Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
This episode in the basic filmmaker sponsored by:
Acronyms!
If you wanna be a pro, you need to get better at handling your gear.
I get a lot of questions about camera settings. Most of these are simply not
knowing the camera.
There is an old acronym RTFM which means
well, look over here. That's all well and good
if the manual isn't a POS. Over here again.
If you just picked up a DSLR, another acronym,
over here, and open one of those user manuals,
you might think you're in idiot because you can understand it,
or you think it's way more complicated to use a DSLR than you thought,
and both of these are not true. It's one thing to read the manual to see what the
camera settings are,
and quite another be able to use the camera
and shoot something, and quite another to be able to set up your camera in a
minute or two and start shooting.
And that's what you want to be able to do.
I can always tell a beginner from a Pro.
The beginner is always fumbling with the camera and the gear.
The Pro doesn't. The pro figures out
what's the best shot, sets his gear up to get it, and gets it.
There's nothing wrong with being a beginner. Everyone is, or was a
beginner at some point.
The difference between the beginner and the Pro is:
the Pro understands his equipment so well
and what it can do and can't do, that he doesn't have to
think about. The beginner fumbles around with the equipment.
The way a beginner starts to become a pro,
is by understanding his tools and how to use them, without having to think about it
and fumble around.
And to understand that beginner has to understand
what's important and what's not important. What's important
is setting up your camera for shooting the shot you need.
For example, the ISO, the amount of light the camera will record,
is important. You should be able to walk into a room or outside and depending on how
much light you have,
be able to set the ISO in about five seconds.
Well, to do that, you need to know where the ISO button is on your camera.
There will usually be a menu setting for ISO
and a button on your camera to set the ISO
so you don't have to go into the menu system the set it. Here's a practical drill:
Go to differently lit spaces both inside and outside,
pick a subject and practice setting the ISO properly
until you can do it - fast. If you need to adjust your ISO, and your finger doesn't
jump to that button, you need more practice.
Do it, until you really get it down, and don't even have to think about it. Now do the same
thing with focus:
if you grab your focus ring on your lens and fumble around and turn it right
when you should have turn it left, and are fumbling around trying to set your focus,
then do the same thing. Go take a walk
and practice focusing on things until you don't even have to think about it.
You look, grab the focus ring, BAM! Let's take another one.
When I put a card in my camera, the first thing I do is format it,
always. This saves me from running out of room on the card to footage that is already there,
and makes sure that the card and camera are good to roll.
I put the card the camera, press the menu button, click over to the setting,
move down to format, and BAM! I don't think about it,
I just do it. And that's done by practicing that one thing over and over and over,
until I don't even have to think about it. Once you practice all these basic things,
one at a time,
you'll be able to put them all together. You should be able to walk into a room,
know if there's enough light, set up your tripod, mount your
camera, mount the correct lens, turn the camera on,
make sure there's enough battery, insert a card, format it, set the ISO, aperture and focus,
and set any other settings you need, in about two minutes.
What you end up with is your eyeballs and your brain on what you need to shoot
and how to shoot it, instead of fumbling around with your camera.
That will not only save you a lot of time,
it shows everyone else around you, that you know what you're doing,
that you're a Pro. If you take the time to understand and practice each
action you can take with your camera, your lights, your sliders, rigs,
monitors, sound setup, and anything else you use to make films and videos,
you'll gain a lot of time to do what you want to do: Create the film or video,
instead of fumbling around with the equipment. A key factor that makes a
artist, athlete, woodworker,
photographer, musician, filmmaker, or anyone in a field a Pro, is Competence.
And competence is gained by practice: Knowing your tools so well
that you don't even have to think about it. I hope that helps,
and thanks for watching.
And the beginner, WHOA!
Almost fumbled the camera. Hey how about that!
I need to practice that. No fumbling the camera.
Not today and not on my watch. Nope!