THE DSLRDEBATE
LEFT A Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with a loupe and an external mic is a great bit of kit for shooting movies.
matched cinema lenses. And of course if you are using shallowdepth of field, then focusing becomes critically important. But take your time, and it canwork. Old- school manual focus lenses canwork a treat, as does fitting real cinema lenses to your DSLRwhen you’re ready to upgrade. Great audio is crucial and the internal mic on a DSLR is largely useless. Most have a standard 3.5mmaudio input jack so they can use an external DSLR-specific mic of which there are a wide choice at reasonable prices. You can get amic close to your subject using a long cable or even with a wireless receiver, turn off the camera’s auto gain and set the levelsmanually. To usemore than onemic can be a problem, especially if these use pro level XLR fittings. It’s best to use an external recorder with pro-level mics like lavaliers or a shotgun. You then have to sync the audio up in processingwhich ismuch less of a problem than it used to be. The latest crop of DSLRs is hitting back with some interesting spec for video users. The Canon EOS 5DMark IV can now shoot in Log, and the Sony A99 II uses the full- frame 42-megapixel BSI CMOS chip fitted in the A7R II plus all itsmoviemaking essentials like 4K recording, S-Log profiles, focus peaking, adjustable zebras and high frame rates. And themirror doesn’t flip up, so you can keep your eye to the viewfinder. This technology allows for a hybrid phase-detection AF system which is the best DSLR-type autofocus for video anywhere. AndNikon’s newD850 is a 45.7-megapixel full-frame camera with a tilting touchscreen; 4K video shot from the whole width of the sensor and 120fps inHD. The quality is incredible, especially in 4K. Of course, no DSLRs have effective image stabilisation, so you’ll need to be tripodmounted or use amotorised gimbal formoving shots. But as they are so small, it’s easy to do and you have a potent moviemakingmachine for not toomuch money. The DSLR is still a worthwhile filmmaking tool.
lowbase ISOs. That means you can drop the ISO and use a wide aperture, rather than having a cinema camera that might have a base ISO of 2000 and having to use ND filters to get the desired aperture. Of course, ND filters on a DSLR are very useful too, and a simple variable ND canworkwonders at a lowprice. As DSLRs are designed for fine-quality stills, they have lots of pixels. But HD video doesn’t need all these, somost DSLRs don’t record from the whole sensor at once but scan down the sensor. So if youmove the camera sideways during recording you can get the ‘rolling shutter’ effect where vertical lines are badly distorted. You just have towatch out. Autofocus in video can hunt, as the super-advanced AF systembuilt for shooting stills is often crippled for video use and has shortfalls. But to usemanual focus on a DSLR can be tricky, as the small EVF can be slow andmakes it hard to see what’s sharp. And DSLR lenses are not great formanual focusing as their focus- by-wire system is not as responsive as manually-geared cinema lenses. Change lenses and you’ll need to reset your rig, too, as lenses designed for stills don’t offer the consistent sizing of a set of
video-capable DSLRs thanmirrorless or Cinema cameras. Armedwith a DSLR like a Canon EOS 5D– from theMark II to the current Mark IV– and some good lenses, you’re on the way tomakingmovies of the very highest quality. But youwill need some accessories. All regular DSLRs have an optical viewfinder which blacks out when recording video, so you use the screen on the back. And that requires a loupe so you can see what’s going on. It does add another contact point to your body, so aids stability. Or you could use a camera cage and add on an external monitor/ recorder. This has a large screen, andwill often add such useful tools as focus peaking, waveformmonitoring and zebra patterns to gauge exposure, while allowing the camera to record at higher quality to a huge SSD card. So you’ll find that some of the pitfalls of a DSLRwill be effectively negated. One of the benefits of full-frame DSLRs is that the sensor is larger than all affordable cinema cameras andmirrorless cameras too, apart from the full-frame Sony A7 series and A9. Larger sensor cameras produce less noise when used at higher ISO ratings, such as in low light, and often have very
THE VERDICT
to genuinely recommend going that route to make films. Mirrorless cameras offer all their advantages, and lots more video spec, if you want the smallest form factor. And cinema cameras or even all-in-one camcorders offer lots of other advantages, especially for run-and-gun use. Having said all that: the reports of the death of the DSLR have been greatly exaggerated.
If you’re coming from stills photography and already have a video-capable camera and lenses, it makes sense to stick with what you are comfortable with and just buy the accessories you need to turn your DSLR into a movie camera. You’ll get wafer-thin depth-of-field for a cinematic look and amazing low-light performance for not a lot of investment. On the other hand, if you don’t own any system then it’s hard
59
SPRING 2018 PRO MOVIEMAKER
Powered by FlippingBook