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Videoing While Lighting Changes - EOS 5D MKIII

btvarner
Contributor

Canon D5 MKIII.

I have a situation where I will be recording some outdoor video immediately when the sun rises.  So this 10 minutes period of time will have the lighting change significantly, from shadows to full light.  A specific & small part of the scene must have close to proper exposure the whole time.

Q1) Any ideas how best to accomplish this?

Q2) Are their any available charts that might help predict changes to the lighting, from when the sun initially peaks above the horizon, to when it is fully above the horizon?

It is not practical for me to be stationary behind the camera the whole time & I have no assistance during the session.  For this reason I am unable to periodically just stop the recording, make a quick correction, and then continue........

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

btvarner
Contributor

I will try other solutions as I am able, but I did successfully complete the session with my MKIII.  Here is how the video was accomplished.

I used the TV Shutter Priority Setting.  In video mode this allows me to specify the shutter speed.  Apparently one of the most important settings for video.  I set the shutter speed at 1/30, the most important setting for 30 frames per second video.  The aperture & film speed then changed automatically based upon conditions.

Recording started just as the sun came up (lightness, but shadow).  The subject was stationary, and focused about 4' from the lens, with landscape background.  28-70, 2.8 Canon L lens at about 50.  Camera on a tripod with the sun coming up from the right behind trees.  Recording lasted about 30 minutes.

Other than the color hue changes associated with sun rising, the video brightness remained near perfect.  Motion occurred at the subject, off and on during this time but the finished video maintained focus.  Other than some post production corrections to help normalize lighting, it went very well.

I did not notice any issues involving the depth of field during the video, in and about the immediate area of the subject.  But in all fairness, I was in a field were the main subject was at the 4' mark, with just grass/ground until reaching trees and hills about 60 yards away.  So I did not have the chance to observe just how much the DOF changed over time.

Thanks to all who helped!

PS:  I don to think manual would have worked because the lighting changed constantly during the 30 minutes.

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11 REPLIES 11

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

specific & small part of the scene must have close to proper exposure the whole time. “

Welcome to the forum.

Without knowing more about the shooting scenario the best advice that I can give is to shoot from a tripod.  If the video mode will allow it, use the Center Af point for Spot AF and Spot Metering.

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"The right mouse button is your friend."

stevet1
Authority
Authority

btvarner,

How about filming in full Auto, and let the camera handle the changes; especially if you are not going to be there to make the changes yourself?

Steve Thomas

OK, I will try the TV mode.  I re-read the manual and misunderstood originally.  I thought that it said the exposure could not be auto or shutter priority.  But, what it said was that the focus could not be changed during filming........  My mistake.  Thanks!

btvarner,

I do not know how the 5D MarkIII behaves.

I have a T8i, and the manual says that when using TV or Av modes to do filming, the camera throws it into P mode, where shutter speed and aperture are set by the camera.

Steve Thomas

I would think that for a video, a constant shutter speed would be the most important?
TV Mode for Movies.jpg

btvarner,

Like I said,our cameras may behave differently. This is what my manual says,

video recording.jpg

As you said, a constant shutter speed is probably what's desired. Most people recommend a shutter speed 2X your frame rate to ensure the smoothest flow of motion.

For some reason, (Canon at least) seem to recommend a shutter speed equal to your frame rate, i.e. 1/30th of a sec for a 30fps frame rate, and I've noticed that's what my camera sets in its auto modes.

Steve Thomas

If you only wish to vary the “brightness” of the images that you capture while you are shooting video, then I would advise selecting M mode, with ISO set to Auto.  I do not think you would want to have either shutter speed or depth of field (aperture) vary during your filming.

 

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"The right mouse button is your friend."

Good idea.  This situation is not landscape.  Rather a small object, like a flower.  The depth of field is not important for this specific video.  Also, not sure if just changes to ISO would be enough lighting difference?  I will test with ISO set to auto and see.

Waddizzle, I am sorry but I cannot figure out how to set the ISO to Auto when in the manual settings position.  Can you tell me how to do that?

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