Lense input for video

I plan on purchasing an 80D for a combined purpose of still and video use. I was considering adding the 135L as a combo still/video work horse so to speak. It is my hope and goal to film shorter clips of Bassmaster, FLW and other fishing events and some family hunting trips. This is strictly for fun. As far as the fishing stuff goes I'll be in my own boat roughly 50-75 yards away on average, so sometimes closer and sometimes not when on the water. Other times will be in much closer range. I know there is no one do it all lense, but I'm trying to avoid changing lenses as much as possible and travel lite as possible. I had even considered adding an extension tube for put on the water situations.

So if any of you have similar shooting situation and distances please feel free to share your input or some links to your work so I can see some examples. Thank you in advance for your input it's greatly appreciated.

if hand held, you will want image stabilization.

Heya,

Depends on your budget.

There are awesome cine primes you can get, but you will not want to fool with those in moving water situations with wide aperture.

There are basic 18-135 STM's which would be good (IS & STM for the AF if you need that).

The Tamron 17-50 F2.8 VC is an excellent video lens for close range and medium range work (because you will not need AF much, and the stabilization is good, and this is an inexpensive lens, often $200 used).

Image stabilization is a big deal for handheld video if you're doing that.

75 yards is a long distance away, even on average, to be filming something. 200+ feet is some serious distance to do video. I wouldn't base things on this. I would consider ways to stay closer. You're obviously not doing audio for that one I assume?

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17934930
Heya,

Depends on your budget.

There are awesome cine primes you can get, but you will not want to fool with those in moving water situations with wide aperture.

There are basic 18-135 STM's which would be good (IS & STM for the AF if you need that).

The Tamron 17-50 F2.8 VC is an excellent video lens for close range and medium range work (because you will not need AF much, and the stabilization is good, and this is an inexpensive lens, often $200 used).

Image stabilization is a big deal for handheld video if you're doing that.

75 yards is a long distance away, even on average, to be filming something. 200+ feet is some serious distance to do video. I wouldn't base things on this. I would consider ways to stay closer. You're obviously not doing audio for that one I assume?

Very best,

Thanks for the input. I agree it is a far distance and I'm hoping I can get closer. I'll be at my first Bassmaster event next month so I'll get a better idea how close on the water I can get.

Your right I won't be going for audio right off he bat, although if I can find ways to get closer I might. I've found a few mic options and will be getting one soon to be able to get better audio for the family stuff and should the chance I get closer or get to ride along on some local tournaments I'll be ready.

The 135L at $1,000 is about the top of my range, that combined with the 80D, more memory, a mic, and few other things that might pop up.

murtaugh wrote in post #17935336
Thanks for the input. I agree it is a far distance and I'm hoping I can get closer. I'll be at my first Bassmaster event next month so I'll get a better idea how close on the water I can get.

Your right I won't be going for audio right off he bat, although if I can find ways to get closer I might. I've found a few mic options and will be getting one soon to be able to get better audio for the family stuff and should the chance I get closer or get to ride along on some local tournaments I'll be ready.

The 135L at $1,000 is about the top of my range, that combined with the 80D, more memory, a mic, and few other things that might pop up.

Heya,

At close distance you can use a shotgun mic (I use a takstar). They're good at isolating dialogue from people. When doing it, you record with an amplified +10db signal and drop the low frequencies (most shotgun mics have this option on them that you can set), this way later, when you process, you can bring the audio signal down by -10db and it will be very clean sounding (and not just a bunch of wind noise). Works great.

For far distance, there's no option that is on-camera. For distance you simply need a microphone of some kind on the subject or you will not get any dialogue. If you want to just record nature's sound, that's a simple omni mic near the camera. But if you're doing people, dialogue, someone will need to wear clip-n mics if you're not near them. That simple. No fun for spontaneous stuff.

Reality is, if you're doing video of fishing and stuff, they're not wearing mics, and you're not going to capture dialog from more than 20 feet away, so you won't be doing audio for those kinds of things.

If you're going to hand-hold a lot of this, you really should look into building a DIY or buying a gimbal. Research it on google. A gimbal with image stabilization will give you a lot smoother videos before processing and processing can make them cinema-level smooth. It's the main difference between an amateur looking handicam video and something professional looking.

The longer your lens, the harder it's going to be to have smooth playback without a bunch of swaying and bobbing. Image stabilization helps, but on a telephoto, it's still very hard to not have even on a tripod. Wider angle or just shorter lenses, with stabilization, can achieve very smooth playback without too much trouble. I wouldn't try filming a fishing show with a 400mm lens for example, handheld.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17935353
Heya,

At close distance you can use a shotgun mic (I use a takstar). They're good at isolating dialogue from people. When doing it, you record with an amplified +10db signal and drop the low frequencies (most shotgun mics have this option on them that you can set), this way later, when you process, you can bring the audio signal down by -10db and it will be very clean sounding (and not just a bunch of wind noise). Works great.

For far distance, there's no option that is on-camera. For distance you simply need a microphone of some kind on the subject or you will not get any dialogue. If you want to just record nature's sound, that's a simple omni mic near the camera. But if you're doing people, dialogue, someone will need to wear clip-n mics if you're not near them. That simple. No fun for spontaneous stuff.

Reality is, if you're doing video of fishing and stuff, they're not wearing mics, and you're not going to capture dialog from more than 20 feet away, so you won't be doing audio for those kinds of things.

If you're going to hand-hold a lot of this, you really should look into building a DIY or buying a gimbal. Research it on google. A gimbal with image stabilization will give you a lot smoother videos before processing and processing can make them cinema-level smooth. It's the main difference between an amateur looking handicam video and something professional looking.

The longer your lens, the harder it's going to be to have smooth playback without a bunch of swaying and bobbing. Image stabilization helps, but on a telephoto, it's still very hard to not have even on a tripod. Wider angle or just shorter lenses, with stabilization, can achieve very smooth playback without too much trouble. I wouldn't try filming a fishing show with a 400mm lens for example, handheld.

Very best,

Thanks again for the response. I'll have to look into your suggestions. I know exactly what you mean about the longer the zoom the more difficult to get a quality shot. I hadn't thought about it but a gimbal would be a great idea to help with stabilization.

The fishing side is what I want to do most. I don't really expect to get a lot of audio if any. I realize I won't likely get as close as I like. With that being said I figure I'll try and make a few teaser type videos. Basically several shorter clips compiled into a short 5-8 minute video, or 2-4 minute videos of one angler. Footage could be anything from boat launching, casting, catching, weigh in, or what ever else I get. Might even be kind of cool to make like promotional videos of a certain manufacture. Really no point of videos other than to share with people on YouTube. So with that being said I plan on using mostly music for audio or take a stab at adding in some sounds I can add in. Sounds like water splashing from the fish or the sound of the outboard motor running, who knows this is all new to me just trying to work with my crazy ideas.

Have done some video with the 5d mark III and the 7d mark II...as stated by other people, you definite want IS for video. Some of the canon lens with IS have a very quite motor....something to look into before purchasing.

At the next event take a picture all zoomed in and figure out how much closer you need to be. Then you can match the picture crop to an actual focal length. A 70-300 sounds like a good bet, but the 70-200 f4 IS Probably has better image quality.

murtaugh wrote in post #17937880
Thanks again for the response. I'll have to look into your suggestions. I know exactly what you mean about the longer the zoom the more difficult to get a quality shot. I hadn't thought about it but a gimbal would be a great idea to help with stabilization.

Gimbal is better than IS. Once you start going telephoto, IS is bollocks for video compared to a gimbal.

You'll want a lot higher quality directional shotgun microphone to capture from a far distance and to isolate the outboard motor running from water splashing. Prepare to skip the cheap ones and go straight into Sennheiser's and the like. Also avoid omnidirectional and semi-directional. Find a high quality field recorder + preamp like the Marantz PMD 661 Mark II.