Published on June 1st, 2017 | by Guest

5 DSLR Video Tips for Shooting Professional Videos

Everyone has a DSLR, but not everyone is good at shooting DSLR videos. The sad thing about people is that, when I went to for a trip to Alaska, I saw many people having great DSLRs like Canon 5D Mark III. But they don’t know how to properly hold the DSLR camera on their hands. They won’t bother to learn how to properly operate a DSLR, let alone shooting videos.

If you have a good DSLR, and you’re struggling hard to shoot professional videos out of it, then, this post is for you.

In this post, I’ll present you some of the easiest tips that you can implement now to shoot professional videos from your DSLR.

Set a good frame rate

To explain the meaning of frame rates to you, let me go back to the basics. The video is nothing but a sequence of images or frames played to you fast. Frame rate is measured as frames per second. It refers to the number of still images a 1 sec video contains.

The live broadcast video is 30fps. Whereas, if you are shooting any videos, that you wish to view or render in slow motion in the final stage, you need to max up the FPS maybe to 60fps in order to avoid frame drops.

You need to set the FPS according to the scene and the purpose of your video shooting. Do remember that high FPS number demands more memory on your device.

Manual focus is preferred

Although the auto focus feature in DSLRs is continuously improving, in low light or other conditions, the manual focus is clearly a winner.

In case if you are recording a portrait video, where the subject is still, then the focus is constant throughout the video. When you are shooting short movie or a prank, you need to focus manually for accuracy and keep the small aperture to allow maximum depth of field (Bokeh effect).

Many professional videographers do use a gear called follow focus that lets them turn the focus ring on the lens in a more precise and smooth manner.

Upgrade audio

The inbuilt mic of your DSLR sucks. It is even bad than your webcam mic.

In the video, the quality of your audio matters a lot. You need to strongly consider upgrading your audio quality if you are willing to record professional videos.

Getting a good external mic for your DSLR is preferred.

For most portrait videos which involves only one person, having a good lavalier mic is preferred. These are quite bad at cancelling background noise as they are Omni-directional. They are usually clipped on to the shirt collar or the above the buttons. They offer great audio quality than any other mic for portrait videos, which are preferably indoor.

Another most popular types of mic is shotgun mic. These mics are mounted on the top of the DSLR. They are great for outdoor videography as they are excellent at rejecting off-axis ambient noise. They are also preferred while shooting videos that involves two or more subjects.

Choose your lens

Just remember this. For portrait videos, and while shooting the videos where zooming is not required, make use of prime lens (50mm). If you are looking to record a short movie or a distant video, a good telephoto lens like 55-250mm works great.

You do need to note that with prime lens you can’t zoom in. But the lens does offer a smaller aperture that lets your video turn out to be professional by offering good Bokeh or that blurry background effect. The prime lens is greatly suitable for low light videography. Due to the wider aperture, these lens allow plenty of light into the sensor, allowing the video to be great.

With telephoto lens, you may need to zoom in the lens while recording videos. In this case, the tripod is very essential as you literally can’t shoot zoom videos without shaking your hands a little bit.

Mount your camera

No professional videographer shoots videos by holding DSLR on his hand.

Invest in a good tripod if you are serious about videography and even photography. Pan and tilt shots are only possible with a good tripod. While shooting movies, linearly moving the cameras, tilting the scenes, plays and invokes the viewers’ emotions. These sorts of things are only possible using tripod in your videography.

For a much smoother motion, you need to get a good slider or a tripod that comes with a slider.