From Still to Motion: A Photographer's Guide to Creating Video With Your DSLR

Mostly useless, because it rarely gives any information I might need. And often annoying, because I really don't need little bits of motherhood like "composition is the basic foundation for creative image gathering." Really, guys, you think I needed to be told that?A lot of the book is fluff: two pages devoted to teaching us the abbreviations for Wide Shots (WS) and Medium Wide Shot (MWS). Wow--thanks! But then they never, never refer to them again. Or sections like Organizing the Planning meeting. Hey, did you know it's better to plan ahead than keep your expensive crew waiting around?Who needs advice like this?Let me tell you a bit of my story and see if it's anything like yours. I've been shooting digital since '06; I've gone through a progression of SLRs and now shoot with a Canon 5D mk II. I only recently realized it's the new darling of Hollywood and indy film makers, so I decided to give video a try. I set the camera on a tripod and got a buddy to play his guitar and sing a song. I think I did it in Av mode; no idea what the ISO was. Used the lens that was sitting on the camera already; never touched it the whole shoot. Three minutes later it was done; loaded it into iMovie and fumbled around until I could get it into an email. His wife loved it. I decided there was some future here.My next idea was to repeat the process, but with two cameras and an external mic stuck on my camera--it was pretty apparent that the in-camera mic was never going to cut it for music. (Or much else.) So here's a list of all the stuff I didn't know--and could have used some advice on:What mode to shoot in?What shutter speed?What lens?Shotgun mike mounted on the camera or external recorder?Can you mix cameras? Does it matter that one is a 5D and the other a cropped-sensor 7D?How about ISO? My 5D is great at higher ISOs, but the 7D not so much.Software--do I really need to cough up $300 for Final Cut or will iMovie do the job?How come my compressed version looks so crummy?Well, that's just a start. This book never covers any of that--or if it does, it only discusses it indirectly. Yeah, it tells us all about frame rate and line scanning, but. . .does any modern camera even permit interlacing? Compression: yeah, OK, so what? I can't do anything about it. And later, in the post-production part, they go on about transcoding. . .guys, that's obsolete already. Final Cut Pro gobbles up the .mov file out of my camera, as does iMovie. And thanks, but I already knew to create a backup file.They go on about how a prime lens is best, because of the wide apertures. Yeah, guys, try shooting a couple of singers on stage at 1.4. Your depth of field is so short you'll have a hard time getting them both in focus--and you'll have to go to a narrower aperture. Which means raising the ISO. How high can you go? Dunno.Your camera manual will tell you that you can shoot stills while shooting video. . .but probably won't mention that it'll put a 1-second gap in the audio track and jump the video, too. Good luck getting PluralEyes to align that with your external recorder. Which you should use, probably--shotgun mics will pick up camera noise, I'm told, and if you move the camera off-axis you may lose the sound, too, since it's such a narrow beam. (I went with a Zoom H4N. Love it.)Follow-focus is swell if you're filming a game, I suppose, but for a static setting like a musician on a bar stool, you don't need it. It's expensive, and look: you're not going to be zooming in and out for awhile anyway. Did you know most videos cut every 4 seconds? I didn't--but hey, that means you can manually re-focus one camera while the other is filming away, because you're just going to be cutting back and forth anyway rather than following the zoom.As other reviewers have pointed out, though the authors claim to be writing for a photographer with a stills equipment, they immediately tell you about all the new gear you'll need. They never discuss shooting with what you've got. And the gear they describe! Sheesh, do they really think we're going to go from stills to a Hollywood production? Do you think anybody with booms and trucks and a crew is going to be going to this book for advice?I think the book would be improved if it were broken into sections: shooting with what you've got, moving to the next level, going Hollywood. And if they cut out the motherhood ("just keep safety in mind") and the fluff ("identifying objectives and constraints"). When you mention gear, guys, give us some price ranges. See Scott Kelby's Handbooks--he does a nice job of recommending at several price ranges. Tell us what we'll need for what purpose, and how long we can get away without (or work around the lack of it).Anybody considering buying this book is already a competent photographer and conversant with computers. We have some artistic sensibility and we already have a project in mind. Are there any experienced videographers out there profited from this book? Yeah, probably. But if you're just now going from shooting stills to using the video mode of your SLR, this book won't give you what you need. And it'll waste a lot of your time.

I'm a former trainer for Apple, who specialized in teaching people how to work with Digital Video. These days, I teach communications, edit video, and work in instructional video full-time. In other words, I've been around these tools for a while, and I'm keenly interested in how to help non-professionals use them well.No matter what your trade or profession, sooner or later you're going to need to either create video yourself, or provide useful feedback to others who are creating video for your company or organization. Read this book, and you'll have something to say of intelligence.While all master trainers in their own right, Rich, Robbie, Matt and James model the importance of teamwork in mid-large scale production. The very way they've all mixed their voices to make this book so valuable is a model of how different specialists need to pool talent, instead of stepping in front of one another.I have used this as a resource in training camera operators, and frequently recommend it to photographers who are looking to bring the same "A-Game" they use in still shooting to video production. Photographers will especially appreciate the readable, but dense approach to sound design in Chapter 13. The integration of video "show me how" segments with the chapter content is helpful, rather than distracting, because of the well thought-out cues present in each chapter.As a trainer and a teacher, I recommend this book because it will help you learn well. If you're getting on the bus as a beginner, or a few stops down the road as an accomplished photographer, you'll find this useful, and enjoyable. As a businessman and manager, I appreciate the attention to detail on items like estimating work, training employees on a common filename and folder structure, and other insights on how to keep the costs of video production from eating your profits.Set aside 90 minutes a day, Mon-Fri, for one month. Work through this book during that time. It's the cheapest film school you'll ever attend, and one of the more effective.

This book seemed like a great book for someone who has already been into film making but just bought a new dslr. I guess I should of focused on the title more. The book is truly for the photographer that knows nothing of recording video. The book itself didn't teach me anything I didn't already know about film making because it was very basic stuff. I was hoping that the book would get in depth about how to really get the most of the dslr but I feel like they hardly discussed the workings of a dslr camera. Most of the book could of pertained to any video camera.On a good note, there was a few chapters that really focused on dslr cameras. The chapters about lenses, and video technology were good. The rest of the book was about basic lighting, sound, tripods, rigs, editing, etc...I think that if you have little experience in video recording than this might be the book for you. However, if you feel that you know the basics of film making such as 3-point lighting, panning, and how to record onto sd cards; then you might skip this book.The real bonus is the chapters at the end where they discuss stop-motion, time-lapse and distribution. It's not something I really needed to learn, but perhaps I'll take up stop-motion one of these days. Seems like fun.I give this book 3 stars because of the little information that I think is valuable. I give this book 5 stars if you are brand new and your new dslr is the first video-capable camera you've owned.

This book is primarily intended for people who are already 'professional' DSLR photographers and want to be 'professional' DSLR videographers. As I am a novice I didn't find enough on some of what I would call basics of DSLR videography like camera settings, etc. A lot of expensive equipment is mentioned which someone like me would never invest in. However, it's a well written (albeit a bit wordy) book with lots of good photos, covering a lot of ground and the included video of some raw footage which helps you see what they've actually done to achieve a certain look, as well as discussion of certain topics is a worthwhile addition. Perhaps the wrong choice of book for me but not a bad investment.

If like me you are making the move from stills to video then the title of this book should be the only clue you need as to its target audience!Changing over to video means that a lot of really basics issues need to be learned again from a slightly different angle. This book takes you through all the basics, doesn't assume you have a huge budget to spend and also comes with a DVD packed with stuff.Highly recommended.

I haven't used this book yet but I can tell you there is alot of information.They cover proper angles, tips and many other things you just don't think about.I can't wait to get my DSLR and I will definitely make use of this book.

I've been an amateur stills photographer for years and even went as far as getting a Bachelors of Applied Arts in Film and Photography. I never expected film to be replaced so quickly by digital. HDDSLR video is truly an outstanding technology to study. I've read this book cover to cover and watched all the video's included on the DVD. I'd have to say that this is the best introduction to HDDSLR video that I have read (since July/2010). The language flows nicely and is very casual. The author avoids too many technical terms (but puts them in sidebars instead.) It doesn't go into a lot of detail about video technology, but after you have read this book (and watched the DVD's), I'd suggest performing a search for "video" or "video production" or "cinematography" and there will be many great titles to give you the details on the art of moving pictures.

This well written and easy to read book covers all the (technical) aspects that must be considered when moving into motion picture filming.IMO an informative read for any wannabe videographer with a video capable system camera.