Wedding video fro friend...need some questions answered

Hi Guys,

Friends of mine getting married in a couple of weeks and they are getting a professional photographer but have chosen not to have a video guy. I have offered to capture the day on video using the 5dmk2. I won't be getting paid as I offered to do it for them on the basis that I am also using it as a great way to test a wedding shoot should I ever decide to offer videos for weddings.

Just wanna check on some things. I don't have an onboard led light and so will rely on ambient lighting for the reception and church.

I have the below collection of lens:

50mm f/1.4
17-40mm
24-105mm
70-200mm f/2.8

Could anyone please advise on which would work in what situation.

My take is to use the 24-105mm for church as it should cover the guests and be wide enough to get the bridal party on the alter.

The 70-200mm for after wedding while they get photos done in park on on location

The 50mm I was looking at covering tables at the reception.

ISO settings, is going 3200 a sin?

Shutter speed set to 30 instead of 50?

Can anyone experienced in wedding videos please comment.

They are completely aware that I am not official, just hanging around covering the event as a guest.

Apart from a light it seems like you've got it all covered, ISO is a bit high though that's just going to have lots of noise.

Things don't go smoothly at weddings and you should be ready to plan B very quickly. Maybe find out the times of when the main parts are happening and make sure you're covered for those bits. Setting up early and mapping people helps.

Be ready to fight everyone with a camera phone who WILL stand in front of you. Have a good time with it it's the bonus of not being the official guy.

I do recommend a light you can find them very reasonable these days. I'd shoot the same iso throughout so all footage is consistent.

Photo99

I believe the priest prohibits lights to be used in church. As far as a quick fix for lights, I do have a set of those lights you purchase from home depot and have used those on paid video jobs.

As far as what to shoot, I suppose its about detail now, getting intricate things?

I figured it would be a rare opportunity to test the waters and see how I would fair in a real situation, also give the mk2 a good run. I shot wedding videos man almost 19 years ago back in the days of vhs. I gave up and took up photography, but the video side is still in the blood.

set shutter speed to 50 or 60 not 30. its been a while since i shot on a 5d2. but i shoot at 60 on my 7D.

no matter if you are shooting at 24p or 30p you will want your shutter speed at 1/50 or 1/60 which ever your camera has

careful with home depot lights. dont set up too many as they get mega hot and suck a good bit of power.

Depending on the church, f/4 may be too slow. You'll most likely be using the 50 most of the day..especially the reception. Don't be afraid to go to 3200 or even 5000(skip 4000) with the right exposure.

Stabilization is probably the most important thing. What do you plan to use?

Have tripod and monopod

considering tripod for church and reception and possibly monopod when outside and they are taking photos

The 50mm worries me from the f/1.4-2.0 dof as when I cover the tables i figure the people will be OOF

I also have a commercial class lavalier wireless mic I will place near church speakers and on mic stand at reception

lensfreak wrote in post #15248206
I also have a commercial class lavalier wireless mic I will place near church speakers and on mic stand at reception

That best is a compromise, any chance you can tap your transmitter into the board?

Wayne

On the MK2, try not to shoot above 3200 ISO unless you absolutely have to. Set your ISO in increments of 160 (320, 640... then 1250, 2500, 3200). Keep your Shutter speed at 1/60 if you can if not more... do not dip below 1/60 (this is considering you're shooting at 30 FPS). If you want a certain aperture, then go ahead and jump you SS higher, but the more you shoot a double the FPS, the smoother the video will look.

Practice follow focus. Rack your focus and learn to use the focus distances as best you can to keep people in focus. Pick the right apertures for your subjects, because 1 eye in focus but everything else blurry looks good only sometimes.

Shoot well before and well after your intended seen. You'll be glad you have that extra bit of footage to post process/splice with.

White balance white balance white balance. It's tough today with all the CCFL emitting the weird green/purple hues that our eyes don't see. But, it screws up you skin tones that even post processing the color doesn't match it well. Mixed lighting kills, but try your best to set the white balance correctly.

Your voice will overpower the ambient, so make sure you're quiet.

Set your exposure before you shoot. It looks and sound horrible when you're changing aperture/shutter speed/iso during the recording. http://lightcraftworks​hop.com/ they make these awesome combination polarizer filters that are adjustable with a smooth turn of the filter. It makes outdoor shooting at wide aperture 1/60 shutter speed possible. It also makes changing exposure during recording look seemless and quiet. I use them a lot with my videos.

I don't do this for a living, but I've done enough videos to know the ups and downs of shooting with all of the Canon dSLRs. I've made the mistake of white balance, shutter speed, aperture, stopping recording too soon, etc.

Good luck.