Best format video and software for video. Fujifilm X-H2

Tomasz_Wk

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Hi,

i mainly do portrait photo but someone asked me to do “behinds the scenes” videos during a photoshoot. I could use my phone, but since I have a capable camera with great lenses, Fuji x-h2, I want to use it.

I never did serious video before. What video format should I use? What easy to learn and cheap ( or free) editing software is available for me?
 
  1. Use a tripod with a fluid head or video monopod.
  2. Use something like a Tascam DR-10L lav audio recorder for any important audio, and something like a TAKSTAR SGC-600 as a general scratch track.
  3. shoot at 29.97 FPS.
  4. Record in Rec.709 gamma and gamut.
  5. Shoot in UHD at the highest bitrate.
  6. Make sure your memory cards have a fast enough continuous write speed.
  7. Test to see if your camera is prone to overheating.
  8. Set a custom white balance with an Expodisc.
  9. Use zebra stripes to gauge exposure.
  10. Set the focus ring control to linear.
  11. Manually focus, using focus peaking as a guide.
  12. Try Davinci Resolve as and editor.
 
  1. Use a tripod with a fluid head or video monopod.
  2. Use something like a Tascam DR-10L lav audio recorder for any important audio, and something like a TAKSTAR SGC-600 as a general scratch track.
  3. shoot at 29.97 FPS.
  4. Record in Rec.709 gamma and gamut.
  5. Shoot in UHD at the highest bitrate.
  6. Make sure your memory cards have a fast enough continuous write speed.
  7. Test to see if your camera is prone to overheating.
  8. Set a custom white balance with an Expodisc.
  9. Use zebra stripes to gauge exposure.
  10. Set the focus ring control to linear.
  11. Manually focus, using focus peaking as a guide.
  12. Try Davinci Resolve as and editor.
- Use a tripod with a fluid head

Can you recommend one at a reasonable price? Thanks
 
Could you clarify how this is going to work? Are you going to be shooting portraits with the X-H2 and also filming yourself with the X-H2?

If it was me, I'd use a phone on a gimbal for candid shots. Peter Coulson has a bunch of behind the scenes type of videos on YouTube. They're all shot by his assistant, Bec, using a camera on a motorized gimbal.
 
Hi,

i mainly do portrait photo but someone asked me to do “behinds the scenes” videos during a photoshoot. I could use my phone, but since I have a capable camera with great lenses, Fuji x-h2, I want to use it.

I never did serious video before. What video format should I use? What easy to learn and cheap ( or free) editing software is available for me?
The great thing about shooting video is...

It makes you realize how inexpensive it is to be a stills photographer.
 
Could you clarify how this is going to work? Are you going to be shooting portraits with the X-H2 and also filming yourself with the X-H2?

If it was me, I'd use a phone on a gimbal for candid shots. Peter Coulson has a bunch of behind the scenes type of videos on YouTube. They're all shot by his assistant, Bec, using a camera on a motorized gimbal.
A friend is going to photograph the model with her camera and I’ll take care of the video. I’ll film behind the scenes but also the model in the clothes that she wears for social media advertisement.

I know Peter Coulson’s and Bec’s YouTube videos. They are great! Thank you for the idea, but since I had my Fujifilm I wanted to see If I could easily make some short movies of better quality and different field of view than an iPhone. I hoped that the image stabilization could take care of the hand shakes. I also never tried any video editing other than the basic apps on the iPhone.
 
Think about setting up your phone on a tripod for a static wide shot you could use as another option during editing.
 
If this is a one-off shoot, I'd recommend renting any gear that you'll need, but if you're going to do this on a regular basis, you might consider purchasing additional gear.

A decent fluid head with counter balance costs upwards of $1,000. On the cheap side, you could look at the SmallRig FreeBlazer or Davis & Sanford Provista with FM18 fluid head.

For video monopods, you could look at the Davis & Sanford TR705MONO-V9 or Sirui video monopods.

Do your own research, as it's difficult for us to extrapolate exactly what you'd need with the limited information in your post.

Practice shooting and editing videos before the official shoot day.
 
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Thank you for the idea, but since I had my Fujifilm I wanted to see If I could easily make some short movies of better quality and different field of view than an iPhone.
I am sure you can. But whatever you shoot with, the brighter the studio environment will be, the more likely you will be able to get better video. If you look at the Peter Cluson videos, the studio looks VERY bright to me. Will your shoot be that well lit? (Sorry if you mentioned it will be outdoors and I didn't see it.)

Also, don't be afraid to use "lesser" tools if they get the job done. A $10 hammer is much better at driving a nail than a $1,000 table saw.
I hoped that the image stabilization could take care of the hand shakes.
Camera Stabilization, plus lens stabilization, plus some sore of DIY stabilization might work for your needs, depending on how long a clip is and how long you will be filming for (overall). For DIY stabilization, if you won't be moving much, you can use a neck strap and stretch it to add extra support (holding it away from your body). Or if you have a sling style camera bag, you can look at making a DIY Cine Saddle. Or a DIY shoulder rig.
I also never tried any video editing other than the basic apps on the iPhone.
Maybe try something out like KDENlive or shotcut or ??? Are things like capcut free???

DaVinci Resolve has a free version. (DaVinci Resolve STUDIO is a paid version, but DaVinci Resolve without the name Studio is free.) But the learning curve is a bit tough.

You MIGHT want to add background music, depending on how slick you want the video to look. If you have a youtube channel, you can use music from the youtube cretors studio (or whatever it is called). They have royalty-free music.

If you want to capture what the photographer and / or model is saying, you will need to SERIOUSLY think about audio capture. I am assuming you won't have a bunch of Lav mic pacs or a boom operator with mics and recorders on standby.

Adobe podcaster is a free (as of writing this) online app that can clean up dialogue audio. It is really good, but won't work miracles and like a lot of AI tools, can make things seem incredibly "fake."

Hope this helps.
 
Guess I'll be slightly contrarian and question the practicality of a tripod for BTS footage. Seems like a situation where you want to maximize your mobility. As a former X-H2 owner I'll say that it's a fine camera for video once you get it setup (although I will say that Fuji AF suuuuucks). I tended to shoot 8K because it gives you a lot of latitude to "zoom" in (because you can crop to 4K or HD), but the files choked even my M2 Macbook Pro. The 4KHQ is effectively the same bitrate at the 8K, FWIW. The main downside of the XH2 (besides the AF) is that it's very light, which actually makes camera shake worse. Consider grabbing a cage and a top handle (Smallrig makes great ones) so you can hand-hold it more steadily.

Again, contrary to some others, I would not recommend shooting in the highest bitrate possible, which would be something like 4K HQ ProRes, which is ridiculous for a video newbie to shoot in (I don't mean that as any kind of insult, it's just like taking a new driver and putting them in an F1 car). I'd recommend shooting something like 4K 200Mbps bitrate LongGOP in a standard color profile. Fuji's FLOG2 is great, but LOG shooting might be something you explore as you get more used to a video workflow and actually use a proper video editor. If you're using free programs, there's a decent chance that you will have compatibility issues with Fuji h.265 files, so just do some test runs and see. IME Fuji's video files cause worse system slowdowns than similar files from something like a Sony, so don't be surprised if you experience some performance issues during playback and editing.

Also another thing people aren't mentioning that you should know is that with video (I'm generalizing here, so people shouldn't come at me with the "well actuallys") ISO is sort of different. Maybe not different, but you generally aren't going to use it in the same way as with photos. So the Fuji XH2 has a "base" ISO of 1000, which is where the sensor gets the best dynamic range. You can set it higher or lower, but you'll get the best performance at ISO1000, whether you're in bright sunlight or very dark. So you'll have to consider this when you think about lighting, because ISO 1000 + a shutter speed of 1/60--assuming you're shooting at 30fps, and as a rule of thumb but certainly not a hard-and-fast "180 degree shutter" thing (Google it)--will get you overexposed if you don't reduce the light. I'll note that this is less important if you don't shoot in FLOG, but you may notice that when you switch to video mode the XH2 defaults to ISO1000 and shows lower ISOs in red (or maybe in brackets, I don't remember exactly) and this is why.

So you'll commonly hear video people talking about ND filters much more than photo people do. Because in anything but low light, you often will have to lower the amount of light to control exposure, because in video the exposure parameters are much more locked in compared to photography. If you have too much light in video, lowering the ISO or cranking the shutter will have potentially negative effects that most times you want to avoid. So if you are locked into a shutter speed of 1/60, 30fps, and want to maintain a consistent aperture for consistent DOF, the only thing you can do to control exposure is to use an ND filter.
 
Guess I'll be slightly contrarian and question the practicality of a tripod for BTS footage. Seems like a situation where you want to maximize your mobility. As a former X-H2 owner I'll say that it's a fine camera for video once you get it setup (although I will say that Fuji AF suuuuucks). I tended to shoot 8K because it gives you a lot of latitude to "zoom" in (because you can crop to 4K or HD), but the files choked even my M2 Macbook Pro. The 4KHQ is effectively the same bitrate at the 8K, FWIW. The main downside of the XH2 (besides the AF) is that it's very light, which actually makes camera shake worse. Consider grabbing a cage and a top handle (Smallrig makes great ones) so you can hand-hold it more steadily.

Again, contrary to some others, I would not recommend shooting in the highest bitrate possible, which would be something like 4K HQ ProRes, which is ridiculous for a video newbie to shoot in (I don't mean that as any kind of insult, it's just like taking a new driver and putting them in an F1 car). I'd recommend shooting something like 4K 200Mbps bitrate LongGOP in a standard color profile. Fuji's FLOG2 is great, but LOG shooting might be something you explore as you get more used to a video workflow and actually use a proper video editor. If you're using free programs, there's a decent chance that you will have compatibility issues with Fuji h.265 files, so just do some test runs and see. IME Fuji's video files cause worse system slowdowns than similar files from something like a Sony, so don't be surprised if you experience some performance issues during playback and editing.

Also another thing people aren't mentioning that you should know is that with video (I'm generalizing here, so people shouldn't come at me with the "well actuallys") ISO is sort of different. Maybe not different, but you generally aren't going to use it in the same way as with photos. So the Fuji XH2 has a "base" ISO of 1000, which is where the sensor gets the best dynamic range. You can set it higher or lower, but you'll get the best performance at ISO1000, whether you're in bright sunlight or very dark. So you'll have to consider this when you think about lighting, because ISO 1000 + a shutter speed of 1/60--assuming you're shooting at 30fps, and as a rule of thumb but certainly not a hard-and-fast "180 degree shutter" thing (Google it)--will get you overexposed if you don't reduce the light. I'll note that this is less important if you don't shoot in FLOG, but you may notice that when you switch to video mode the XH2 defaults to ISO1000 and shows lower ISOs in red (or maybe in brackets, I don't remember exactly) and this is why.

So you'll commonly hear video people talking about ND filters much more than photo people do. Because in anything but low light, you often will have to lower the amount of light to control exposure, because in video the exposure parameters are much more locked in compared to photography. If you have too much light in video, lowering the ISO or cranking the shutter will have potentially negative effects that most times you want to avoid. So if you are locked into a shutter speed of 1/60, 30fps, and want to maintain a consistent aperture for consistent DOF, the only thing you can do to control exposure is to use an ND filter.
Yes, BTS should be handheld, as it is normally, so you can get many different angles. Most camera/lens stabilization are good enough for handheld (static) shots. And with a big tripod you can get in the way, which is the worst thing a BTS videographer wants.

And, the rest of the recommendations of the above are sound too.
 
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I think handheld footage adds a "you are there" vibe, an intensity that is lost in a locked off shot. I equate it with candid photography. They don't set up a tripod for candid shots, they just shoot them.

Peter Coulson has access to any gear he wants. His BTS videos are not locked off shots on a tripod, they're a camera on a motorized gimbal that moves around as he moves.
 
Yes, but candid photos don't make you seasick.
I think your comment about handheld video reflects not keeping up with the latest developments in stabilization and not being clear about what shots you are talking about.

Boost IBIS on the latest Panasonic cameras gives you static shots that are not distinguishable from tripod shots, at least for shorter takes. If you are talking about shooting while moving with the camera, I agree that will produce shaky video unless on a gimbal or unless using gyro-based digital stabilization, which also produces steady moving video. Gyro stabilization is amazing.

Locked down, static tripod shots are for only a few purposes. Perhaps for long-take sit-down interviews or long-take concert video tripod shots are fine. But for interesting bts video, short clips from many different angles and perhaps moving with the camera are what are needed. And today's camera stabilization modes can handle those just fine. Tripods are becoming obsolete for video.

Ok, this is talk. Here is a handheld video of a performance:



I am sure you will say this makes you "seasick" to refute my contention. But then I would think you are very, very prone to seasickness. :)

And here is what today's digital gyro stabilization can do for moving the camera while shooting:



No stabilization was added for either video in post. All in-camera stabilization. The drummers video is IBIS in Boost mode (no crop); the moving video applies gyro-based digital stabilization, so it is cropped, but the the camera has enough pixels for 8K video so it is not clear there is a resolution hit.
 
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I think that hand held almost always looks bad, and would recommend a shoulder rig or video monopod instead.
See my reply to your quite outdated recommendation below. Tripods are rarely needed anymore except for specialized long-take video (interviews, concerts). Besides being very boring (this is to get you to look and respond!).

Your view is quite destructive and not appropriate for many of today's cameras (maybe not the Fuji).
 
Practice shooting and editing videos before the official shoot day.
^^^This!!!
Yes, but NOT the tripod recommendation, which is completely unnecessary for this type of video unless the Fuji stabilization is really bad (in which case, dump the camera for another one rather than investing in tripods).
Sure, but just as I am capable of making the most expensive guitar on the planet sound like hot garbage, I am also skilled at making footage from cameras with awesome stabilization look like a jittery mess.

Your footage looks good primarily because you have a lot of experience shooting video and have developed good technique. Sure, the stabilization has something to do with it, but I have churned out some pretty horrific footage on my Olympus E-M1 MK II, which has pretty amazing active stabilization.

Now, I am not saying that the OP must use a tripod (or monopod), but if this is his first time shooting video, I don't think he should go full Rambo mode, either.

This is why I mentioned earlier some other forms of stabilization aide, like the neck strap stretch, or a DIY Cine Saddle.

And practice, lots of practice.

Hopefully, the OP will test out shooting handheld in a similar situation (for a similar length of time as will be required the day of the shoot) and report back to us how the tests went.
 

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