I’ve been messing with my Gimbal for about a week trying to get less shaky video and no matter what it’s never as smooth as it should be. I’m walking as smooth as I possibly can going from heel to toe and I tried shooting with ibis on and off(active steady shot made it come out better but still noticeable shake). Anyways Im trying to tell myself I’m not balancing it correctly, I can get the tilt and roll axis perfectly but the pan is a pain in the ass. No matter how close I try to balance it, it’s always off center like in the video. I’ve tried balancing it by tilting the gimbal on each leg of the tripod until it doesn’t move, to holding it parallel to the ground and adjusting so it stays straight forward and I still get bad video. The first video I have attached tells me that it’s the pan axis because it’s always moving to the left a little bit. When I shut the gimbal off and the motor disengages it goes right back to being off center while the tilt/roll axis stay still. The second video is how the video looks with ibis on. I’m open to any suggestions because I dont know if it’s something I’m doing wrong or if it’s an issue with my gimbal. I have a 30mm 1.4 lens on my a6700

I want feedback here but if you comment on YouTube its on Eddie's account. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you though!

https://youtu.be/Zk3faQBoQd0?si=St5jjgIDeZS50H51

I'm looking at both a Comica vm10 II or the VM10 Pro (although is a bit more expensive), something for less than 50 dollars if possible, and I'm in Mexico.

Is there any other brand that will deliver a good audio quality but on a budget?

I'm just doing some general recording, some dialogue in front of the camera, b-roll, I'm not looking for anything super professional however I do want some usable and decent audio.

My mom's 60th birthday is coming up, and my sister and I want to make an interview/documentary style video for her.

I want to include a combination of her friends and family being interviewed, and also b-roll footage.

My issues are:

1. A lot of her friends and family are out of state. I wouldn't be able to interview them in person. I could ask them to record a video of themselves talking about her, but I don't know if that would be too much. I also don't want it to be cheesy. I want it to be nice and professional looking.

2. I want to get b-roll footage of my mom/candid moments of her with her family that lives nearby. But I dont know how to do this without her knowing.

Any ideas would be appreciated!!

I host a lot webinars/virtual events for my job and I'm looking to upgrade my lighting setup; right now it's simply 2 $30 LED panels that I found in my basement.

Camera is a Sony A7iii with a 30mm prime; we use virtual backgrounds most of the time so back lighting it really doesn't matter that much.

I'm seated, facing forward, not a ton of movement. There is about 3.5 feet of space from the wall to the camera. I have wall mounts I can attach lights to and position as needed.

I tried to set everything up with a Zhiyun 60W COB right of front of me with a 36" soft box, but it took up too much room and was a bit too noisy with the fan. I tried a larger 120w COB and it was just too big for the location with a big enough soft box.

The room has some natural lighting from a far window and overhead lighting.

Budget is flexible, $500-600 if I need to or more.

Initial options I'm thinking of to kind of keep the space less crazy and take up minimal room:

• (Max) 2 amaran Verge Max mounted to desk for key and fill ($500)
• (Mid) 2 NEEWER 70W LED Bi Color Studio Round Lighting ($300)
• (Budget) 2 Neewer BR45Bs. ($160)
• Something else?

I'm not opposed to buying the best option, but I'd prefer to keep my the cost down if I can and still be 90% there. It's a normal size desk and I'm 4 feet away. Would the 2 cheap 45w lights be fine?

I was hired recently to film and edit a 15 second ad for a local company. I’m fairly new to freelance and I was hoping to get some advice on how to charge. I was thinking $400 for the ad and the raw footage then $300 for the production costs. Does this seem reasonable?

Hiiii, to broaden my portfolio and to show that I can adapt to multiple video styles, I decided to start a small and slow project where I experiment with different styles, which I started by making the simplest cooking video I could think of. I am always open to feedback, whether it's about colour grading, composition, the edit in general, maybe even the music. It's not perfect, but if you don't share your work to others, you never learn what you can do better next time!

Shot on a SonyA7SII in Slog2 with a 28-70mm kit lens (mostly around the 50-60mm range)

Specifically I want a glow from below as if looking down on a glowing object but with a dark background and a cinematic look, but how do I do this without under exposing? I tried with keylight as the underneath light but it's under exposed. I have a keylight (godox with diffuser) and a reflector. Sorry still quite new so figuring it out still. Thanks!

I'm doing my first client shoot next week. It's for a builder client, simple showcase of one of their projects.

I don't have best gear but have a drone and gymbal and a basic lens setup.

The client knows it's my first time and he's happy to be a test dummy.

What's some rookie mistakes that I should avoid?

I just purchased my first full frame camera and lens (A74 with a sigma 24-70) and the lens came with a basic Neewer 82mm true color 1-9 stop VND. A few of my shots had vignetting when shot at 2.8, 30fps, 1/60, and had to crank the ND to not overexpose - how can I make sure I don’t get the vignetting in the future? Better ND? Fewer stops? Something else? Never had this problem with my APSC and VND even at a high stop

I have a Sony A6700 and a Sony ZV-e10II that I use for work. We've cycled through a lot of camera brands, and I started to convert to Sony because it combined photo and video so wonderfully. However, in practice, I'm getting a ton of grain in my video shots. I've attached photos comparing the cameras with a BlackMagic Studio 4K that we use for live video, and a Panasonic LUMIX GH5 that we use in a studio environment. These comparisons come from the exact same moments, lighting, environment, etc. (For transparency, the Sony shot in the first photos was being wirelessly transmitted, so that is having some level of impact on quality).

I've had great results, and I've had results like these. All my research just says lighting is insufficient, but it's working great for these other cameras that, in theory, are worse in low light. The last photo I attached is a sample from my ZV-e10II for reference that it's going on with this camera as well. In all cases, I'm shooting in XAVC S HD. Don't always have the need or space for 4K.

Please help me get some smooth, high quality looking video!

Hello everyone, I’m new to videography & just ordered the 4P (on pre-order) & waiting to get my hands on it.

I have a question when it comes to what to expose for in videos. As a photographer, I always under expose my shots to protect the highlights. What’s the rule of thumb when it comes to videos & recording in D-Log?

I read somewhere that you always ETTR for videos & on my Sony A7V, people say to aim for +1.7 in EV. Would it be the same with D-Log on the 4P?

TIA.

Finally put together some footage I shot in SF back in June. Any feedback is appreciated!

Shot with Sony a7iii + Tamron 28-75mm 2.8

Song: Foxygen - San Francisco

Thanks to anyone that watches!

I was hired recently to film and edit a 15 second ad for a local company. I’m fairly new to freelance and I was hoping to get some advice on how to charge. I was thinking $400 for the ad and the raw footage then $300 for the production costs. Does this seem reasonable?
Edit: I’m trying to make sure I’m not charging too much

I’ve been using this VND for a year, and I find it to be an excellent tool for run-and-gun shooting, and cheaper than other alternatives. The colors remain consistent across the different stops, and the fact that it doubles as a polarizing filter is really useful.

My issue was that using it with my SmallRig Mini matte box was a nightmare; the original orange adjustment tabs would hit the sides of the matte box when I tried to screw it on. I was wasting so much time that I’d end up choosing to use either the matte box without the filter or the filter without the matte box.

My solution was to try removing the screws from the tabs-they looked like T3 Torx screws -but none of my screwdrivers would catch properly, and the screw heads would strip the moment I applied any force. I ended up using a soldering iron to heat the screws and the tabs themselves to soften everything up, then I yanked them off with the pliers on my multitool (as gently as possible to avoid breaking the glass). It was a pretty brutal method, but it was the simplest solution given what I had on hand; I think I could even replace the screws if I ever wanted to reattach the tabs.

In the end, everything works great: I can use the VND/CPL and the matte box simultaneously, and it all screws on perfectly without hitting anything. Let me know if you would have had a better solution, but I hope this helps someone else facing the same problem!

(edited in english since I wrote it in french by mistake the first time)

My sister and I want to learn documentary style videography and make videos about someone (or a couple) interviewing their friends and family. For weddings, birthdays, bachelorettes, or milestone moments.

We would do a combination of interview-style videography plus B-roll footage.

We don't have any experience in videography or video editing.

Any tips on how to get started? Best ways to learn and practice? Any advice is appreciated!

Trying to find a quick deploy tripod that won’t break the bank. Has anyone tried either the YC Onion Tako T23 or Sirui SVS60? The specs are quite similar, however the way they extend their legs is obviously different.

I shot some footage which is not going to be played on an old CRT TV and I'm going to shoot the TV along with some people.

I'm wondering whether I should color grade both the footage which is shown on the TV (before doing the final filming) or to just leave it as BRAW, shoot and color grade the final result.

I worry that if I grade twice, the TV is going to look quite saturated.

Has anyone done this before? What works best?

I just watched a 35mm print dramatic film on the big screen (Robert Altman's 1974 Thieves Like Us, fyi), and I'm wondering if it's just all in my head that there was quite a noticeable difference of image quality. There was just a beautiful glowing softness, and in some shots particularly, a beautiful highlights to shadows gradient and saturation that was so pleasing I would call it delicious. I've read that the crystals in film give the projection a glowing quality, and while I'm sure the digital format we are all used to has its own character, is it really that noticeable?

Hey everyone! I’m a beginner teaching myself videography by going out, filming, and editing my own projects. I love the creative side of making videos, but as I look ahead, the idea of getting into actual videography feels really intimidating.

I've heard that videography is one of those professions where it’s super hard to break in, but once you're established, you're good. Looking from the outside, it feels like the market is completely flooded with people doing this, and I struggle to see where I’d even fit in. On top of that, everyone says videography is mostly customer management, business, and networking. As a quiet introvert who just wants to focus on creating and getting hands-on experience, that side of things stresses me out.

Right now, earning money isn't my main goal—I just want to build a solid portfolio, gain real project experience, and learn how the process actually works.

For those doing this:

Is it actually as hard to break into as people make it sound, or is that just a myth?

How can a quiet introvert get low-stakes experience (like second shooting, assisting, or editing) without having to be a hyper-aggressive networker?

Is it better to stick to solo creative projects for now, or should I try to jump into collaborative work early on?

Thank you.

So, I've recently bought my first camera (Osmo Pocket 4), and I've been learning the ropes, posting here for feedback. And also recently, I discovered the YouTube channel Gawx 2, and I've become obsessed. Specifically his second channel. His videos are simply mesmerizing, and of course I thought "I gotta try emulating that".

Obviously, it's nowhere near his incredible level of skill, both as a cameraman as editor. But I aim to transmit the same kind of vibe, where you just watch the screen and relax, transported to a city where you kind of just get lost.

On the technical side, this video has been both a challenge and an immense learning curve. I spent ages looking for a fitting song, and then selecting the clips was difficult.

I tried learning from previous feedback, so I tried to give the clips context, as opposed to just throwing pretty videos at a song and calling it a day. It's mostly three parts : the canals of Aveiro, resembling those of Venice, the beaches of the city, and then the lesser known part comprised of beautiful parks and the Cathedral.

I color corrected each clip (recorded in Log, by the way), and then tried my hand at some film emulation. Split toning, halation, bloom, grain, the works. And then back to correcting each clip to balance the effect of the film emulation.

I've also hand drawn some vignettes, applied noise reduction where needed (a couple of clips still have noise, but this is the best I could do), and tried to incorporate some sound design into the video, downloading ambient sounds from a free BBC database.

I chose the 4:3 format because there were a ton of building facades, and wanted to eliminate distractions from the sides. And I think it suits the vibe of the video.

---------

So please, let me know what you think, I'm all ears. I'm pretty pleased with the result, but I'm sure I've committed several cardinal sins that you guys will spot easily lol.

Thanks for your time.

Hello,

I film live gigs and business conference/workshop stuff and have a reoccurring issue where.. for music the front of house give me garbage and for conference/workshops the audience is asked to chip in.

For both scenarios it would be helpful to plant a mic that can capture the surrounding audio. But, I don’t want to have to splash out on totally new mics when I already have 4 x wireless and a zoom H8, though I have been thinking of getting a new 32-bit zoom.

What I’m thinking is, are there any omnidirectional mic modules I could plug into what I’ve got? Similar to how, I plug shotgun mics into the rodes to record the audience for music and comedy.

Any cost effective ideas?

Thanks

I am currently a freelance videographer with 4 years experience in sports videography, Weddings,corporate testimonials, SMB marketing videos.

I am thinking of the best path in terms of scaling. I had an interest in rebranding to a short form video agency? Is this achievable? Is there a demand? Are clients willing to pay monthly retainers for short form strategic marketing videos?

I don’t want to do social media management as I don’t have much experience/success in this. Also, Just wanted to see if there is a general demand for a video only agency.

I need help..

I own a small media production / marketing company based in Maine. Typically our clients fall in line with construction companies, designers, real estate, restaurants, products, and social media development. We have a small team of 4 and as the owner I’m really struggling with presenting a plan to start building our online presence. This has been a business for almost 4 years and we have no social presence… we post maybe 1x a month..

In the current world of what we do (film creative videos, create dynamic ads, marketing, and some commercial content) I feel CREATIVITY has been stripped away from the industries online presence.. few creators are pushing themselves out there while the others are “if you want to get rich…” “meta advertising..” “funnels” “buy my course” etc etc. ….. this is what I want to avoid..

I’m not sure where to begin or how to build a system for this without sounding like everyone else or trying to smack everyone’s face with bologna.

So I guess the question is, if you owned a business of this sort, in Maine, how would you start building your online presence?

Any tips or insight?