Doing Flashlight Video Reviews. Cam Settings Which Will Increase Your Review Quality
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jaycyu
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You may also want to avoid auto white balance. What this setting does—like auto exposure— is set the average color of the video to neutral. That means if your light is blue, the camera software will introduce yellow to the image, producing a net result of white. Other than auto white balance, there are probably a few other color options, so you have to make the color of the image on your LCD match how you normally see your light.
Yes, it's a bit subjective. Your camcorder/DSLR/P&S doesn't have its LCD calibrated to industry standard, nor does your monitor that you edit your video in, nor do the monitors of most end users/viewers. You can only try your best to represent the color you see.
Secondly, you might want to be aware of a number of settings when shooting in manual mode.
-The higher the ISO, the brighter the image will look, but it also introduce massive amount of color noise, so try to keep the ISO to its lowest setting when possible.
-The larger the aperture, the more light will come through the lens. The drawback is the plane of focus will shrink depending on the circumstance. Generally, you want to make your aperture number as small as possible. For example, set it to f/2.8 instead of f/8. (f/8 is 8x darker than f/2.8.)
-Turn off your auto focusing function, so the lens doesn't hunt for focus when you move your flashlight around. Before you start, you have to look at the LCD, and memorize/mark where the focus plane is, so you can present your product within it. If you move your item in front or behind the focus plane, then it will become out of focus, naturally.
Yes, it's a bit subjective. Your camcorder/DSLR/P&S doesn't have its LCD calibrated to industry standard, nor does your monitor that you edit your video in, nor do the monitors of most end users/viewers. You can only try your best to represent the color you see.
Secondly, you might want to be aware of a number of settings when shooting in manual mode.
-The higher the ISO, the brighter the image will look, but it also introduce massive amount of color noise, so try to keep the ISO to its lowest setting when possible.
-The larger the aperture, the more light will come through the lens. The drawback is the plane of focus will shrink depending on the circumstance. Generally, you want to make your aperture number as small as possible. For example, set it to f/2.8 instead of f/8. (f/8 is 8x darker than f/2.8.)
-Turn off your auto focusing function, so the lens doesn't hunt for focus when you move your flashlight around. Before you start, you have to look at the LCD, and memorize/mark where the focus plane is, so you can present your product within it. If you move your item in front or behind the focus plane, then it will become out of focus, naturally.
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Excellent point jaycyu. In my video above I paid no attention to the color balance (just so everyone knows the TK35 is nowhere near that blue!). When shooting full sessions I'll typically use an XRite 18% grey card for balancing (and sometimes as a starting point for setting exposure if I don't use the flash/ambient meter right away) the WB of the camera, or I'll use a "100%" white card. I did neither for the above video. Mainly wanted to show how much exposure settings will affect beam profiling and luminance tests. If one doesn't have a calibration card, they can always use the "whitest" wall they can find, although it will probably not be perfect. Another option is to use a piece of heavier bond white printer paper. When WBing the camera using the Xrite card or piece of paper, it's important to be sure that the paper/card fills the frame before performing the manual WB.
Absolutely. The best way to compensate for the vast non-standard color skew across various camera sensors (and internal color processing algorithms) is to use a visual standard when doing all shooting, such as the X-Rite or DCS Labs Color Checker card. You can WB the camera during the shoot using the 18% grey or white card (18% grey works well typically for product or "non human" shooting). If your monitor must yield 100% accurate color rendering, I suggest the use of a "calibration bug" such as the DataColor Spyder series or the X-Rite Colormunki. When a Color Checker and WB card are used before shooting, you can always get the White Point and Black Point perfect in post, as well as accurate color rendering provided you display is properly calibrated.
Again, excellent points. If you want low noise when shooting video you'll have to use a higher end camcorder. Most consumer model camcorders (such as the one I used above, a Sony HDRSR7) do not do well in low light. You'll see noise and even a bit of macroblocking in the noise if the light is extremely low. Higher end prosumer or professional video cameras will have much better noise figures.
For still photography (SLR), shooting at high ISOs (e.g. 1600 or higher) the use of Noise Reduction is definitely recommended. Most all newer DSLRs have this. There is usually also a separate Noise Reduction function for long exposure times. Depending on the environment and lighting, it can be possible to shoot at lower ISOs, but if shooting in low light at low ISOs you'll have to increase exposure time which will again introduce noise. But again, the long exposure Noise Reduction in most modern DSLRs does a fairly good job depending on the camera. In case anyone is wondering, I shoot still using either a Nikon D300 or D3x which tend to be known for their very good S/N ratio, in other words, very good in low light/high ISO with very little noise.
For exposure, it's a balance between ISO, f-stop and shutter speed. Whether using a prime or zoom lens, one way to avoid shallow depth-of-field issues at low aperture numbers is to first use a shorter focal length (25mm or less) and to be sure everything is then beyond the hyperfocal distance of the lens. for instance an aperture of f/5.6 at 20mm focal length will give a near-focus limit of around 9 feet and a hyperfocal distance beyond about 18 feet, beyond which everything will be in focus to infinity.
With video I definitely agree with turning off auto focus (something I didn't do in my video above), especially if what you're shooting will be at a relatively constant distance and/or in low light situations. These consumer model cameras tend to get "confused" quite easily.
