Timelapse of clouds... what you don't see with the naked eye

Hi all. I spent some time yesterday taking some up close and personal video of the amazing clouds that are going on here in the Wasatch Front. Luckily, I still had A's lens... the amazing 70-200, mixed with the 3x Zoom factor that Magic Lantern allows for in RAW mode. It turns this lens into a 600mm lens at F2.8. I let it run for quite a while to capture all of the movement and beautiful billowing that is amazing to watch... especially when you then speed it up in post. You could do individual frames like a nighttime timelapse but it is so much easier to change the video frame rate to a slow speed (5fps) and just let the camera capture each fully raw frame. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Wild Buffalo on Antelope Island...how close is too close?

Hey everyone.  Take a look at wild buffalo on Antelope Island up-close-and-personal that I shot on Saturday.  It was an amazing day.  As I pulled across the causeway, the water was as still as a millpond.  No wind at all.  But then 3 minutes later, the wind picked up to about 40 Mph.  Needless to say, I didn't get any aerial shots but I did get some amazing shots of the wildlife. There is one shot where the buffalo walked across the road about 15 feet in front of me.  Didn't need a telephoto lens for that shot!  Enjoy




If you want to see more, check out my Youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/dbrentwatson?feature=watch for reviews, and amazing video.

Where to shoot photos in American Fork

There is a little known secret about this amazing hidden park here in American Fork.  Surrounded by trees, you can't really see it from any road, but step inside and you will find one of the most amazing locations for shooting portraits and video.  You have colorful rocks and stairs in the amphitheater, and then flowers and hills that make this place large enough for a huge wedding, and small enough to feel intimately close to nature.  Just up the hill (as you will see in the video) is the American Fork LDS Temple.  Enjoy some amazing flowers video and hidden gems in the park.



Shot with Canon 5D Mark III
Magic Lantern Firmware July 27, 2013 build
Canon 24-70 F2.8 L
ProAm DVC200 8 ft Camera Jib

Music by David Watson

HD Video of flying over Main Street Park City Utah...

Hi all. Over the weekend I headed up to Park City, a high class mountain town here in Utah.  Park City is mostly known for the Sundance Film festival,  It is where all the movies stars come to debut their indie film works or just party with those who do.  It's a beautiful place in winter and in summer.  Here is some of the video, shot with the DJI Phantom Quadcopter and the Canon 5D Mark III, Raw.  Enjoy.


Music by David Watson

This time out I was more nervous flying than I have every been thus far.  The reason I think is because I have been kicked out of many places (i.e. Temple grounds, Football fields, Shopping centers)  and there happen to be a cop just down the street that was blocking traffic while they cleaned up a street festival down the road.  But, to my amazement, no one kicked me out, in fact, there were really just lots of people oooing and awing over the spectacle of the quadcopter.

This thing is a young boys and old men magnet.  I kid you not, if anyone is near, they flock to it like nothing else.  Young boys always ask 2 questions; "Where did you get that?" and "Can I fly it?"  Old men ask; "What is that called?" and "Does it have a camera?"

I have made a lot of friends and contacts by just flying.  It is a lot of fun.  Send me a comment and tell me what you think.

How to shoot the Milky way in a time-lapse, it's harder and easier than you think

Hi everyone.  I searched and search the internet for good information about how to shoot a time lapse of the milky way, surprisingly, I didn't find a whole lot of useful information.  Sure people are willing to share the settings on the camera, but to find the secrets of where to shoot, and how to shoot.

My guide to shooting night time time-lapse 

There are several things that have to come together before you try to go out and shoot.  The first is the phase of the moon.  You need the moon to not be out.  You can check the sunrise and sunset of the moon by your location at this site.

The next thing to check is the weather, check it here.  Make sure you check the cloud cover and the movement of the clouds at least a few hours before you go out somewhere.  You need the sky to be clear and you also need to know how much wind.  The reason for this is not only clouds, but the wind can kick up a lot of dust.  If there is a storm front coming in, chances are pretty good that along with that storm will kick up dust.

Ever here of light pollution?  Most of the time, if you live near any sort of city, you are going to have light pollution.  This is caused by all the lights that we keep on at night that end up reflecting and bouncing all over the place.  To find a place near you that has a dark enough sky, search here.

Ok, now we need to talk about equipment.  You need a camera, preferably a DSLR, with the ability to shoot long exposures.  How long? 10-30 seconds.  Most DSLR cameras can shoot up to 30 second shots in any mode.  You also need a wide angle lens.  The reason for this is because stars move.  If you zoom into a part of the sky, that smaller location will move more than looking at a whole lot of the sky with a wide angle lens.  You need a tripod and it needs to be stable.  The next thing is a intervalometer.  This is a device that will take a series of pictures at a specific interval.  I use Magic Lantern firmware which puts this capability in the camera.

That's it really.  There are lots of other equipment that can be used, but you don't need those things to take a good timelapse.

So I followed the steps above and this is location that I came up with:

It was far enough away to get out of most of the light pollution for my area and away from any traffic and close enough to drive within a couple hours.  The moon rise was 10:00 am so I didn't have to worry about the moon getting in the way, and the weather was mostly clear.  Because this is a timing thing that only happens every once in a while, I was willing to risk having a few scattered clouds.

Setting up

You need to find a location that has some amount of the earth in the shot.  You need this because without reference to something on the ground, it is hard for anyone watching to really see the amount of movement that is going on.  Also, because you are going to be shooting at a large aperture value (i.e. 2.8), you need to make sure that anything that is closer to you (like trees or bushes), isn't so close that you lose focus on the stars because of the depth of field.  Some of the more advanced shooters will increase the F-stop to allow for a larger depth-of-field to allow for this very thing.  You will then have to either increase the ISO, of increase the shutter speed to account for this.

I set the camera up, pointed at the horizon, and manually focus the camera.  Focus can be the most tricky part of setting up.  I usually end up turning on video mode, or live preview, and then pointing the camera at a star that is bright, and then manually adjusting focus so that the star is focused.  You may have to increase the ISO settings to above 3200 in order to really have the camera be able to "see" the stars.  If the stars are not bright enough, then you may have to resort to pointing at a man made light out in the distance to set the focus.

Next thing to setup is you camera settings.  Here are the ranges that you will want to test with:
Camera Manual mode
Lens: Turn off Autofocus
Lens width: 11mm - 24mm  (depends on crop or full frame camera)
ISO: 1600-6400
Shutter speed:  10-30 seconds
Aperture: F2.8 - F5.6
Intervalometer: Every 1-10 seconds (depends on how fast the shutter speed is)

Set the picture style to Faithful
Set the White Balance to 3200 K.  Do not leave it on Auto White Balance.

So take some test shots.  Keep the ISO as low as you can, but capture as much light as you possibly can. Try ISO at 1600, Shutter speed at 25 seconds.  In the camera preview mode, just remember that in really dark environments that the screen will look a lot brighter than the actual photo (or video frame).

Taking the sequence of shots

So now set the Intervalometer to take a picture every (shutter speed) + 1 second.  The length of the video will depend on how many shots you take.  Remember that every frame is only 1/24th or 1/30th of a second in video.  So for a 10 second video, you need 240 shots.  If you are taking 2 shots a minute, you need to shoot roughly 2 hours worth of shots.  This also may depend on the capabilities of your camera, but most should be able to handle it.  If you are using Magic Lantern on a Canon camera, this will work. I have tried using long exposure noise reduction and because it take quite a bit of time to process each frame in camera, I don't recommend it.  You can do better noise reduction in post. 

 
Obviously keeping the camera still is assumed.  If you have a lot of wind, you may want to make sure that you tripod is sufficiently weighted down to resist any movement.

That's it for the shooting part.  In my next blog post I will go over how to process the frames into a video.

 
 

Audio Technica PRO88W-830-24 battery powered wireless transmitter and receiver in-depth review

Audio Technica PRO88W-830-24 Pro 88W Wireless Microphone
So you are thinking about wireless audio options for Canon DSLR

Reasons that I thought about buying…
So if you have watched my review on Zoom H4N, you know that using a separate Audio recorder is probably the way to go for capturing high quality audio.  The next problem that I ran into is being able to record audio from a distance without running a wire and carrying around a microphone. The main things that I needed were the ability to run on batteries and keep the weight down as low as possible.  I looked at the options with Sennheiser and some of other lower cost options.  As you can tell from my other reviews.  I tend to try and save as much money as I can.  I want the quality and features but at the lowest cost. Even though I read several reviews on this product, I thought that for my needs, it would work out.

Here is what I actually use it for.....
I found that for interview and training types of videos, I use this as the main input for mic'ing and ultimately sending the audio into my Zoom H4N.  If I want the flexibility of moving around, without moving a mic, I use this a lot. I will typically mount the zoom on top of the hot shoe on top of the camera and then mount the receiver to the bottom of the Zoom.  This doesn't cover all things and the one area that I am lacking is news interview style where I use a lav mic for myself and a handheld for people I want to interview.  Because of this, I haven't done any of this style of interviewing.  Just as well because it really requires multiple people for a camera man and talent.  I did my research to compare multiple systems and although the Audio-Technica is not the best, the distance that I typically shoot works alright.

Here are the things I didn't expect or didn't like...
I didn't expect the audio quality to be great, but I didn't expect the level of noise that is introduced because of the radio signal.  I also didn't expect the level of radio interference that can happen at really short distances.  Computer equipment, some lights, cell phones, all of these things can disrupt the signal.  And not having the option to change the signal beyond an A/B switch is not enough to get to the best possible clear signal.  I have found that when I shoot around lots of computer equipment, cell phones, walls, and other interference, I have to test and move the position of the receiver a lot.  This is not a fun process.  I typically have to be within a few feet in order to keep the signal from being static ee.  In open air though, across 30 feet, it does pretty well.  

Here are the super cool things that I love about it...
I love not being tethered to the camera, once I find the right (non-interference spot), turning on all the signal chain and the camera and then knowing that it will work.  I haven't had any problems with cables, or even the mic, although I haven't ever stretched to any heat or cold limitations.  The batteries last quite a while, several hours, without worry. Just don't forget to turn it off.  For the price, it was a good purchase.  For the amount of headache of checking for interference, and doing takes that end up screwed up because of signal interference, I can't really recommend this product.  If you want rock solid and flexibility, it looks like spending the extra money is well worth it.  I will be upgrading to a the Sennheiser system for the future.
 
Common settings that I use...
Only has an A/B switch for channels
Levels can be adjusted but I never have from out of the box.

Swivi 5.6 External Monitor for DSLR in-depth review

So you are thinking about buying a Swivi 5.6 external monitor for your DSLR Camera?

Reasons that I thought about buying… 
If you have watched my review on the Canon 7D or the Canon 5D Mark III, you know that one of the hard things about using a DSLR for video is focus.  I went down the path of getting a viewfinder that attaches to the back of the camera in my review of my viewfinder.   With that review, I also talked about how it exposed the quality of the LCD quickly becomes the issue of being able to really see focus.  I also found that watching things back on the same small 3 inch LCD. especially when I was trying to share the video with those around me became a huge issue.  So for shooting things that I wanted the ability to see focus, as well as play things back, I needed something that would be large enough and of course battery operated.  Along came the Swivi... I read several reviews of people who got pre-release over at Cheesycam and Oliviatech who liked what they were seeing.  I also found the price to be within reach.  Honestly at the time, I didn't understand focus peaking but it seemed like this would be something that would come in very handy.  It really really did make a huge difference to be able to see where the focus really was.

Here is what I actually use it for.....  
I have found that this is very useful for almost every situation shooting video.  The Swivi attaches to the camera mount at the bottom of the camera and swivels either to the side or just overlays the back of the camera.  I found the resolution to be a huge jump from the LCD of the back of the 7D.  When I take it out in public, people tend to be in awe of it, and other photographers tend to be jealous of it.  The monitor sun hood comes in very handy when trying to deal with blocking the sun.  Obviously, this is not an super bright LCD or OLED screen, so being able to see in direct sunlight is a must.  Also being able to attach the sunhood in either direction gives some great flexibility.  It is plastic so the durability is worry some.  I have been very careful with being hard on it.  I have always left it behind when shooting on hiking shoots.  The focus peaking that is built into the monitor is pretty good.  I have seen other high end monitors that do a much better job, but it is very useable.  Indoor shots are usually the ones where I use it the most.

Here are the things I didn't expect or didn't like
So probably the biggest problem that I have had is getting it to stay tightly connected and not swivel when attached to the camera.  The wheel that allows you to screw to the mount at the bottom of the camera takes a lot of force to get a tight enough fit to really stay put.  I have found that pulling the right edge up against the camera is the only way to really make it not swivel on the 7D.  For what ever reason, this didn't seem to be the case with the 5D Mark III.  The other strange thing that I noticed is that if I leave a battery in, which it takes the same LP-6 (the video says EP-6, whoops) Canon battery as the camera, it will actually drain the battery within a day or so.  Even if the monitor is not turned on, it seems to suck battery power. My fix for this is to always place the battery that I am using in upside down when not in use.  This way it doesn't drain the battery.  The power button is a little strange as well.  Turning it off takes holding it down for a full second or two before it powers off.

The color reproduction is good.  Good enough that I rarely find enough color difference between the back of the camera and the monitor, although there is some.  Brightness is good as long as you are not in direct sunlight. The sunhood helps but it isn't quite enough to really see well in that much sun.  Sunsets work well though.  Bootup time isn't great.  It does take a while before the camera recognizes the signal and switches to the monitor.  Some of that is the camera though.  It has a button that allows it to go full frame or cropped.  It is mostly useless on the 7D.  The menu and rocker wheel to select and modify settings like brightness and contrast works well enough.  Swiveling the monitor feels like you might break it off.  The fact that it is made of plastic makes it feel cheap but as long as you don't twist it the wrong way, you should be fine. When it is not rotated, and even when it is, access to the buttons on the left side of the screen are hard to get to.  But, access to the scroll wheel on the right is.  So recording is easy, but playing back is not because the play button is on the left side.

Here are the super cool things that I love about it
I have to say that it was really nice to be able to see a level of detail that I could not see just looking at the back of the camera.  The resolution bump from the LCD of the back of the camera to this monitor is enough that it adds a huge value.  Having the focus peaking available, at least before Magic Lantern started working on a 7D, was worth the money alone.  For the price, this was a great addition that allowed me to step up to a level of cinematography that I expected.  The fact that it uses the same batteries for me was a huge plus.  It meant that all my power options were sharing the same type, so in a pinch, I could swap things around if needed.

I like the ease of mounting and the cable that is rotate-able to prevent it from getting messed up by rubbing or pushed sideways.  I have also gotten several adapters and a longer HDMI cable to be able to mount on a jib/crane away from the camera.  Although it doesn't help with being able to remotely focus the camera, it does help to be able to see the shot as you are shooting from the back of the crane.  

Let me know what you think.  Send a comment.

Zoom H4N in-depth review

So you are thinking about getting an audio recorder for Canon DSLR with the Zoom H4N

Reasons that I thought about buying…
So if you have watched my review on Canon 7D here, you know that using the on-camera mic is not great.  I knew that I needed to add-on to the camera to allow for better audio recording.  I read review after review of people discussing an on-camera mic, but I really wanted the added flexibility of multiple channels of audio.  I wanted to be able to plug-in multiple mic's for field recording and I wanted it to be simple.  Funny story, I actually got my wife to agree to getting it because she was a big fan of Ghost hunting.  I told her that she could use it as a great EVP recorder.  Turns out, it's a horrible EVP recorder, because of it's high quality, the chances of "interference" causing "unknown" sounds to be recorded is pretty low. That being said, the Zoom H4N has become the de-facto standard of off camera audio recording.  There are many imitators out there, and even Zoom is trying to up-sell people to the new Zoom H6N that is about to be released.  But the abilities of this little recorder make it flexible enough to do just about anything.

Here is what I actually use it for.....
I use this as the main input for mic'ing and ultimately sending the audio into my camera.  The nice part of this is that I can record multiple mic inputs at the same time either on multiple channels or just from the x/y stereo mic on the zoom.  I will typically mount the zoom on top of the hot shoe on top of the camera if I am running and gunning or shooting an event like sports or concert type events.  It captures the stereo field rather nicely, and also has the ability to set limiting and compression for those moments that you want the maximum audio signal that you can.  In more advanced setups for interviews or training videos I usually run a separate condenser mic in order to get closer to the subject.  Originally, even though you could have this as a recorder, plugging into the Canon 7D directly out of the Zoom required a intermediate device or cable in order to cancel out the AGC from the 7D.  I bought a JuicedLink device to have the signal on half of the stereo channel to max out in order to allow the signal be controlled on one channel.  Now with the latest 2.0 firmware for the 7D, you just need to set the levels in the camera to Manual and then make sure the levels in the camera are set to not peak, and in the Zoom both the record level and the headphone out level so that the camera does not peak out anywhere along the audio chain.

Here are the things I didn't expect or didn't like...
Learning the menu system and learning the different options in the Zoom can take some time.  Recording multiple inputs at the same time with multiple mic's can be a bit tricky.  The Zoom also has updated the firmware to allow for setting input levels while recording multiple sources.  I highly recommend updating if you want to do multiple mic setups.  The biggest surprise was when I accidentally tipped my camera bag over into a river at the top of a waterfall.  The Zoom went off the 100 foot waterfall and survived the fall, not even a scratch on it.  I did the bury it in rice for a couple of days trick to get the water out.  And to my surprise, it worked.  Even the microphones sound no worse for wear.  I have used the Zoom in meetings, concerts, interviews, and in cold and hot weather.  It just works.  I haven't come across any flaws that I can find.  The only thing that I had to do is get a fuzzy wind screen.  The foam screen that comes with it doesn't help with wind. When shooting with the camera I typically don't even record on the Zoom, I just turn on Monitoring  (in settings) and go directly into the camera.  If you want to monitor with headphones, then you need a splitter cable for coming out the headphone out.

Here are the super cool things that I love about it...
If you are going to get serious about shooting video with a DSLR, you are going to need some way to get quality audio with the video.  The Zoom makes this possible with a portable, quality audio, at 24bit 96Khz.  I love my Zoom and would replace it immediately if it ever got lost or broke.  Because it is so portable, and the battery life is very good -- about 4-6 hours of continuous recording, taking on a shoot is a no-brainer.  I am going to look seriously at the Zoom H6N.  The added flexibility for the 6 channels and the different on-board mic options is a very nice set of added features.  I would highly recommend this piece of equipment for anyone trying out film-making.  It has about every feature you could ever want from a portable and high quality audio reproduction.
 
Common settings that I use...
Record Settings, 24 bit WAV, mp3 variable
Input Monitoring On
Record levels
Headphone out levels
Camera settings Manual levels
Multiple microphones attached