Weekly quiz #18

Question #17

The answer to last weeks question

When shooting HD Movies with a DSLR at a frame rate of 24fps, what shutter speed should you normally use?

Congratulations! Well, that’s a first. Never before have we had a 100% success rate on the weekly quiz, so either you’re all totally clued up on HD Movie shooting, or you’re very good at using google! I’m gonna go for the former If you think you want to learn a bit more about HD Movie shooting with DSLR cameras, drop us a line and let us know. We will be arranging some group courses over the next few months and can also organise 1-2-1 sessions if that would suit you better.

For those that didn’t answer because they weren’t sure, the solution is simple – you select a shutter speed that is double the frame rate you are shooting at. So, with 24fps being the frame rate your shutter speed should be 1/48th second. Since we don’t have 1/48sec we go to the next nearest which is 1/50sec. If you’ve set your camera to adjust shutter speed and aperture in 1/2 stops rather than 1/3rd stops, you’ll have access to 1/45sec which you could also use to film.

Weekly quiz #17

Question #17

The answer to last weeks question

You are taking a portrait with the sun behind your subject and you are using flash to balance the exposure on their face. Camera settings are Av mode at f/8 ISO 200. How do you darken the background?

This question seemed to catch a few of you out, though in truth the majority of you did get it right. It is further proof that flash is still scary for some! Anyway, on to the answer. It’s actually quite simple, if you want to darken the background, you need to increase the shutter speed. Given that the settings were being made in Av, adjusting the exposure compensation will adjust the shutter speed not the aperture. Therefore, using negative exposure compensation to record less light will be achieved by the camera increasing the shutter speed and hence darkening the background light. Al other things being equal, the light on the subject, produced by the flash, will not change at all.

Weekly quiz #16

Question #16

The answer to last weeks question

Which models of current Canon DSLR cameras record SD (640 x 480) movies at 25 or 30 frames per second? (choose all that apply)

This one confused enough of you some trouble that votes were down on previous questions. Really strange since the answer is here on the site in a post from March of this year where we outlined the movie features of the current and past HD capable DSLR cameras. Taking the answer straight from the post, EOS 5D Mrk II and the EOS 600D are currently the two cameras that use the slower frame rates when recording SD resolution movies. The others switch to a faster 50 or 60 frames per second.

If you have a question you would like to see asked as the weekly quiz question then please leave a note in the comments.

Weekly quiz #15

Question #15

The answer to last weeks question

Which Canon lenses have a focus ring that doesn’t keep turning when minimum or infinity focus is reached?

The one difficulty that often is raised by film makers using Canon EOS cameras and EF lenses is that when you add a follow focus unit to the lens it’s possible to just keep on turning the follow focus and the lens focus ring will pass beyond either minimum or infinity focus. This results in it being hard to get repeatable focus pulls to the same point. However the TS-E lenses are manual focus lenses, and so their focus rung stops when it reaches both minimum and infinity focus. Many of you realised this, but a few thought the new EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro USM lens also exhibits this behaviour.

If you have a question you would like to see asked as the weekly quiz question then please leave a note in the comments.

Weekly quiz #14

Question #14

The answer to last weeks question

Which TWO of the following should be the first things you do when you get a new camera, before you start taking pictures?

This was a question to stir the grey cells. When taking a picture one of the most important things is being able to see the image, to do this the viewfinder is the most commonly used option and whilst it’s possible to rely on the AF of the cameras, it’s quite disconcerting to have no idea if the subject is in focus or not when you press the shutter, so first thing to do is set the viewfinder dioptre correction. If you don’t understand the importance of this then you should move the dioptre correction on your camera until the viewfinder is very blurred and then try taking pictures.

Secondly the other setting you should make is to take the camera out of shoot without card, or in-store demo mode. Now you can’t take pictures at all unless a card is in the camera so it neatly ensures that ‘Put a memory card in the camera’ is also forced to be done.

You might not think these are important, but these two items alone will ensure you can see what is focussed in the picture and which AF point is being used, plus you won’t have that sinking moment as the LCD flashes off and your best image ever is gone for good as you shot with no card in the camera.

If you have a question you would like to see asked as the weekly quiz question then please leave a note in the comments.