Video photography at night. Advice needed please

MrBrightSide wrote:

I shoot video with the Canon 50mm 1.8 a lot and it's wonderful as long as you stop it down a little bit—ƒ2.8 or so.

Based on my experience set your exposure so the faces look good and let the rest of the shot fall where it will. And don't be afraid to crank the ISO—a little grit and grain in the image adds drama.

If it won't interfere with the lighting of the movie, put a small LED light in the hot shoe of your camera and set it on very low power; this fill light will greatly increase the quality of the shots without adding glare or making your subject squint.

The main thing is don't try to make it look like daytime. There's a special romance and mystery to moviemaking at night, the way people appear out of the dark and then disappear the same way...It's very cool.

If you want to interview people drag them to the nearest light source; don't try to fully light them with the light on the camera, it's too harsh.

Brisn5757 wrote:

Hi Andrew.

I only have 17-135mm f3.5 and 50mm f1.8 lens for the Canon camera.
Maybe none of the cameras+lens are suitable but at this stage it's a matter of using the most suitable camera.

Brian

Thanks for the useful advice Brightside.
Wide aperture fix lens seems the best answer as when video recording you can't have long exposures like you do for still photos. Good to hear you find the Canon 50mm lens useful.

Brian