Filming Fireworks

[sdyates2001]

I have search the web for filming fireworks and get nothing but photography.

I have a 70D. I have three lenses: 50MM 1.2; 100MM 2.9 and 18-135MM STM.

I plan to use the STM lens.

The first year I left auto focus on and auto much everythign on and got pretty good results most of the time when the camera wasn't trying to auto focus.

The second year I turned off auto focus and everything was blurry. I find it hard to focus well using manual through the small view finder.

I am looking for advise on how to set up the camera for filming fireworks. I have a tripod. I'd appreciate any advise you can give me, or any links to documentation on how to film fireworks.

Thanks,

S

[jrhoffman75]

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/qt_tips_photograph_fireworks_article.shtml

[sdyates2001]

Thanks, but this is for photography. I am looking for filming tips. I was able to find lots of tips for photography, but filming is a different beast.

[kvbarkley]

You might also need to reduce exposure/use manual exposure. If the camera exposes for the night sky, the fireworks might over expose and come out just white.

[TTMartin]

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@sdyates2001 wrote:

I have search the web for filming fireworks and get nothing but photography.

I have a 70D. I have three lenses: 50MM 1.2; 100MM 2.9 and 18-135MM STM.

I plan to use the STM lens.

The first year I left auto focus on and auto much everythign on and got pretty good results most of the time when the camera wasn't trying to auto focus.

The second year I turned off auto focus and everything was blurry. I find it hard to focus well using manual through the small view finder.

I am looking for advise on how to set up the camera for filming fireworks. I have a tripod. I'd appreciate any advise you can give me, or any links to documentation on how to film fireworks.

Thanks,

S

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You need to pre-focus the camera before setting it to manual focus. Use an aperture of f/8 so you have a lot of depth of field. Focus close to where they are launching the fireworks from, that way when they are in the air they will be slightly further away. That should keep them in within the depth of field at f/8. Good luck, and looking forward to seeing your results.

[sdyates2001]

Thanks. I'll try this. I was thinking of F11, but I'll try F8.

As for exposure. I never had a problem with exposure before with the 70D. I was actually very impressed. Once I get it into FCP, I can alter the exposure a little if it is off a bit.

[kvbarkley]

Not if it blows out the fireworks.

The whole point is to capture the colors. If you start recording with a black sky, it will boost exposure. When the fireworks hit, it will instantly over expose and the camera will not have time to compensate. You will blow out all the colors to white, and FCP will not be able to correct for it.

I had this issue with my camcorder.

[sdyates2001]

Okay, then what would you recommend? I see a few options.

1) Wait til fireworks start, then start recording

2) Set exposure manually to a value

I am sure everyone would recommend the second option. So how do I make these changes. For a photo, I set up Av mode, but when I switch to video, I do not see these settings. How are video settings handled? Once I find exposure, should I pick 0?

When I press Q on the screen when in video mode, there is no option for exposure... The image below is on AV in photo mode.

I am not just trying to pick everyone's brains, but learn as well 🙂

[kvbarkley]

Hie thee to the manual(heh!). Not the manual supplied in the box, but the full one on the DVD.

You might be able to just subtract some exposure compensation.

[diverhank]

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@sdyates2001 wrote:

Okay, then what would you recommend? I see a few options.

1) Wait til fireworks start, then start recording

2) Set exposure manually to a value

I am sure everyone would recommend the second option. So how do I make these changes. For a photo, I set up Av mode, but when I switch to video, I do not see these settings. How are video settings handled? Once I find exposure, should I pick 0?

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You almost have to wait until the fireworks start to make adjustments.  There are a few things that you can pre-set to speed up the process...

1.  Set up on a sturdy tripod.  I'd try to get some interesting foreground and background and not just the fireworks.

2. It is too hard for the camera to Auto Focus so I'd switch over to Manual Focus and prefocus it to Infinity then back off 1/16 of a turn (just a tad).  This will get you to the ball park.  When the fireworks start, you should be able to make minor tweaks to the focus.

3. I'd set the ISO to 400 and at the start of the fireworks, change from here - hopefully down to 100 depending on how bright the fireworks are.   For me, it'd be perfect if the lighting will enable me to see the foreground and background a little bit (dark but viewable) in relation to the bright fireworks.  Complete black view then bright fireworks is not as good imho.

4. I'd set Aperture to f/8 to start out...f/11 and f/16 might cost you too much ISO.  If too bright then bump Av up to f/11 or f/16.

5. I'd set the Shutter speed (Tv) to 1/100 and go from there.

Here is the procedure for setting in video - in M you cannot set exposure compensation.  I'd practice setting these until you can do it in the dark (no pun intended) since you don't want to be fumbling when the action starts.