Help! I Failed HORRIBLY. What kind of Lens Can Achieve this Look?

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videonewbie

i could really use some photographer/videographer help.

Im really young so pardon how ignorant i am to things that must be so second nature to u all...i just recently bought my first dslr canon t4i to film self videos and youtube vlogs after working my butt off and saving money for months and well im hitting a lot of bumps in the road

i have two main questions...

Question#1
i want to recreate a video with the same quality as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YozLTf5J0M&feature=plcp

i was told that i should buy a lens with a low aperture to create a blurred background effect. i ended up buying the 50mm f1.8 lens (someone suggested it to me)

51SgiNeTs7L._AA160_.jpg


but i soon found out that this lens is NOT for taking self portraits or self videos it is way too close on the face

i set up the camera on a joby tripod on my desk about a feet and a half away....this resulted in my face taking up the entire screen ....in order for proper framing i had to sit about 6 feet away from the camera.

the lens that came with the camera is a 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens

51jc0LKo7KL._AA160_.jpg


and while that one has better framing for self videos, the result is not like what i want because it just looks boring and flat. it doesnt have that same depth as the video above.

is my solution as simple as buying a lens with a smaller focal length ?

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Question#2 one of the new features on the t4i is the auto focus during video and pictures. however the constant clicking and focusing of the lens makes for a lot of distracting noise. surely this is not optimal for video shooting?

also how is the auto focus on the t4i any different than if i were to just toggle the "AF/MF" tab on the actual lens itself?


---

i just recently started learning about cameras and i have Other random wonderings:

-why would anyone want a slower shutter speed? high shutter speed = less chance ur photos will be blurry correct? but i notice everytime i adjust my shutter speed higher the preview image becomes much darker. why is that?

-even when my camera is in "auto" mode i find that all the photos i take are blurry. on my old camera (powershot) i could simply have the camera in auto mode and if i pressed the shutter button halfway everything would focus, but doing the same action on my new dslr camera results in blurry pics every time.

-i understand the camera powers off after 30 sconds of inactivity but why does the lens constantly "shutter off" in the middle of me adjusting things? its highly annoying. what purpose does shuttering off on its own serve?
any way to modify this?

-the canon 50mm f1.8 lens has a set aperture....so what then would be the purpose of being able to adjust the aperture in the camera's settings?

thanks i am trying to learn as much as i can and any replies would be appreciated
 
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I have a t3i and am looking into buying that 50mm lens for shallow DOF, but not for vlogs.

In that video they've just used the 18-55mm or similar, I'm able to receive the same level of DOF as their videos with mine. The higher the 'mm' the further the camera needs to be away, which is why a 250mm lens is used for zooming in on things far away.

First step change the movie exposure to manual in the settings. Then if you hold the AV+/- button which is above the arrows and at the same time scroll the wheel near the photographing button you can adjust the f stop, this widens or narrows the lens. The wider it is (the smaller the number) the more shallow DOF will be.

Q2 turn auto off. Use the + and - magnifying glasses on the far right of the camera to zoom in and check your manual focus.

Random Qs
Slower shutter speed lets more light in. If you are filming in a dark room you want a slower shutter speed. If its super bright you will want a fast shutter speed. It's becoming darker because its ultimately letting less light in because it is opening and closing so quickly.

I haven't had that problem when taking photos... I hold it halfway down, and wait for it to adjust, then take it, however I usually just go with manual, there's more creative freedom.

Yep go to menu and go to the second last one which is yellow or look for the setting that says 'auto power off' and adjust it. I wouldn't turn it off though.... I keep mine on about 2min, saves the battery usually.
 
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Can you show a link for your work? Could be useful to see what you think is failing. Maybe the "blurry" is just a wrong framerate.

Just a point: the skin of this guys on the video you posted is almost pure white. It's probably the result of a overexposure with a middle-fast lens.
 
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videonewbie said:
Question#1
i set up the camera on a joby tripod on my desk about a feet and a half away....this resulted in my face taking up the entire screen ....in order for proper framing i had to sit about 6 feet away from the camera.

is my solution as simple as buying a lens with a smaller focal length ?
Click to expand...

Your solution is as simple as sitting 6 feet away.

Question#2
one of the new features on the t4i is the auto focus during video and pictures. however the constant clicking and focusing of the lens makes for a lot of distracting noise. surely this is not optimal for video shooting?
Click to expand...

You are correct. That is not optimal for shooting video.

also how is the auto focus on the t4i any different than if i were to just toggle the "AF/MF" tab on the actual lens itself?
Click to expand...

With AF, the camera tells the lens how to focus.
With MF, the camera will not tell the lens how to focus. You have to do it with the focus ring on the lens.

-why would anyone want a slower shutter speed? high shutter speed = less chance ur photos will be blurry correct?
Click to expand...

Experiment with the triangle of ISO, Aperture & Shutter Speed. Also, borrow a book on basic photography from your local library. Probably plenty of crash-course diagrams on the web, too.

-the canon 50mm f1.8 lens has a set aperture....so what then would be the purpose of being able to adjust the aperture in the camera's settings?
Click to expand...

Your pictured 50mm f1.8 does not have a set aperture. The f1.8 is just as wide open as it can go. Use the camera controls to adjust the aperture as you see fit.

'sup. :cool:
 
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MileCreations said:
In that video they've just used the 18-55mm or similar, I'm able to receive the same level of DOP as their videos with mine.
Click to expand...

i did some more research and apparently someone on twitter asked those boys what they use and they replied "sigma 30mm 1.4" although i cant confirm whether this is the lens they use in the video i posted...lets just pretend for a moment that it is...the sigma 30mm lens cost $500 whereas the 18-55mm comes bundled with the camera...so why then would anyone spend $500 on the sigma lens if you can just simply reproduce the same results with the 18-55mm lens?

my point is...i dont think they are using a 18-55mm lens in the video i posted...because the background looks a bit blurry and their faces look very clean and crisp which from what i understand is only achievable by a lens with a small f stop.......how do you blur the background on the default 18-55mm f3.5 lens...as you said the smaller the F stop number the more shallow DOP will be...isnt f3.5 far too high to create the DOP seen in the video i posted?

First step change the movie exposure to manual in the settings. Then if you hold the AV+/- button which is above the arrows and at the same time scroll the wheel near the photographing button you can adjust the f stop, this widens or narrows the lens.
Click to expand...

i toyed with this and i found that the best setting for vlogs (camera is about 1.5 feet away) with the 18-55mm f3.5 lens is to set the the focal length at 18mm and the f stop at "8" my face is relatively in clear view althogh not as sharp as i want it to be, and the background is pretty clear (however this is not the effect im going for. the DOP is different from the DOP in the video in my original post...also regarding f stop im confused..the lens says its a f3.5-5.6 lens, so how is it that it can have a f stop of 8?) ...when adjusting the f stop manually on the camera i can see that the the lowest it can go is 3.5 the highest it can go is 22......if i try to adjust the f stop anything below 8 everything gets blurry (both foreground and background) if i adjust the f stop above 8 everything gets too dark. i thought a smaller number f stop results in a more shallow DOP? why is everything getting blurry (my face included) when i try to adjust the f stop to a smaller number?
you mentioned you can replicate the two boys' video with the 18-55mm lens....how? i cant seem to.


Q2 turn auto off. Use the + and - magnifying glasses on the far right of the camera to zoom in and check your manual focus.
Click to expand...

my question is how is the t4i auto focus different from toggling the AF/MF tab on the lens itself


Random Qs
Slower shutter speed lets more light in.
Click to expand...

so how do i make a picture sharp if i have low shutter speed?

Yep go to menu and go to the second last one which is yellow or look for the setting that says 'auto power off' and adjust it. I wouldn't turn it off though.... I keep mine on about 2min, saves the battery usually.
Click to expand...

im actually referring to the lens itself turning off, for example if i am adjusting the settings on my LCD screen...i need the lens to be "on" so i can see how the changes i make impact the end result, but while im doing this the lens will make a "shuttering" noise and shutter off on its own....this is different than the camera powering off after 30 sec of inactivity..
 
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Zensteve said:
Your solution is as simple as sitting 6 feet away.
Click to expand...

so,...then why do people pay $400 more for a sigma 30mm to film self vlogs? simply for the convenience of being able to sit closer to the camera?


Zensteve said:
You are correct. That is not optimal for shooting video.
Click to expand...

one of the heavily marketed aspects of the T4I advantage is how it can shoot better video than the t3i due to its autofocus for video....but like u said the constant auto focus clicking is not optimal for shooting video
so the question remains, how is the t4i autofocus function any different than a t3i using the AF tab on the lens itself.



Your pictured 50mm f1.8 does not have a set aperture. The f1.8 is just as wide open as it can go. Use the camera controls to adjust the aperture as you see fit.
Click to expand...

so then how come the 18-55mm lens says it has a f3.5-5.6 yet when manually adjusting it i can see that it goes all the way to a f stop of 22?
 
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videonewbie said:
so then how come the 18-55mm lens says it has a f3.5-5.6 yet when manually adjusting it i can see that it goes all the way to a f stop of 22?
Click to expand...

The f3.5 is as wide as your lens can open at one extreme, at the 18mm zoom setting. At the other end of the range, zoomed out to 55mm the aperture can only open to 5.6

Don't take my word for it. Turn on your camera, dial out to 18mm and set your camera to Av. Spin down to f3.5. Once you have that, zoom in to 55mm. You'll see the max aperture change as you turn.

how is the t4i autofocus function any different than a t3i using the AF tab on the lens itself.
Click to expand...

The T4i introduced continuous video focus, that shifts while you shoot video. The T3i did not have that function at all.

why do people pay $400 more for a sigma 30mm to film self vlogs? simply for the convenience of being able to sit closer to the camera?
Click to expand...

'cos some people chose to shoot their vlog on a wideangle lens. You could choose to do that, too.
 
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videonewbie said:
so,...then why do people pay $400 more for a sigma 30mm to film self vlogs? simply for the convenience of being able to sit closer to the camera?
Click to expand...

Sometimes it's because they spoke to a gearhead. If you listen long enough, you'll be convinced you'll need a RED for making vlogs.

Moral: Keep your pocketbook shut unless the piece gear you want is absolutely vital to your project and can't be done any other way.

Good luck.

<flak shield deployed>
 
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Video Newbie, theirs doesn't seem particularly shallow, obviously it is, but not to an extreme level. Also a trick I've found is if you move further away from your subject then zoom in, the the DOF appears more shallow. If they said they used the Sigma then I assume they did but it is expensive and I'd only buy it for low light, not for the shallow DOF. Ty probably are using the Sigma, but the difference at that distance would be barely noticeable I would say. They may use their lens for more than just vlogs.

I don't think shutter speed has a massive influence on how sharp it is. Also I'm pretty sure the minimum shutter speed is 30 (it is on the t3i) and I leave it on that unless I go outside then I bump it up a bit because it is too bright.

The reason everything gets blurry when you drop the f stop is because it is out of focus. When you have a high f stop more things are in focus. When it is low, there is a very small area or what is actually in focus. So taking half a step towards or away from the camera may result in you being more or less 'blurry' or out of focus.

I said how I would do it, by adjusting the f stop with the AV and scroll control.

I'm not familiar with the issue you are having with the lens turning off, when you adjust things like shutter speed and f stop you still have the preview on the LCD...

ill post a video of the 18-55mm DOF
 
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They may also have a lower light environment than you do... and the 1.4 can let in more light than your 1.8

In video, generally we keep the shutter speed at 1/2 the frame rate... so if you're recording at 30fps (1080p30), you'll want the shutter at 1/60 to look "normal" at 1080p24, 1/50 is the closest... so you'll deal more with ISO and Aperture when shooting video.

Coolest explanation of exposure I've found yet... but I'm an old school gamer too ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-NhJua5NFA
Here's one with immediate feedback examples at about 4:37
the stuff just before it talks about metering using the camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzWQYir7DFc
 
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videonewbie said:
it doesnt have that same depth as the video above.
Click to expand...

This is because you do not understand proper lighting and color correction. It's not the camera or the lens, it's what you do with it.

I am now capable of getting cinematic quality with my T2i after only a few months of practicing with it.
 
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GuerrillaAngel said:
If you listen long enough, you'll be convinced you'll need a RED for making vlogs.
Click to expand...

Lol, I never understood why Vloggers want high quality gear if there's nothing going on in the video besides a person talking to the camera. 99% of the time it's not interesting, unless it's a behind the scenes for a movie or something cool like that, so why do we need to see it in HD?
 
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Return the camera. You can get what you need from a less-expensive camcorder. Those cinnamon-eating kids didn't get the look you desire because of a particular lens -- they're just well-lit. What you need is a bunch of lights, and the patience required to learn how to make them do what you want. Seriously, you could shoot footage this good on your iPhone.
 
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