Newbie looking for suggestions/guidance on getting better video quality

Hello all,

I am a newbie here looking for suggestions on how to get better video out of my Nikon DSLR D3200. If you would take a look at the attached video and let me know what I am doing wrong I would appreciate it very much.

To start, here are the settings that I used for this video.

• Camera Setting = Manual
• Picture Setting = Neutral
• WB = Incandescent
• FStop = 2
• ISO = 200
• Speed = 1/50
• Video Setting = 1080p 24fps
• Lens = Nikon 35mm 1.8G

In post I made a few minor adjustsment to the brightness. What you see in the video is the result.
Also, you'll notice in the video that its grainy and has noise. How do I eliminate this? When I increase the ISO the video gets brighter and the graininess gets worse.

Well, it is underexposed. The camera is set to Manual, so it will not be automatic exposure, that becomes your job in Manual. Try camera A mode mode once, to see what it does there (both settings and results).

First choice in dim light would be a slower shutter speed, 1/30 second. This light level also probably needs more ISO, or wider aperture. More ISO should not be bad at a reasonable higher ISO. Reasonable ISO is higher than you might think. Noise is less problem in video than in still pictures, we only see each frame for 1/30 second.

This noise will always "look better" if the image is properly exposed. Noise is signal to noise ratio, and if the signal (the lighting) is low, that makes noise be relatively stronger. Stronger proper exposure makes the noise go down (by covering it up).

Of course, we can also add more lights to a dim scene to be videoed.

WayneF said:

Well, it is underexposed. The camera is set to Manual, so it will not be automatic exposure, that becomes your job in Manual. Try camera A mode mode once, to see what it does there (both settings and results).

First choice in dim light would be a slower shutter speed, 1/30 second. This light level also probably needs more ISO, or wider aperture. More ISO should not be bad at a reasonable higher ISO. Reasonable ISO is higher than you might think. Noise is less problem in video than in still pictures, we only see each frame for 1/30 second.

This noise will always "look better" if the image is properly exposed. Noise is signal to noise ratio, and if the signal (the lighting) is low, that makes noise be relatively stronger. Stronger proper exposure makes the noise go down (by covering it up).

Of course, we can also add more lights to a dim scene to be videoed.

Click to expand...

Sorry I have to disagree. Do not shoot video in the A mode. If under exposed you have one thing to do, raise ISO.

With video, Aperture affects exposure a little bit, but you are mainly setting it for your depth of field view. If you are having trouble keeping things in focus then try and close down your aperture a little, say to f5.6. Granted you will need to up ISO but it will help you keep focus.

You are doing the shutter speed right as its usually double your FPS. So @ 24fps you want a shutter speed of 50 for the cinematic look.

Disclaimer, I haven't watched video yet, going to watch now.

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Watched video, up your ISO to 800 and take the same video, see how that looks. You just need more light. The only thing you can do to get more light in video is ISO Aperture, and extra lights.

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jherring002 said:

Sorry I have to disagree. Do not shoot video in the A mode. If under exposed you have one thing to do, raise ISO.

With video, Aperture affects exposure a little bit, but you are mainly setting it for your depth of field view. If you are having trouble keeping things in focus then try and close down your aperture a little, say to f5.6. Granted you will need to up ISO but it will help you keep focus.

You are doing the shutter speed right as its usually double your FPS. So @ 24fps you want a shutter speed of 50 for the cinematic look.

Click to expand...

Say what? Sorry, but I have to disagree, big time.

I hear that the D3200 cannot change aperture during a recording, but it can certainly be changed before the recording starts... or stops and restarts. And shutter speed and ISO can change (but movie shutter speed does limit out at 1/30 second)

Certainly aperture does affect video exposure... Like any camera, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO all affect exposure equally, stop for stop.

WayneF said:

Say what? Sorry, but I have to disagree, big time.

I hear that the D3200 cannot change aperture during a recording, but it can certainly be changed before the recording starts... or stops and restarts. And shutter speed and ISO can change (but movie shutter speed does limit out at 1/30 second)

Certainly aperture does affect video exposure... Like any camera, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO all affect exposure equally, stop for stop.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it is known you can't adjust the setting while taking video on that camera. I never said adjust while filming.Now to the meat.

You are absolutely right that they all effect expisure. However you don't use the settings in the same way as you would if you were taking a photograph.

Her settings
Shutter: 1/50 (recommended minimum for fps of 24)
Aperture: 2 (basically wide open. She could go to 1.8 but that wouldn't matter much)
Iso: 200

The only thing she could adjust is ISO which is what I said. So disagree with me if you want, but what I said is accurate.

If you are approaching video as if you were taking a picture, OK bit its a little different.

Generally you pick your FPS and then lock in your shutter speed off of that. Rule of thumb is your shutter should be double your fps.

Example:
24fps@50
30fps@60
60fps@125

You can increase your shutter speed for different stylist effects but you typically don't want to go beneath that.

Then you lock in your aperture depending on what you want to do. If you are focusing on a moving talking person, you don't want to be at an aperture of 1.8 because it will be extremely hard to keep that person in focus. So you have to choose an aperture based on what you are shooting. This is why I said you don't basically use it to adjust exposure because you are trying to pull focus or film moving subjects, you've got to set the aperture based on what you need in order to keep your focus.

That leaves iso. This is basically what you have yo use to adjust the exposure after you have those other 2 settings where you want them. That is all I was saying.

You don't approach video as if you were taking a photo. You would get some pretty crazy video that way.

Cheers

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jherring002 said:

I'm pretty sure it is known you can't adjust the setting while taking video on that camera. I never said adjust while filming.

Click to expand...

On my D800, anything can be adjusted while recording video. I'm not sure what limits the D3200 has. Or why it has them.

You are absolutely right that they all effect expisure. However you don't use the settings in the same way as you would if you were taking a photograph.

Her settings
Shutter: 1/50 (recommended minimum for fps of 24)

Click to expand...

Different strokes for different folks.

1/50 in light too dim is counterproductive, doing it the hardest way. I'd say not 24 fps either. It may be what Hollywood does (24 may be sort of a necessity at low film ISO) but 30 fps is a smoother picture, which is why it is has become standard for all TV and digital. 24 is offered if somehow you think you want it. I see it as very special purpose.

Aperture: 2 (basically wide open. She could go to 1.8 but that wouldn't matter much)
Iso: 200

The only thing she could adjust is ISO which is what I said. So disagree with me if you want, but what I said is accurate.

Click to expand...

I do disagree. It certainly does need ISO, but I'd also adjust frame rate and shutter speed to 1/30. That would help stopping down more, at least f.2.8 if not more.

Generally you pick your FPS and then lock in your shutter speed off of that. Rule of thumb is your shutter should be double your fps.

Example:
24fps@50
30fps@60
60fps@120

You can increase your shutter speed for different stylist effects but you typically don't want to go beneath that.

Click to expand...

Not locked in at all. Shutter of 2x frame rate may be good in sunshine, but it sure makes dim light difficult. No auto camera would consider setting 1/50 or 1/60 in dim light needing high ISO. The only locked in limit is 1x fps.

WayneF said:

On my D800, anything can be adjusted while recording video. I'm not sure what limits the D3200 has. Or why it has them.



Different strokes for different folks.

1/50 in light too dim is counterproductive, doing it the hardest way. I'd say not 24 fps either. It may be what Hollywood does (24 may be sort of a necessity at low film ISO) but 30 fps is a smoother picture, which is why it is has become standard for all TV and digital. 24 is offered if somehow you think you want it. I see it as very special purpose.



I do disagree. It certainly does need ISO, but I'd also adjust frame rate and shutter speed to 1/30. That would help stopping down more, at least f.2.8 if not more.



Not locked in at all. Shutter of 2x frame rate may be good in sunshine, but it sure makes dim light difficult. No auto camera would consider setting 1/50 or 1/60 in dim light needing high ISO. The only locked in limit is 1x fps.

Click to expand...

What I've stated is what is taught in video classes.

If you want to tell someone to slow their shutter to 1/30 that's fine. Yes it will affect exposure but it will also reduce your video quality. Try it. There will be little stutters. Subtle but they will be there.

Increasing iso will also affect quality but I would rather have some grain than video stutters.

Hell memory isn't expensive, OP try both ways. I think you'll like the way I suggested better


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I haven't really done any DSLR video making but I've just bought a gopro and that's fun to use but it has also got me interested in making some videos with my D7100. I'm not sure who is correct with the above frame rate debate but I'd heard it should be double the fps elsewhere. I'm interested what effect a higher shutter speed has on video, say 120/sec when shooting 30fps?

Elliot87 said:

I haven't really done any DSLR video making but I've just bought a gopro and that's fun to use but it has also got me interested in making some videos with my D7100. I'm not sure who is correct with the above frame rate debate but I'd heard it should be double the fps elsewhere. I'm interested what effect a higher shutter speed has on video, say 120/sec when shooting 30fps?

Click to expand...

It will still look good if you go higher, but things that move fast will jump around a bit. For example a butterfly will skip around because it's going to choose only 30 if the 120. Try it. Experiment. It will give you a different style.

Edit
Does the gopro video show you the settings it took the video?

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jherring002 said:

What I've stated is what is taught in video classes.

If you want to tell someone to slow their shutter to 1/30 that's fine. Yes it will affect exposure but it will also reduce your video quality. Try it. There will be little stutters. Subtle but they will be there.

Click to expand...

Video class surely told you to add some light for a too dim situation. Light makes many things possible.

1/30 second can add blur to motion, same as a still camera. But we only see video frames for 1/30 second, before we get a new different look. And 2) it's usually a special situation to have much motion, and of course, there was no motion in the video at hand. And 3) at f/2, more ISO is the only alternative. More ISO would be a very good thing, but some of each of them can help.

Elliot87 said:

I haven't really done any DSLR video making but I've just bought a gopro and that's fun to use but it has also got me interested in making some videos with my D7100. I'm not sure who is correct with the above frame rate debate but I'd heard it should be double the fps elsewhere. I'm interested what effect a higher shutter speed has on video, say 120/sec when shooting 30fps?

Click to expand...

In bright enough light, yes. But the 2x is usually spoken of as a maximum shutter, faster can cause jerkiness of motion, like a stroboscopic effect (a delay between frames, no blur blending frames together). But if not much motion, it really doesn't much matter what it is.

WayneF said:

Video class surely told you to add some light for a too dim situation. Light makes many things possible.

1/30 second can add blur to motion, same as a still camera. But we only see video frames for 1/30 second, before we get a new different look. And 2) it's usually a special situation to have much motion, and of course, there was no motion in the video at hand. And 3) at f/2, more ISO is the only alternative. More ISO would be a very good thing, but some of each of them can help.



In bright enough light, yes. But the 2x is usually spoken of as a maximum shutter, faster can cause jerkiness of motion, like a stroboscopic effect (a delay between frames, no blur blending frames together). But if not much motion, it really doesn't much matter what it is.

Click to expand...

If you read my replies, I said to add more light.

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jherring002 said:

It will still look good if you go higher, but things that move fast will jump around a bit. For example a butterfly will skip around because it's going to choose only 30 if the 120. Try it. Experiment. It will give you a different style.

Edit
Does the gopro video show you the settings it took the video?

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Click to expand...

I assume there would be a way to find out the settings but having just clicked on properties of one of my videos I don't see it there. I have no LCD and can only really change the resolution so it really is a thoughtless process as far as settings are concerned. Right now that is fine by me as I need to focus all my concentration on what I'm trying to film.

All,

Thanks for the feedback. Tried both suggestions, decided to stick with the manual setting, 24fps@50 for now. Adjusted the iso to 1600 added a little more light and left the aperture at 1.8. The video is still a little grainy but certainly better than the first video. Take a look for yourself. Let me know what else I can do to improve.

[video=vimeo;137385312]https://vimeo.com/137385312?from=outro-local[/video]

Thanks again for your help.

derrick said:

All,

Thanks for the feedback. Tried both suggestions, decided to stick with the manual setting, 24fps@50 for now. Adjusted the iso to 1600 added a little more light and left the aperture at 1.8. The video is still a little grainy but certainly better than the first video. Take a look for yourself. Let me know what else I can do to improve.

[video=vimeo;137385312]https://vimeo.com/137385312?from=outro-local[/video]

Thanks again for your help.

Click to expand...

Looks good on my phone Derrick. Unfortunately your camera doesn't have the best sensor for low light so you are going to get grain. The only other thing I can think of is to film when you have more light available.

You can add more light to your scene. This will allow you to drop ISO which will reduce your grain. Hope that helps.

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