Aperture priority for shooting video, Lazy or smart ?

[StevieGMovies]

Disclaimer = Noob. 

Shooting video in aperture priority mode. Is this a good place to start ? 

I'm thinking with my shutter speed already determined by the frame rate of the video (double the frame rate for cinematic motion blur) that as long as i establish if i want a sharp or blurry background / foreground it narrows down the other elements that i need to take into account to get a well exposed video. So with shutter and aperture pretty much set all i need to focus on is ISO.

I'm learning the ropes to shoot music video's for my record label so i'm pretty much stuck on using 25fps (UK PAL)

Thoughts on this ? 

I won't list my camera i'd rather leave this a a general rule for any camera with aperture priority mode. 

Please don't be the guy who tells me to go and read the manual, Or use manual mode or nothing, That's what i usually get in this forum. I'm a beginner and looking for ideas on how to grow at my own pace with the HELP of more experianced users. 

[StevieGMovies]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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@MikeSowsun wrote:

You do need to tell us which camera you have because some of Canon's DSLR's work differently when used in Video mode and aperture priority does not work. (it reverts to an Auto mode)   

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https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS/Noob-question-1-How-do-i-take-a-photo-after-setting-shutter-t... 

Did you see that thread?

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Yes, 

      I have no idea why i am being showed what the buttons do. i did read the manual and i am aware of the difference between the shutter button and the record button ! 

I won't go into my question again but it's not what i asked at all ! 

[rs-eos]

Hang tight. I put up a response, but it's being moderated for some reason.

The summary is maybe look at Program mode. There you can set the shutter and aperture. And then have the cam/camera choose the gain/ISO.

[StevieGMovies]

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@rs-eos wrote:

Hang tight. I put up a response, but it's being moderated for some reason.

The summary is maybe look at Program mode. There you can set the shutter and aperture. And then have the cam/camera choose the gain/ISO.

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Thanks man, Will try that 🙂 

[rs-eos]

To get back to the original question at hand...  which was if aperture priority is a good place to start.

First, I'm not a professional videographer and have only ever shot family events.  The vast majority of such footage over the years was just with the cam on full auto.   But after I really got into photography, I started to pick apart my old footage to really understand what settings were being used.   One very common occurance I found was that any outdoor shot typically led to very fast shutter speeds which removed almost all motion blur.  But for my personal taste, I didn't like that particular look.

Fast forward many years and I now capture video still on consumer-grade cams, but I strive to use manual.  Here, I fix the shutter to what I want.  If I plan to use the entire zoom range, I'll pick the widest common aperture (cam has variable aperture of f/1.8 to f/2.8).   Or, If I know I'll stick with wide to medium shots, I may be able to keep the aperture at f/2.   Finally, will adjust gain for the proper exposure.

Having said all that, in faster run-and-gun, constantly fiddling with gain (ISO) is not fun, so I may go into more of a program mode.  i.e. I will control shutter and aperture, but then let the unit dial in its own gain.

Of course even that isn't perfect since the cam's choice of ISO may be bad (e.g. you're filming a scene involving a field of snow).

Hope that helps a bit.   In summary, I think maybe start in Program (P) mode and try that out.