Wedding Video

A lady messaged me asking if I would be interested in doing some filming for a wedding. Maybe around 6 hours of converage.

She only wants the footage no edits or anything like that. Pretty much just footage on a disk dvd.
So have any of you done this?
If so what did you charge?
Did you use a DSLR or a different camera?

Thanks,

Also I have been a 2nd shooter at multiple weddings, I shot a wedding solo, also filmed a weddings previously with a friend of mine. So I have an idea of what moments to capture and things of that sort.

i would never do that with a DSLR
however a camcorder / a portable video camera can work well

Which Camcorder would work best with merging clips to dslr footage? Something 1080p around 300-500$? What are the best options?. Im kinda in the same situation for a wedding in August

The biggest challenge of shooting events with DSLRs is capturing good audio. Most DSLRs have terrible built in microphones, no headphone jack to monitor and check, and limited recording time.This is especially tough with weddings where hearing the vows is critical. A 1080p camcorder with a shotgun microphone or wireless lavalier mic on the priest or groom is essential to good wedding video. Its also essential that you test audio during the rehearsal and have a second camcorder operator.

With the camcorder capturing the critical vows, you can use your DSLR to capture other highlights of the wedding. It will be a challenge to make any small camcorder look like a DSLR since they are so different and there is no extra editing.

sspellman wrote in post #16862722
The biggest challenge of shooting events with DSLRs is capturing good audio. Most DSLRs have terrible built in microphones, no headphone jack to monitor and check, and limited recording time.This is especially tough with weddings where hearing the vows is critical. A 1080p camcorder with a shotgun microphone or wireless lavalier mic on the priest or groom is essential to good wedding video. Its also essential that you test audio during the rehearsal and have a second camcorder operator.

With the camcorder capturing the critical vows, you can use your DSLR to capture other highlights of the wedding. It will be a challenge to make any small camcorder look like a DSLR since they are so different and there is no extra editing.

True! The video is just as good as a camcorder but you need to have a mic added to your cam if you want to use it.

And that's what I would like to do rent a nice camera and audio gear. I don't think the party will be up for it cause I spoke with the mother of the bride about it she told me again that she just wants video footage for memories. But, I don't want others to look at it and think its horrible and have my name attached to it.

Take it from a 10+ year video producer veteran, DSLR's are GREAT for short clips like those in movie (cinema) production where the camera is set up and lights are fired up, sound rolls, camera rolls, action is called, and about 1-3 mins later, "cut" is called and the camera is stopped. AWESOME !!

However, for weddings it's roll camera continuously from grandmothers being seated, procession, ceremony, and finally after an eon of cooking . . the recession occurs, although then they might want the receiving line captured also and thus the camera is off for maybe 10 mins and begins rolling again.

WARNING: In DSLR's the imager gets HOT very quickly and most DSLR's have a recording limit that is short of capturing all the process in one looooooong file. If you only get the vows, sure.

If'n it were me, I'd just grab a GoPro Hero 3 with a nice hand held or body mounted device, which has decent sound and stay close. Or, pick up a nice little Canon HDV 30 or 40 used and believe it or not they get pretty awesome video in HD and not bad audio. Moreover, if you have a lav that lil camera has a mic input. Or you can pick up a shot gun mounted Rode or the like and it will pick up from like 20-30 feet away decently and again plugs into the ext mic port.

HDV cams record to mini DV tapes and I ran a broadcast business for 7 years on them. Bigger cameras of course but the tapes and recording format were the same. The HDV cam serves as a deck and can plug directly into a TV and even has a remote if it hasn't gotten lost (small). Moreover, if you wanna edit the stuff, it digests right into most all NLE video editors including FCP natively wherein again the camera serves as the deck using a firewire cable.

Nice set up and iMovie will run the cams controls as will Pinnacle Studio. Awesome camera. We had the 30 then bought the 40 and loved both of em.

I am assuming with 6 hours of coverage you are going to be filming the reception, which can be a challenge. Receptions are usually poorly lit, to barely lit, and it can wreak havoc on autofocus (if used) and also show lots of noise if the camera is not capable of good low light work. Most cameras will be fine for the ceremony, churches are usually well lighted. There are a lot of prosumer cameras that can do good in low light, nothing I have found that is exceptional. You didn't state your budget for equipment. I personally as someone who ran a video business for a while would never consider taping a wedding without a lavalier microphone. I'd never run with less than two cameras either, as unlike with photography you don't have the luxury of taking another shot, if it wasn't captured it's gone, the end. I had one customer who wanted the raw video from a wedding, and it was my worst experience. It's hard at any experience level to make unedited footage look good at all times, I wouldn't do the project if your name is going to be on it.

TLDR version: Get a good low light camera, a lavalier microphone is a must, two cameras are very highly recommended even when shooting in a documentary format. Final thoughts: Don't do it if your name is on it!

Thanks for the info drdimento

Budget hasn't been discussed I let the party know upfront what it would take. They asked how come it cost so much for wedding videos. I went on to explain why there are priced the way they are.


One wedding video me and a friend of mine worked on they wanted all the raw video and a edited copy lol.

My biggest worry is that if I give them the raw video and they watch it with others and they ask well who did this video they didn't edit it etc..... And my my name is attached it could make me look bad