jump from smaller resolutions to larger ones will.

Since most people will be uploading videos for youtube, the recommended shooting and uploading resolutions are those shot in:

1920×1020

1080×720

1024×768

800×600

640×480

Key Ratio: 4×3, 16×9

Anything under or deviating from these ratios will distort your videos and make them slightly unbearable to watch. Try to stick to these and avoid the weird resolutions.

Uploading format: What are the best formats to upload videos onto youtube? Noe says Mpeg4 or the more increasingly used H.264 

Formats are really just different ways of compressing and decompressing videos for play, some compress and save details better than others, while some like WMV sacrifice greater detail for more space. It will definitely affect your video.

Frame rate: FPS or frames per second is how many frames make up a picture. For internet use, 30FPS is the suggested setting however different effects can be achieved by using different settings such as 24fps, which is what movie makers use and gives that cinematic feeling.  Most camcorders are set to 30 fps for normal situations, but recording a higher frame rates will allow for smoother flows, especially when shooting high moving objects or things like sports, while recording at slower frame rates will give you a jerky kind of feeling.

24: cinema feel

30: optimal web view, most common actions

60+: fast action, where you want smoother transition

Shutter speed: is the amount of time the camera remains open to receive and record light.

This is not to be confused with frame rates! Frame rates are how many frames you will see per second that make up a sequence, whereas shutter speed is how much light each frame receives. I hope I explained that somewhat right.

The longer the amount of time, or slower shutter speed, a camera has to capture the light, the more blurred the object may appear, as it is capturing the movement. This is how people get that artsy light painting effect.

In contrast, the less time the camera has to capture the light, or faster shutter speed, then the more clear and precise the picture will be.

Sound confusing? Here are some more examples. Lets look at some shutter speeds.

1/20   1/30   1/60   1/120

First of all, remember your fractions!  1/20 =0.05   1/30 = 0.033   1/60 = 0.016

The bigger the number (1/20=0.05) then the slower the camera is to record the light, hence the blur.

And the smaller the number (1/60=0.016) then the less time the camera needs to capture the light, hence a clearer picture.

Slower shutter speeds: Blurry artistic effect

Faster shutter speeds: Crisper Freeze frame action

Ps. Rule of video recording thumb is that is to have a shutter speed 2x that of your frame rates. Otherwise you get this “strobbing” effect where the screen blinks alot.

Aperture: is the value given to the size of the opening in the camera through which light passes through, like the iris in your eye.  It gets into technicalities which I do not know myself about how the rays of light interact with one another depending on how much light is let in, but the end result – which is what you need to know, is that the larger the opening, the more blurry the area around your subject will be.

Aperture is measured in what are called f stops.  The lower the number, the higher the aperture will be. A lower aperture will also give you the “Shallow depth of field” look, which is the reason that most people get a DSLR for recording. This is that blurry background look where your subject is in focus but the rest of the image isn’t, making your target “pop” out.

A smaller f stop causes things to be more crunched up together, hence the whole “shallow dop” while larger f-stops makes objects in your picture appear further away from each other. This can be used to your advantage when making videos as clearly demonstrated here. Deceptive Shooting (Crunching DOP)

White Balance: is the accuracy of color portrayal in the video, particularly centered around the color white.  This is actually really simple to do, and most camcorders have a dedicated button for simple white balance. What it does is take something white in whatever you are filming, and adjust it so it is true white in your camcorder.

If I could get people to do one thing and only one thing to improve their videos, it would be to set the white balance – because it is 1) so simple to do and 2) makes a huge difference. It gets a little difficult setting up with different types like tungsten, indoor, outdoor, etc – but setting manual balance should improve the picture drastically of any video. Most camcorders already come with white balance settings for your video, don’t underestimate them!

It is also recommended that you carry with you a white balance card. What you do is zoom into it, set the white balance, and you are done. Start filming.

I own a set like these and it costs me no more than 5 dollars on ebay.

Exposure: is the total amount of light in an image over shadows, midtones, and highlights. Exposure can get really complicated in the world of photography but for video we will simplify it to adjusting it for the greatest amount of detail and balance between dark, greys, and white.

Basically what you are trying to do, is a balancing act between what details are shown in dark areas, the midtones, and white. Cams may come with auto exposure and for most situations you may get away with it, but sometimes the camcorder doesn’t know which areas are more important for you, this is where manual exposure comes in, where you can either make an image brighter or darker. Don’t confuse it with “brightness and contrast” though!

Also, if your camcorder has a histogram function, it would be very wise to use it! DSLRs, or the more modern ones, will more than likely have one, and these can be very useful to make sure you get details over a dark, mid, and hightones.

Most people would want to get a “bell shaped” graph but in reality, a graph like this one that veers somewhat to the left is perfect, just don’t get one that is completely skewed to one side or the other.

 

Sound: Monitoring your sound levels is equally important as the picture.  Camcorders will automatically try to pick up any sound even if there isn’t any which could really affect your audio, and I have said many times before, audio i 3/4 your video.

Some cams give you the option of turning off the automatic mic levels,  otherwise where there are moments of no sound, the mic will amplify and you will be picking up that hissing,static “aircon” sound as well as record loud pops and crackles when sound is sudden. Does it sound complicated to adjust sound manually? It is not, on manual mode only make sure that the sounds you are recording do no go into the “red” zone, otherwise you will hear crackling in your videos.But be careful not to go too low either!

Additionally, if your cam does not have manual options for audio, you should be careful as in high volume the sounds might clip.

If you have a DSLR or anything but a camcorder, chances are you won’t have access to a levels meter.

Learning to use a camcorder manually can seem overwhelming considering all of the things  I have just gone through, but even taking care of one or two of these can really make a difference and make your videos standout from the rest.

Better Vlogging series:

Better Vlogging I: Choosing the right Camera

Better Vlogging II: Sound and Microphones

Better Vlogging IV: Composition Basics I

Better Vlogging V: Composition Basics II

Better Vlogging VI: Editing Coming Soon!

Better Vlogging VII: Software Coming Soon!