NightHawkInLight Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 For new buyers which spec must have the new camera for best results?For capturing fireworks or other things? There are many considerations for both. For fireworks the most important things you need are manual focus and manual ISO control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mia Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Fuji Film HD works great for Fireworks but eat's up memory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 DSLRs are great, but there are a whole load of considerations for video which DSLRs still really struggle with. Dedicated video cameras are still widely used by professionals, for good reason. Look up magic lantern if you have a DSLR or are thinking about getting one for video. I'll add a few videos from my Canon 7D when I get a chance. I really love shooting with it at 60FPS. I recently got the 5D MKII but haven't had a chance to shoot any pyro with it, I'm sure it will be lovely when I get round to it I have a Nikon D70 that has been idle for a few years now since i picked up my Lumix so your post got me thinking and I decided to upgrade to the Nikon D3100 with full HD video. I have the old Nikon Nikkor 55mm 1.2F lens for night time, I bet it is kickass for video!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flying fish Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 (edited) As for stability with DSLRs, my brother has also been talking about getting some kinda gyro stabilized mount sold by the name "glide cam." On an unrelated topic, I have started seriously considering getting a go pro. I think it could come in handy for hands-free recording at club shoots. It could also double as a dash cam, which is another thing I've been wanting to get. Does anyone have any experience with them? Which model would you suggest? I want to capture nice video of fireworks but don't want to overspend. Edited January 30, 2013 by flying fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightHawkInLight Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 (edited) Glide cam's are sweet. They take quite a bit of work to get them balanced properly so they're not for every day use, but otherwise they take some great shots. I'm not sure if you can set a go pro to be low resolution enough to work well as a dash cam, but I'm sure there are plenty of people that have tried it and posted the results for google to discover. The videos I see on youtube of go pro's filming fireworks look acceptable, though not spectacular. I thought this was kinda neat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdQjXDiiHqs Here is latest from my GH-2. Check it out in 1080p: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q508d3k9518 Edit: Also, flycam's work very well, and are much less expensive than glide cam's. The only downside to using one is that you may be prone to insults from stuck up videographers that have more money into their equipment than they are ever likely to earn. Edited January 30, 2013 by NightHawkInLight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 IMHO, unless you are doing day light filming, don't bother with the Go-Pro, they suck at low level lighting. They do make fine dash cams, the HD can go down to 300x400 and a 16GB card will out last the battery, even the extended one. I got the Nikon 3100 today and the video its outrageous! A gyro would make it a real contender with pro gear and for $379.00 delivered, I its one of the best buys I have found. All my Nikkor lenses work on it and the pictures are the best I have seen from a non pro camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightHawkInLight Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 For filming fireworks low light capability isn't really that big of a help or hurt. Fireworks are bright as daylight for the most part, except for charcoal streamers which even the nicest cameras have a hard time filming side by side with brighter fireworks. Either the streamers will be too dark, or the other fireworks will be too bright. Only cameras such as a RED or the Blackmagic with super high dynamic range will be able to capture the variety very well between such drastic effects, and even so it won't be all that great. Overall low light capability will only help you to more clearly see the dark background that the fireworks are being shot against, not better see the fireworks themselves, and it may even harm you if the light sensitivity is too high and the fireworks get washed out. The ideal of course would be both high dynamic range as well as quality light sensitivity which you get with a Blackmagic, but assuming you don't want to drop $3,000 on a camera and lens, if a camera is of decent quality in daylight the only other important features for filming fireworks will be as I said before, manual focus and manual ISO. The less in camera processing the better also, ie: don't use high contrast or high saturation mode or anything crazy like that. Just use whatever the normal video setting is, or whatever gives the 'flattest' (least saturated, lowest contrast) image. In consumer cameras this is sometimes the nature or cinema video setting. If you've got everything set properly, you can expect videos of fireworks to be precisely as high of quality as any other videos the camera will shoot in daylight, though the background will be entirely black until a firework is set off to provide the light needed to produce an image on a tiny consumer sensor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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