Bright day/low aperture
 

To the question: I was outside, it was a relatively nice day (Sunny) and there were a few stages setup with some singers. I wanted to shoot at 1.8f but would have to bring up the shutter speed to about 1/400 or 1/500 to get proper exposure. OTHERWISE, I would have to bring the aperture down, which I didn't want to do as I was hoping to get the singer in focus and have the background out of focus.

I was shooting 60i and 24p (Trying both). I am sure I read somewhere that shooting with high shutter speeds does something to the video (Don't know yet because Neoscene is convert my files as we speak.)

In still photography I would just adjust the shutter speed to get the proper exposure when using a low DOF. What about with video?

Use ND filters. An ND8 or .9 ND filter will reduce exposure by 3 stops, and you could potentially stack them too.
Steve

Thank you sir!!

Any truth to bringing up the shutter speed and it not working well with video?

The shutter speed should stay at 1/50 for 24p or 1/60 for 60i or 30p. Other shutter speeds will give you some funky looks. "Real" video cameras have at least two ND filters built in. With the hybrid cams you have to buy your own NDs, just like in the film camera days. With a long lens you can probably stack as many filters as you need, but for wide angles you'll probably get some corner vignetting with over 2.

Best plan to avoid vignetting is to use a matte box and some 4" filters.
Steve

That's where the matte box comes in handy.

I was always of the type that thought a matte box on DSLR was kinda pointless since you would have your lens hood to deal with unwanted light.

If you don't want to spend the earth on a matte box, you can try Lee Filters. They do a "wide angle lens hood" that has 2 filter slots and a bellows hood. Their filters are good and reasonably priced (relative to Tiffen and the like) too.
Steve

That's what I use on my XH A1. The Lee wide angle lens hood. Much lighter than a normal matte box and doesn't require rails, so I can use it on my Steadicam. I got 2mm slots with mine for resin filters, which are lighter than glass. A little cheaper--a .3ND is about $100 (USD), about $50 less than the equivalent glass. Resin filters are a little easier to scratch, but with normal care should last for years.