Movies with your DSLR
Tips for making great home movies with your EOS camera
Since the introduction of dualpixel AF in the EOS 70D, it has become much simpler to use an EOS camera for movie making. Making good movies requires skill as does taking photos, but there are both similarities and significant differences.
A good movie tells a story, as a sequence of movie clips that lead the viewer on a clear storyline, and it is beneficial to try and plan the story in advance to guide the shots you need to capture. Take the typical holiday movie: start with a wide-angle shot to set the location and how it fits in the landscape. Then take a closer view, maybe focus attention on the specific building or maybe your hotel, and then go closer to the front door. You’ve now got three clips that will help to lead your viewer in to the location. You can also work back out from the close-up to a mid and then a wide shot once you’ve started. A good zoom lens, such as the Canon EF-S 18-135mm, on an APS-C camera is a useful choice, but you might need wider lenses too.
Recommended settings
Ideally the shutter speed is set to double the movie frame rate. So if you are shooting movies at 25 frames per second, set the shutter to 1/50 sec. You might be okay with Shutter Priority, though my preference is manual mode so that I can control the depth of field. If using manual mode, you can use auto ISO so that the camera automatically takes care of the exposure. If your camera has custom shooting modes C1, C2 or C3 then you can assign one of them as your movie mode. This makes it simple to switch from stills to movie mode and back again.
You might want to make sure the camera is held steady, but not all shots need a tripod. Moving the camera while recording adds a cinematic quality to your footage. However, smooth camera movements do take time to master. Image Stabilizer lenses help a lot. Cameras with touchscreen LCDS and dual-pixel AF are ideal, as you can simply tap on the screen to set the focus and the camera will track your subject for you. Make sure you have large-capacity, high-speed memory cards, as video files can be huge.