what am i doing wrong??
 

I recently shot a short video of one of the collegiate mountain bike races that i attended using a t2i and the kit lens, and got the best footage i could, considering i was also competing and had to practice and actually race. here is the actual video YouTube - Parkfield 2010 The footage i got, to me, looks really off. the colors look weird or something. it doesnt look like most t2i videos ive seen. i dont know what i'm doing wrong, am i under exposing? over exposing? I shot this vid at 30fps and neutral camera color settings and auto white balance, and then slightly increased contrast in post to give the colors more pop. Do i need to color correct more? can anyone give any advice?
thanks

I wouldn't say you're doing much of anything "wrong". The exposures look good in the sunlit areas, goes some dark when you get away from that into shaded and darker areas. White balance look about OK.

What is probably getting at you is (I'm guessing here) you're probably holding the camera out in front of your face and often can't tell anything about exposure on the LCD. You may need some kind of loupe with a magnifying eyepiece.

I work with the Hoodman "Cinema Kit Pro" for $209. Consists of the Hoodloupe, 3x magnifying eyepiece, and the Hoodcrane that slips into the camera hot shoe and holds the loupe against the LCD. It excludes most extraneous light and allows you to better "see" what's happening on the LCD.

Cinema Kit Pro-Hoodman Corporation

I've tried a few solutions and settled on the Hoodman as easiest to use, mount and remove (takes seconds). Even with a loupe on bright sunny days I often have to raise the screen brightness so I can "see" best. At night I also reduce it by about the same amount in the other direction. When you get used to it you find you can actually make exposure judgements.

But you have to have SOMETHING or you are shooting "blind".

ya i was gunna try out the lcdvf 3/2 on b&h its only 160 i think, but if you recommend that one, i may try that one out instead

Hey Michael - i think your being a bit to hard on yourself. Looks pretty good to me, especially shooting with the "bare" camera. Bruce is right on with the idea of some kind of "loupe". I'm a fan of the Zacuto Z finder but there are a bunch of good ones out there now.

I think what your reacting to in your video is what I'm just going to call "meh". The shots look fine but they look pretty much like someone using a camcorder for the most part. They don't seem to have that DSLR pop for lack of a better word. It just looks kinda meh.

For me, the real magic of these cameras happens with really nice glass and shooting pretty shallow. Also trying to compose a more "cinematic" shot can really do wonders. It's harder, because shooting bike races at f2.8 ain't easy, but I think it really gets you into the sweet spot of these cams. It looks like your getting there, just keep plugging away at it.

Oh, just to illustrate.

Here is something I shot recently of a cross race I did. I've been racing as well as shooting the event so kind of similar to your projects workflow. Shot with a 7D but a t2i should give similar results:

Bruce , I am waring prescription glasses and I would like to know how you can focus if you are using the Hoodman without the glasses.

Stelios

@ Burk: great shot selection!

@Stelios: The hoodman 3x has a focus on the eyepiece. I use it without my glasses all the time -- works great. Note that the hoodman kit I bough used little silicone rubber bands to strap the loupe to the camera. They lasted about 15 minutes before splitting apart.

To me, it looks good, really good. You've got some nice shallow DOF shots, and to me the colors don't seem weird. I think most t2i/7D vids are color corrected (a bit) more agressive, in combination with some cinematic-style shots, like Burk is demonstrating. Try some more aggressive color correction and post the video again.

First shots of your footage are obviously handheld and rather jumpy, and unless there is some Jason Bourne-style action in these shots, it tends to give a camcorder-like feeling. But overall, I would consider this footage a good example of how versatile the T2i really is.

IMO get the lcdvf 3:2!!! Its nicer. Or don't take my advice and check out some reviews. I've never seen the hoodman on top of the lcdvf.

well i find cutting the exposure more than it shows in the lcd on auto helps me, left on auto exposure they do tend to overexpose.

I fold that rubber eyeshield down and use my eyeglasses. The diopter adjust is set for me wearing my eyeglasses so anyone else with corrected eyesight should be able to see clearly through it.

I have to wear eyeglasses for everything else so I don't try to adjust camera viewfinder diopter for use without my glasses. I've become used to working with glasses all my life.

I watched the demo video over on Cheesycam and it looks like a good product. If I didn't have to switch from camera to camera quite a bit, I'd consider that one. We each make our own choices.

If I have time to mount it on the 7D, the CAVISION setup with "swing away" adapter is real sweet with it's 6X eyepiece. Talk about a bright clear LARGE viewfinder image...Hard to beat.

In the Cheesycam review on the Hoodman with the new crane he said this:

"Hoodman now has a ‘crane’ for their loupe to attach to the Hotshoe. This seems to work great for many cameras, but doesn’t quite nail the fit for the T2i."

He couldn't be anymore DEAD WRONG on that. When I first got the "crane" and put it all together it "lived" on the T2i for about two months. I had the CAVISION on the 7D and could switch cameras without having to switch loupes. Then I tried it on the 7d, had to make a small adjustment and I can switch it from camera to camera and adjusting the "fit" takes about 30 seconds.

I think you might be comparing your work to more cinematic videos (as previously mentioned) where larger rigs are used (dollies, steadicams, and so on) to get those really cool shots. Some of your shots were pretty shaky in the beginning -- were you using an IS lens? You'll be surprised on the difference IS makes, or if it were on a tripod/monopod. The later shots with the bikes were pretty good though, especially given the limited equipment you probably had.

under exposed rather than over is the option i take if possible.

that video is really sweet burk! what frame rate do you shoot at for races like that? 30?
and ya i would think it would be really hard to shoot a race at 2.8 because everything would go out of focus so quickly, how do you do it? just alot of practice? it's also hard for me to shoot at a lower aperture because its in the middle of the day. maybe i need to invest in some nd filters.

Thanks Michael, the frame rate of the project is 24p - I was also shooting a lot of 60p and slowing it down to 24 for all the slow motion stuff.

It's pretty hard to shoot bikes at f2.8 but with a bit of practice it's pretty doable. The nice thing is you have a pretty good idea of where they are going to go, just practice the focus move and you can nail it surprisingly often. Shooting overcranked helps as well because you only need them to be in focus for a little bit :)

I am using a follow focus and a SmallHD DP1 to help with focus - and they do help, but it's doable with a bare camera and something like a z finder. Like everything it just takes practice.

As for aperture.... I tend to shoot pretty open, f2.8 or lower depending on the lens. I really kind of like that high shutter, strobey look so I usually set exposure with the shutter. I do have a polarizer on the lens but for that video I was shooting at some pretty high shutter speeds. It really helps for the slow motion as well.

so you go higher shutter speed the 180 degree shutter rule of thumb?

For some of this bike stuff I was going a lot higher, I think I was hitting 1000 for some shots (in a different video). It doesn't work for everything and the 180 degree 50/60 shutter rule is pretty good if you want stuff to look more "normal". I'm just kind of experimenting with different looks. Never hurts to try new things :)

/what lenses do you use burk?

Burk

thats some of the best footage I have seen on the web. Your level of professionalism shines through on that. I see footage like that and wish I could watch the whole process from start to finish. i would like to watch to see how you maintain such clarity and color depth through the camera, then the NLE steps and final render settings. Beautiful work

. I never can shoot 24 and make it look that smooth. WoW

Sorry for the mini hi-jack.

Thanks for the nice comments folks.

Lenses used for this video where the Tokina 11-16 2.8 & the Canon 70-200 2.8 L. I'm not doing anything special to get the look, there is no color grading on any of the footage (I did tweak the exposure on a couple shots). It's just whats coming out of the camera.

I've got nothing against color grading but I've been on this "try to get the look in camera" kick for a little bit. With nice lenses and trying to pick your shots & exposure carefully you can really nail some nice looks. A nice polarizer can help a bit as well.

Just FYI - 7D settings where:

Neutral
sharpness +1
contrast -3
Saturation -1
Color tone 0

White Balance was cloudy preset.

Hope that helps.

I'm kind of agreeing here with Burk. In just the short amount of time I've spent with my T2i and the films I've made.... I was shooting with the supposed "Phillip Bloom" settings. which are pretty flat, toned down. However, I find my self boosting the saturation, contrast, etc. Why not just get it "in camera" right off the bat. With the demand for my business going up and up lately, I don't really have the time to go back and color grade "everything". As Burk said, with the right lenses, and practice... just gotta get the right lenses now!

Why shoot flat? Idea is to get maximum exposure latitude, and avoid clipping of highlights and loss of detail in shadows. Detail will be gone forever from those shots. You will have more control in post as to what you are willing to keep in and let go.

Sorry Burk, I'm gonna make you hi-jack the thread one more time. Is your 70-200mm the IS version or are you using a monopod or tripod? Once again, fantastic footage...

This 70-200 was the new L2.8 IS lens, it was a rental. I think all of the 70-200 stuff was shot from a tripod but I turn the IS off. It can make the shot "drift" a bit if you leave it on while using a tripod.

I completely agree with Chris on shooting flat. If you want to protect the highlights and shadow detail shooting flat is the best practice. That being said...

I don't know if anyone else has had this experience but the idea of shooting everything knowing I was going to have to go back and color grade every shot was just mentally exhausting. I love color grading but it's hugely time consuming and was getting in the way of just having fun shooting and editing. Knowing I was going to have pretty limited time to do these cross videos, and I'm just goofing around anyway, I figure why not try and nail the look as best I can in the camera.

I blew it sometimes but did pretty well for the bulk of it and learned a bunch. It also made it possible to actually bang these out each week.

Hi Burk,

Amen. I started out with the 'shoot flat' mindset but my goal now is to get the look right in the camera and have been using a high contrast/low sharpness setting. The less filters I have to apply in post means less time in the edit cave, a faster turnaround and more consistency. (It helps that I'm after a very life-like feel rather than a stylized look.)