Wow, this month has been interesting. I am using my Canon 5D III to shoot video of a production at church. I am finding that my equipment list may need to expand, again.
The main issues I am encountering are battery and memory capacity. I have two batteries for my camera, as I always like to have a spare on hand in any situation. Well, shooting video requires a lot of power, and one battery does not last the entire show length. I have to either swap out batteries during a break, or hope it does not run out during an important scene! Luckily, I have recorded the show a few times and can plan for the battery swap during one of the scene breaks.
The other issue that I ran into during a test run during rehearsal was memory card capacity. I ended up working around this by lowering the video quality a little bit and recording in IPB instead of ALL-I. Unfortunately, shooting in IPB allows the camera to compress multiple frames at one time to save space, and it is not the best format for post editing. However, I am not going to be doing that much post editing for this video. In this case, that made the compressed file size worth it. I am able to record the entire show on one card. If I were to shoot the entire show using the ALL-I format, I would be running over on memory capacity. This would require planning a memory card swap similar to the battery capacity issue.
These are minor issues that I also encountered. Some of them are just technicalities that I will have to adjust for or learn more about. Others can be fixed with additional equipment. I recorded the show a few nights using different lenses to get different angles of view. Some of the things that I noticed involved my current tripod and tripod head. When panning, the camera tilts off level unless it is pointing in the direction I initially set it up for. Although, it is a subtle tilt, a keen eye may notice. I shot with my wide angle lens, one night, in order to cover the entire set. However, I was not necessarily thrilled with the result of having people in the crowd over shadowing the performers on the stage. It is a cool view, being that it really puts the viewer in the crowd. I’m not sure that is the point of view I would prefer.
Another subtle issue is zooming. I made the decision not to zoom during recording. This left me with fixed focal lengths. Part of my decision was based on the types of lenses that I am using. They are designed primarily for still photography with quick zoom and focus characteristics. This is not necessarily a good characteristic for shooting video. There are lenses designed for cinema that have smoother zoom and focus.
Some of the solutions I thought of to fix these issues include purchasing: more battery power [which may include a battery grip] or an AC adapter, larger memory cards, a better tripod head that will keep the camera level through panning, a taller tripod or stand, and, of course, there are always more lenses.
On a similar but different note, I am still debating how much portrait photography I want to do. I have a decent amount of equipment for this type of photography, now. However, I see a few more items to add if I am going to increase in this area. The main equipment being lighting. I can get by with what I have. There is always more to add. This reflects on one of my earlier posts about “how much is too much?” This post also brings up a good question of where I want to end up, and how much demand there is for each type of photography.