HF100 lighting for proper exposure, how? internal lightmeter?

[mrmark]

Hello!

New to camcorders, not to photography. They are similar but not the same!
I am used to using a still camera in manual. You change aperature and/or shutter speed and ISO to get a look with proper exposure/depth of field. You use the interal lightmeter or a flashmeter to make sure you are properly exposed and have the right ratios for background and to create shadows for depth.

So I bought a Canon HF100 and I have some good quality continuous lighting. I what to try and understand when I am using too much or not enough lighting to get the best look.

I will be doing some videos for music instument instruction. Both shutter speed and aperature are equally important.

It seems to me that you can change the canon to either aperature priority or shutter. So if you set it to aperature and there is not enough light the camera will change the shutter speed to compensate. How do I know what these changes are? With a canon photo camera it will tell you by showing you the shutter speed. You then know if you want a faster speed you should increase the lighting. I think I have even hear of people using a still camera's internal light meter to take reading for setting upo video lighting.

I don't like just trying a setup and seeing how it works, changing again. Seems kind of silly when you have an expensive camcorder. I don't want to pour alot of light onto something and overcompensate.

Is there an internal light meter you can read on the canon camcorder? Is there a way to see how the camcorder compensates for too much or little light?

Also, what are a good setting for this music instruction? I need some shutter speeed to show action, but I woulkd like a medium depth of field as I don't really care to show all the background.

I realize I am asking a few questions here so let me know your thoughts.

M

[Bif]

I have a pair of HF100's and I have a strong photographic background so I understand your dilemma.

Here's what I do. I set up my lighting for whatever kind of ratio I want. If you want it to be exact, use your studio type incident light meter and start with 1 stop difference between fill and main by meter for that 2:1 textbook ratio.

I set it up by eyeball for what looks good to the eye. Then try a bit of video, I have my HF100s setup for Cine mode with sharpness, brightness, and contrast "tweaked" up to the "+" position in custom settings. Cine mode looks a tad "flat" to me so this "snaps" it up a bit yet still avoids that stark "video" look.

When you have the lighting ratio looking like you want it, tie strings with knots at the working distance that gives you that look.

You don't have a proper exposure meter in the HF100 yet you can "bias" exposure some. Press the joystick in then press it down until you "cycle" to exposure. Move it up and the right and left icons brighten and a scale appears in the upper right of the screen. Move the joystick left and or right watching the image as it changes. When it gets to where you want move the joystick up and exposure is then "locked" at that exposure.

This is mainly only good for decreasing exposure as you'll see by the scale.

To see what shutter and aperture the camera will use do a light press (halfway) on the photo button and the settings will read out (If you have still pictures enabled in the camera menus). You can use aperture priority or shutter priority but not in Cine mode as that tries to emulate some of the settings in faux 24p mode on the camera.

True manual settings is not possible with this camera, the built in exposure system is pretty good but for real control you need to look at the DSLRs with video enabled. The Canon T2i, T3i, 7D, and 60D as well as the 5D MkII and MKIII all allow independent manual control over aperture, shutter, and ISO.

The Panasonic Lumix GH2 also does.

So now I pick up the HF100s only when I need continuous following autofocus.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Bruce Foreman

[cgbier]

I only have the HV, but I do it in a similar way as Bruce does it, just the other way around. If you are doing a series of videos, you can more or the less nail down your lights. I dow the same with talking heads (there are dots on the floor in my "studio" for the lights). I also use a light meter to get my exposure. However, I set the lights to the exposure. We know that the HV has an ISO of about 80, so I set my lights to hit 1/48 and f/2.8 at ISO 80. There are 4 lamps in my CFL soft boxes. Each of them has its own switch. It doesn't work as well as a dimmer, but it's more consistent (for a cheap setup).
Works pretty well, and I don't have to fool around much with exposure in post.... just fine tuning contrast and saturation.

[mrmark]

So far you both have been very helpful! I guess the lock of the exposure is a key step. The approximation of ISO at 80 gives me a starting point.

A few other points. I am also getting up to speed on the frame rate, I got a bit confused with two rates, shutter speed and frame rate. But I understand it a bit better. Most of my work will be played on the web, so I think I will start with 30P.

I have read that the image on the viewfinder may not be the image you ulimately get. Can I attach it to a TV or laptop as a monitor to preview? I don't like the idea of making multiple records that then have to be played on something else to see the final outcome.

Keep your comments coming!

M

[cgbier]

Your shutter speed at 30fps should be 1/60.

The colors in the LCD will vary from reality. You can, of course, connect an external monitor, but what is this monitor calibrated to? Don't sweat the color preview too much. You'll (hopefully) use vector scopes to get your colors correct in post in any way.
What you should do though is setting your white balance correctly before the shot (that's more important than losing sleep over the color accuracy of your LCD).

External monitors are good for composing your shot or critical focus - nothing else (at least in our price class).

I assume your videos will show on YouTube et al. Do you think your audience will watch your stuff on monitors with the same calibrations yours?

[mrmark]

Ok thanks cg I understand the 1/60 and the monitor issue.

So let me give a senario. I put the camers in 30P and AE aperature priority and set the aperature to give a starting portriat type Depth Of Field 5.0. I then half press the photo to see the shutter speed the camera has chosen. The speed shown has to be above 1/60. Since there will be some action during the video maybe 1/100 would be better. If the shutter is slower I need to add light, if its way above 100 I can even subtract some light or make the aperature an even lower number like 4.0 for better blurring of background. I don't think I would be going any lower than 4.0 as the DOF would be too shallow and I could blur parts of the subject during movement. I have also read of turning off the Auto Slow Shutter to stop it from going below 1/60.

Am I thinking straight?


Thanks alot for your replies.

[cgbier]

As you control your lights, ASS won't be any issue. What instrument are you teaching? 5.0 sounds a bit to small of an aperture. Your DOF will reach to the moon. 1/60 is sufficient for most shooting action, or do you plan to show some Eddy van Halen riffs in slow motion?

[mrmark]

I am doing this for a few musician friends, but it will be one person at a time. Thanks for the shutter speed as no slow motion planned.

What would be a good aperature to start to get an appropriate portriat DOF? I guess I am thinking DSLRs again. The subject will be sometime close 3-5 feet away

[cgbier]

Look at Dofmaster

[zagnut]

If the HF100 is anything like my HF11, you can have manual control over both Av and Tv. It is possible. But it's kinda tricky, but not really hard to do. Here's a link explaining how -
http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?1...o+button+trick
Now this is done on an HV20, but works on my HF11 and many, many other Canon models. This is the only way I record, primarily to ensure that the camera is adding minimum gain.

Also, do you have an incident meter you can use? If not, what about an Android phone? I found a great incident meter app for Android and use it quite a bit -
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ghtmeter&hl=en
Just makes sure it's calibrated.

Look at Dofmaster

I actually have a couple similar apps for my android phone. If anyone is interested, I can post links to them since DOFMaster isn't available for Android yet.