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Best in-camera settings for shooting on the run?

Towards the end of the summer, me and my family will be traveling around Europe (England, France and Italy) on vacation, so I'll have some great opportunities to get some nice footage for a short film competition. The question is, I'm not entirely sure how to set up my camera for run-and-gun type shooting. I'll probably have times where I can set up my camera for certain shots, but what about if I'm just walking and want to grab a shot quickly, without having to set everything to manual, like white balance for example? What would be the best settings for this type of shooting while keeping shots looking good?
 
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It would be helpful to know what kind of camera you have.

However, there is no end-all setting for run-and-gun shooting. No matter how you set up the camera you'll have to at the very least change the shutter speed (unless you have an ND filter), aperture and ISO every time you shoot in order to accommodate the light, DOF, etc of the specific situation you're in.

If you're on a DSLR, generally you'll want to create a custom picture style in which the sharpness, contrast and saturation are all lowered (see youtube videos about picture styles for video). You should use this picture style for all of your shooting to get continuity between shots. Whatever you'd like to change, you can fix in post. Additionally, I would say that as a general rule you want your shutter speed to be about twice the speed of your framerate (for instance, 24p framerate would use a 1/50 shutter speed) whenever possible. Again, maintaining a shutter speed like that can sometimes cause an overexposed image (because the situation is too bright) which is why an ND filter is so helpful. Generally the higher your shutter speed gets, the more unnatural and digital all of the movement will look.

My advice would be not to look for a "one size fits all" setting, but instead to learn how to manipulate the settings I've mentioned above with speed and accuracy. That efficiency can only be learned one way, practice practice practice.

P.S. Once you get good with the basic menus and settings on your camera, you can try installing the Magic Lantern firmware which will give you a plethora of more customizable settings.

P.P.S. you should really kern the logo on your avatar
 
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Thanks for the reply WhiteOpus!

I'll be using a/an Sony NEX-5N (it's a DSLR) with Plenty of UV and ND filters so framerate/shutterspeed shouldn't be an issue. For lenses, I'll be bringing a Sigma 30mm prime, a 55-210 tele, and the good ol' 18-55 kit lens. As far as picture styles go, I use a portrait style with the contrast at -3 and same with the sharpness and saturation (thats as low as it will go on my camera), and it produces a nice flat image for grading later. I'm not sure I can install magic lantern though......
 
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