Camcoder settings - Advice please - Canon XM1

[cheersm8]

Firstly, Hello to all forum members.
I've just started wildlife videography after having acquired a canon XM1 and, so far, I'm pleased with the results, but I know I'm not getting 100% out of it, with loads more to learn. As a 'stills photographer' , I've applied the same shooting rules, ie aperture priority and adjusting aperture to maintain the optimum shutter speed ( at least equal to lens focal length ) to retain best DOF. This method does not appear to be achieving the desired results with my wildife filming. So? For best results I'm beginning to think that maybe, with video, I should be thinking the opposite, and using shutter priority at the expense of DOF to reduce that ghosting/stroboscope effect on a moving subject.
So far, using aperture priority, I've stuck with my stills 'optimum' and used f8 as my average. It appears to me that wider apertures with a camcorder give a greater DOF than with a stills camera, eg, DOF at f4 with camcorder is greater than DOF with stills camera. Is this correct? If so, maybe I should forget my stills 'rules' and open up even wider from f8 to whack the shutter speed up?
Question is, am I miles out on these thoughts? Any advice on achieving crisper footage with regard to aperture/shutter speed settings will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance,
Joe

[rogpow]

First of all, welcome to WAB.

It can be confusing going from stills to video as some shooting practices are the same, while others require a re-think.
Unless you want "stroby" effects, or are wanting to run your footage in slo-mo, then it's best to keep the shutter speed at 1/50th.
You could, therefore, shoot in shutter priority, however if the camcorder can't select an appropriate aperture it will alter gain in order to get correct exposure. This can lead to noisy footage and you won't know the camcorder is doing it.
Unless I'm after a specific effect, I always shoot in full manual mode with shutter speed set to 1/50th, gain set to 0db, and get correct exposure with a combination of aperture and ND filters (using zebra stripes as a guide).
You're correct that DOF is greater with the camcorder. On my XM2 the lens focal length is 4.2-84mm (I imagine the XM1 is something similar). Although this equates to something like 40-800mm in 35mm terms, DOF is still that of a 4.2-84mm lens. This is why at a w/a setting and small aperture you can practically touch your subject with the front of the lens and have everything from that to infinity in focus. It's also why a lot of people spend a lot of time and money rigging up adapters to try to get the more limited DOF that 16mm and 35mm movie films produce.
So, be prepared to shoot at around f4 a lot of the time. I keep a NDx4 filter on the camcorder most of the time and dial in the onboard ND filter when required so that I'm always shooting at a fairly wide aperture to help reduce DOF.

Hope that's of some help.

Cheers,
Rog

[cheersm8]

Thanks for that Rog.
It's certainly a challenge switching from stills photography to video! I've just done a few seconds worth of experimental video, using your advice, and opening up the aperture to f4. Result? A zillion times better, so thanks for that! I filmed a few seconds of some fieldfare flying over the house, and, with a wider aperture ( thus giving me a faster shutter speed ) the birds only had two wings as opposed to 6! ). I admit to not being over confident with regard to 'full manual', but next trip out I'm going to bite the bullet and give it a whirl. I see were you are coming from about 'manual' so that the camcorder doesn't sneak in it's own settings.
Cheers,
Joe

[rogpow]

Glad to have been of help, Joe.

When you try full manual mode, one BIG advantage of video over stills is that as you alter aperture or shutter speed settings, you can see the effect on exposure in the viewfinder/screen immediately rather than having to wait till you've taken the photo to see whether it's too light/dark.

And although mini dv tapes aren't as cost effective as memory cards in digital cameras, they're still cheap enough to try a bit of experimenting. So go ahead and bite that bullet!

Rog

[tonyvee]

Hi,
This isn't really a 'reply', but a new question.
I've been into wildlife photography for some 40 years. Done a fair bit of videoing as well. Next year I want to mainly concentrait on video and so have bought myself a Canon XM1. Those tips listed here will all be vey useful too. Not wanting to carry the XM1 and heavy tripod, plus my Canon 1000D and a 400mm lens everywhere, I want to be able to take the odd still with the XM1. No problem there, but................how the heck do I get the stills off the tape and into the PC as JPG files !! An answer to this one will be very helpful. Alternatively, I know Canon made an SD card floppy disk for this camera, but they're as rare as hens teeth and very expensive when you do find one. Anyone know of a cheaper method of using an SD card with this camera?
Best wishes for 2011.
Tony

[rogpow]

Originally Posted by tonyvee

..how the heck do I get the stills off the tape and into the PC as JPG files !! An answer to this one will be very helpful. Alternatively, I know Canon made an SD card floppy disk for this camera, but they're as rare as hens teeth and very expensive when you do find one. Anyone know of a cheaper method of using an SD card with this camera?
Best wishes for 2011.
Tony

Hi Tony, and welcome to WAB

First of all you get the movie onto your pc. Then you need to play it in a programme like QuicktimePro (or maybe Windows Movie Maker on a pc? Not sure as I'm on Mac). Pause the video when you get to the frame you want (you'll need to shuttle backwards and forwards to get the sharpest frame) and then the programme should be able to capture and save that frame as something like a .pct or a jpeg. If you have a look on the internet you should find several programmes that'll let you do it. Be warned that the file size and quality will not be that great.
I'm surprised to hear that the XM1 uses a special sd card. The XM2 uses a standard sc card that you can get anywhere.
Cheers,
Rog