My first wildlife documentary short film.

[Rudy Pohl]

Wow. It must have been a labor of love

Hi CentralCoast,

Yes indeed, you've hit the nail right on the head, it surely was a labour of love. I didn't know a single thing about Sandhill Cranes because they are so rare here and I've made several unsuccessful attempts to get even a good photograph over the last 10 years. So one day last November I was treated to several hours of video recording time with these Cranes displaying a whole variety of behaviours that I had never seen or known about.

A great deal of my time during editing this video was spent watching my own footage over and over and then doing a lot of research on the internet to learn what these behaviours are and what they mean. I soon began to realize that despite some poor image quality footage I had an audio-visual wildlife treasure in my possession. It was then I determined to spend the necessary time to try to turn this footage into a real wildlife documentary short film to the best of my ability. The more I learned about these beautiful, fascination birds, their lives and their amazing interactions, the more my wife and fell in love with them. We now watch and enjoy this film over and over again and we are so delighted that others are enjoying it too.

Thanks for watching and for your kind comment.
Cheers,
Rudy

 

[Rudy Pohl]

Rudy,

Thanks so much for your reply. I have plenty of questions, but will start with a few. One of the things I'm fumbling with is frame rates. I see that you use 60 fps , and 120 for slow motion. I have been going back and forth between using 30 and 60, unless I know that I want substantial slow mo. Do you typically start with 60 rather than 30 fps?
Do you use autofocus on your R5? I find that manual focus just doesn't work in a birds in flight scenario. Are there particular settings that you recommend for the R5? (I know the camera well, so not looking for all the detail, just anything particular that you find more useful that usual)
I have Davinci Resolve, but have been using Premier Pro, just because I like the Lightroom-like interface.
I will be posting some other videos on this forum, outside of this thread, and will appreciate your feedback.
Finally, if you are interested in a great location for Sandhills, I have one in Southern Oregon that I can share with you - albeit an extremely long drive for you!
Thanks again
Lane

Hi Lane,

Let me first try to explain the difficulty I will have in attempting to answer a lot of questions. In a nutshell the problem is time, or rather the lack of it. I have a pretty full schedule most days with little discretionary time. There are frequently lengthy periods when I am not able to reply to any but the most necessary personal correspondence. As well, my main video forum participation is not in this forum which most of the time is not that active, especially when it comes to Canon users. Although this is an open forum brand-wise with very nice people, the majority of the folks here are Nikon users with one active Sony user and two or perhaps three active Canon users. Other than one other Canon user whom I share a lot with through email and on the phone, there's not that much opportunity for Canon users to learn from each other here, at least not yet.

Recently the Fred Miranda website, which has many forums for each of the major brands, began a thread dedicated to video, which as a Fred Miranda photography participant myself, I was very happy to see and have joined. It is just new, but looks like its growing and will probably be a place where many Canon video shooters will find themselves as there are no other such forums as yet that I know of.

Now back to my problem of time. Unfortunately I will not be able to actively and meaningfully participate in detailed discussions both here in this forum and in the FM Canon video forum. So what I suggest is that you begin participating in the FM Canon video forum thread and introduce yourself and post your questions there as well as here. Another benefit in you doing this is that not only will I be more able to answer some of your questions, but other Canon users will also be able to input and learn from the discussions. If you are interested you can find the Canon video forum thread here: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1885499/

You can find my introductory post at the top of page 2 in this thread.

Cheers,
Rudy

 

[Dave63401]

Rudy,

Thanks so much for your reply. I have plenty of questions, but will start with a few. One of the things I'm fumbling with is frame rates. I see that you use 60 fps , and 120 for slow motion. I have been going back and forth between using 30 and 60, unless I know that I want substantial slow mo. Do you typically start with 60 rather than 30 fps?
Do you use autofocus on your R5? I find that manual focus just doesn't work in a birds in flight scenario. Are there particular settings that you recommend for the R5? (I know the camera well, so not looking for all the detail, just anything particular that you find more useful that usual)
I have Davinci Resolve, but have been using Premier Pro, just because I like the Lightroom-like interface.
I will be posting some other videos on this forum, outside of this thread, and will appreciate your feedback.
Finally, if you are interested in a great location for Sandhills, I have one in Southern Oregon that I can share with you - albeit an extremely long drive for you!
Thanks again
Lane

Hi Lane,
My thoughts on your questions. I used to always use 60 fps(59.94) in case I want to slow down in post. I found I don't do that much so I have mostly changed to 29.97 fps. I do use 119.9 when I know I want slow motion.
I use autofocus most of the time when shooting wildlife. I do revert to manual if shooting an eagle nest at distance so it does not hunt.
I have found my best luck on birds is to use the full frame autofocus mode, animal priority, and I alternate between eye auto on and off.
I hope you have time to post here and on the thread at Fred Mirandi Rudy spoke of, as there are nice, knowledgeable folks both places.
Rudy and I both have videos on YouTube, his more advanced than mine.
Here it might be best to start a new thread with questions, and on Fred Miranda there is only one all inclusive thread for Canon video at this time, so just ask in the thread.
Glad to see you here and hope you can find the help you want.
Dave

 

[LaneW]

Hi Lane,

Let me first try to explain the difficulty I will have in attempting to answer a lot of questions. In a nutshell the problem is time, or rather the lack of it. I have a pretty full schedule most days with little discretionary time. There are frequently lengthy periods when I am not able to reply to any but the most necessary personal correspondence. As well, my main video forum participation is not in this forum which most of the time is not that active, especially when it comes to Canon users. Although this is an open forum brand-wise the majority of the folks here are Nikon users with one active Sony user and two active Canon users. Other than the one other Canon user whom I share a lot with through email and on the phone, there's not much opportunity for Canon users to learn from each other here.

Recently the Fred Miranda website, which has many forums for each of the major brands, began a thread dedicated to video, which as a Fred Miranda photography participant myself, I was very happy to see and have joined. It is just new, but is growing and will probably be the place where many Canon video shooters will find themselves as there are no other such forums as yet that I know of.

Now back to my problem of time. Unfortunately I will not be able to actively and meaningfully participate in detailed discussions both here in this forum and in the FM Canon video forum. So what I suggest is that you begin participating in the FM Canon video forum thread and introduce yourself and post your questions there. Another benefit in you doing this is that not only will I be able to answer some of your question, but other Canon users will also be able to input and learn from the discussions. If you are interested you can find the Canon video forum thread here: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1885499/

You can find my introductory post at the top of page 2 in this thread.

Cheers,
Rudy

Understood completely. And thanks. I have a Fred Miranda account and will head over there.

Hi Lane,
My thoughts on your questions. I used to always use 60 fps(59.94) in case I want to slow down in post. I found I don't do that much so I have mostly changed to 29.97 fps. I do use 119.9 when I know I want slow motion.
I use autofocus most of the time when shooting wildlife. I do revert to manual if shooting an eagle nest at distance so it does not hunt.
I have found my best luck on birds is to use the full frame autofocus mode, animal priority, and I alternate between eye auto on and off.
I hope you have time to post here and on the thread at Fred Mirandi Rudy spoke of, as there are nice, knowledgeable folks both places.
Rudy and I both have videos on YouTube, his more advanced than mine.
Here it might be best to start a new thread with questions, and on Fred Miranda there is only one all inclusive thread for Canon video at this time, so just ask in the thread.
Glad to see you here and hope you can find the help you want.
Dave

Dave,

What a kind response, thank you. The fps question is one I have struggled with. My head is stuck in the still mode, thinking faster shutter speed is essential, but I do know that’s not right here, LOL. I have wondered if I just use 60 fps in case I MIGHT want to slow down, am I losing IQ over 30 fps, or is there really a difference? I have shot some 120 fps and the slow mo is impressive for sure - maybe even too much at times.
So I’m figuring out that my initial set up heading out in the field for BIF might be setting my C3 custom function to 30 fps (still wonder if it should be 60) to activate with the R5 movie button, and my C1 to 120 fps for when I really want slow motion. Am I getting the idea?
I am also putting some stuff on YouTube, like you, but have to figure out how to get it to post right - so far it’s messing clips up terribly!
Lane

 

[Rudy Pohl]

Nice Rudy! Is that your voice, or another narrated it?

Hi Charles,
I was just scanning through the comments this morning and found your question, sorry I missed it yesterday.
Yes, that is my voice, warts and all!
Cheers,
Rudy

 

[Dave63401]

Understood completely. And thanks. I have a Fred Miranda account and will head over there.

Dave,

What a kind response, thank you. The fps question is one I have struggled with. My head is stuck in the still mode, thinking faster shutter speed is essential, but I do know that’s not right here, LOL. I have wondered if I just use 60 fps in case I MIGHT want to slow down, am I losing IQ over 30 fps, or is there really a difference? I have shot some 120 fps and the slow mo is impressive for sure - maybe even too much at times.
So I’m figuring out that my initial set up heading out in the field for BIF might be setting my C3 custom function to 30 fps (still wonder if it should be 60) to activate with the R5 movie button, and my C1 to 120 fps for when I really want slow motion. Am I getting the idea?
I am also putting some stuff on YouTube, like you, but have to figure out how to get it to post right - so far it’s messing clips up terribly!
Lane

Lane,
I don't think you lose quality with 60 fps vs 30 fps, all settings being equal. The 4k fine settings available on your camera do seem to be a bit higher quality, and on some cameras that is available only in lower frame rates but not on higher frame rates. If doing long recording times, you would have twice the size file, and more possibility of heat on the body. On the 120 fps, it can also be speeded up if it is too much. Lots of people use the C1-3 custom buttons, so that is fine if you like using them.
Have fun!
Dave