What are you planning on doing with it?

Firstly, ask your professor about installing Magic Lantern Firmware on the camera(s). I Haven't used it (only renting at the moment), but heard that it opens up a lot of new features for video work.

Download / install the CineStyle Picture Profile, which gives the camera more dynamic range to tweak/edit in post-production.

If you don't / can't install CineStyle, set the picture profile up like this: Drop sharpness & contrast all the way down, and drop the saturation down to -2. Again, this gives you a flatter image that you can edit more in post-production.

I don't know what else you have access to equipment-wise, or what you will be specifically shooting, but here are some more tips/ideas for you:

Make sure you get good, clean audio. DSLRs are notorious for having little to no control over the audio, and what it does record is awful for the most part. There are many options for recording audio:

1) Shotgun microphone w/ boom pole
2) Shotgun microphone on top of the camera (like this)
3) Wireless lapel microphone

Record the audio through an XLR cable and into a recording device like the Zoom H4n (records the audio to SD cards) or the cheaper Tascam DR-40. You can then import the audio into your editing software, duplicate the channel that it was recorded to, and you have stereo sound. [I prefer the Zoom H4n because of it's microphones, and feedback from professionals]

Make sure that your video is stable, and watch out for jello cam and moire. If you do pan, practice keeping a consistent speed and not going too fast. Tripods (IMO) are essential for DSLR videography, especially if you're filming a talking head interview.

You might also be interested in making a DIY Shoulder Mount like this.

What lenses do you have access to? Remember that the T3i has a 1.6x crop sensor, not a full-frame sensor like the Canon 5D Markii or Markiii. If you are using full-frame lenses, keep that 1.6x crop factor in mind. Here's a quick cheat-sheet:

10mm (full-frame) = 16mm (crop sensor)
28mm = 44.8mm
50mm = 80mm
Etc., etc.

Will you be doing anything with lighting? What lights do you have access to?

What will you be editing the footage on? If Final Cut Pro 7, here's my current workflow:
1) Backup the card
2) Batch transcode the footage to Apple ProRes 422 (LT) via MPEG Streamclip.
3) Edit
4) Export reference video file
5) Use Apple Compressor to output for DVD, Web, and Video Files

Some more thoughts....

If you're planning on doing any slow-motion shots, or filming with ONLY one camera, then I highly recommend editing everything at 1280x720. If you only have one camera, film everything at 1920x1080 (24p is what I prefer). That way you have more to work with if you want to jump cut in an interview, for example. You can get multiple shots with the same footage. And if you're wanting to record any slow-motion footage, record it at 1280x720 60p, and then use Cinema Tools (or After Effects, Motion, etc.) to conform it to 24fps. You get a slowed-down version that looks REALLY smooth. You don't want to enlarge the 720p footage to fit into a 1080p sequence; it can look awful. Also remember that if you do conform the clip via Cinema Tools, make a copy of the file first, as you can't easily(?) reverse the process.

That's all I have for now. Let me know if you have any questions.

EDIT: If you're in PAL land, disregard my frames-per-second recommendations.

EDIT 2: If you can get your hands on a light-meter, it can be extremely useful. It shows you what what your ISO, shutter speed, and aperture should be.

I don't remember what the name of this rule is (180º, maybe?), but the idea is to keep your shutter at 2x your frames-per-second. For example...
24FPS = 1/48 shutter
30FPS = 1/60 shutter
60FPS = 1/120 shutter
If you don't have the appropriate shutter (The Canon 7D doesn't have 1/48, for example, use the one that's closest to your desired value, like 1/50 for 24fps.)

I'm not sure what the white balance settings are like on the T3i, but if it has custom white balance, get your hands on a while or gray card (18% gray) to white balance with.

When you're selecting ISO for video, only use the following values:
160, 320, 640, 1250, 1600. I don't remember why this is the case, though.

Last edited by Cinexcellence (March 2, 2012 (02:11pm))

5D Mark III ?!

Youtube Channel

I've been using a Quickcam Pro 9000 for a while and my birthday is coming up, so I'm looking to upgrade to a DSLR and up the quality of my videos. The quickcam is good but I've had mine for a couple years and it's having some problems to do with crashing and freezing on occasion.
At the moment I'm looking at getting a 550D as it has a pretty affordable cost ($580 on eBay), as it not only comes with an 18 - 50mm lens which seems suitable for macro photography with lego but it also has a decent looking video mode.
I have dragon stop motion running on a windows 7 machine.

Last edited by ForlornCreature (March 21, 2012 (12:29am))

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep looking and I'll tell you what I end up with.

From what I've seen by Repelling spider the performance is quite decent, I don't see any problems with the light flicker. I use dragonframe anyway so frames can be deleted and re-shot very easily. However if it does turn out to be cheaper or more effective I may go for a nikon lens with an adapter

Does anyone have ANY idea when the T4i will be announced?

I am really looking forward to it. If it is a big enough jump up from the T3i I will get the T4i, but if it isn't, I know I can get the T3i for a much lower price.

Agreed, about how long does the shutter last? That is one of the reasons I have been hesitant to use a DSLR for brickfilming.