- If you're feeling a little overwhelmed by all the settings
on your camera don't worry,
because this video is the ultimate guide
to the best camera settings for video.
We're going to step through all the key settings
you need to know and how to use them.
Hey, it's Justin Brown here
from Primal Video, where we help you grow
an audience and scale your revenue with online video.
If you're seeing value
in this video, make sure you're giving it a thumbs up,
it really makes a huge difference and all the links
to everything I've mentioned in this video,
you can find linked in the description box below.
Let's jump into it.
So there's frame rate, bit rates, resolution,
shutter speed, aperture, ISO,
audio levels, manual settings, auto settings.
Yep, starting out with a fancy new camera
can definitely be overwhelming.
But really when it comes down
to it there's only a few key settings that you need
to know to get amazing results when you're shooting video.
So we're going to run through them now one
by one with a little background to explain
how they work and how I'd recommend setting them up.
Now, I'd suggest watching this video
through once first to learn the basics
and then come back and follow along
like a checklist next time you're going to shoot.
Now there's nine things
or nine steps that I'm going
to cover off on and I would suggest
that you follow through in the exact same order.
So the first one then is your video resolution
or the actual quality
of the video that you're going to be capturing.
So here you've typically got options like
720P, 1080P, 4K, maybe even 6K or 8K
depending on the camera that you're using.
Now, I would say in this day and age that most people
should be creating their videos at least 1080P
or maybe even 4K, depending on the camera that you're using.
I'm a big fan of shooting at the highest quality possible
for you and then if you need
to lower that quality down do that in your editing
or when you're saving out your videos afterwards.
But you can never come back and add more quality later,
so I'd always suggest starting wherever possible
with the highest quality recording
that you can and then, yeah, lower it if you need to.
Now, the only real exception to that would be
if your computer or the device you're going to be editing
on isn't capable of seamlessly editing that footage down.
Then that would be a good reason to lower the quality
so that your editing experience is still smooth and fast.
So for me
and my setup, I'm currently shooting on a Panasonic GH5
and I'm creating all of our videos at 4K
and we're actually uploading them to YouTube at 4K as well.
Now that's not to say that you need to be doing that,
a lot of the biggest channels around
are still uploading at just 1080P.
So if you've got the access
to 4K and it's going to be easy
for you to do then by all means upload in 4K as well.
If not, there's nothing wrong with 1080, I guess.
That's the video resolution,
the second one is your frame rate,
the number of frames per second,
that make up the movement or the motion in your video.
Now, the default setting
for a lot of cameras and phones out there
is 30 frames per second
and it really doesn't make a huge difference
if your end place that you're going
to be uploading your videos is just to YouTube.
YouTube is going
to recognize and play them all back without any drama.
But if you are chasing something
closer to that filmic cinematic look
then maybe 24 frames per second might be the one for you.
For me personally, I'm based
in Australia, therefore in a pal region
and so all of my videos I shoot,
I'm shooting at 25 frames per second.
So the next one then is your video bitrate,
So the quality captured
of really each one of those frames per second,
the amount of data that's captured
to build up that 4K or 1080P video.
So your bitrate is measured in megabits per second.
And so the higher the number,
the more data that's going to be captured,
which also means the larger the video file size
will be as well.
Now, this is one of those things
where it is going to come down to the individual camera
itself when it comes to the actual qualities
that you will have access to,
but also they're not going to be comparable.
So 18 megabits per second
on one camera might be really good,
it might be the highest setting available to
whereas 18 on another camera might be the lowest setting.
So it is worth doing a quick Google search
for your camera make
and model to see what recording bitrates
and resolutions and things you've actually got access
so that you can get the best settings
for your specific camera.
So for my setup here again on my Panasonic GH5,
I'm recording at 4K at 25 frames per second
and at 100 megabits per second
and that makes up the overall picture quality
and resolution that I'm creating these videos at.
Now, what you might find
when you're setting these up in your camera
is that they could be three individual settings
one for each, or you might find that there are presets
that you can select from that actually combine all three.
But now you've got an understanding
of what they mean and which ones you should be selecting.
Now, just before we get
to number four, I'm going to start locking down
all of our brightness settings
and controlling the overall look and feel of our shot.
The main reason that you want to do this,
is so that you can be setting your shot up
to be the way that you want it to be
without worrying that your camera's going
to make some auto adjustment to brighten your shot randomly,
or to even push you out of focus in some cases
based on what it thinks that your shot needs and requires.
So by following through in order
what we're going to be covering next,
this is going to take that power away
from your camera and put it
in your hands so that you can set things up the way
that you want it for your specific shot,
knowing that is not going to change throughout your shot.
The next one then number four is your shutter speed.
Now the shutter speed will affect
the overall look, the motion and
how that's captured in your videos, but also the exposure
or the brightness of your shot as well.
And setting your shutter speed correctly
will also help you remove any flickering
or banding from any lights that you're using in your shot.
Now, depending on which frame rate
you picked for your videos back in step number two,
then that's going
to dictate as to what your shutter speed should be.
So as a general rule,
your shutter speed should be twice what your frame rate is.
So in my case, if I'm setting my shutter speed
to 25 frames per second
then my shutter speed is going to be 50
or one over 50 or one 50th of a second.
Likewise, if you're
in the US or you're filming at 30 frames per second,
then you want to be setting your shutter speed
to 60 or one over 60.
And if you're going to be shooting at 24 frames per second,
again you would double that
to go to 48, but not every camera has the option to set 48.
So normally in that case, you would just set it
to 50 and that's going to be close enough
to give you great results.
So number five then is your aperture.
So the lower your aperture number,
or, F-stop, it's also called.
The lower that number the more light is going
to be let through and the higher the number,
the less light is going to be let through.
Now, adjusting your aperture
isn't just for adjusting the exposure
or the brightness in your shot.
It also helps you change the look
and feel of the video you're going to be capturing as well.
So if you have a lower aperture number,
so you're letting more light into your camera lens,
this is where you can do things
like blur out the background of your videos.
Whereas having a higher number will mean
that a lot more in your shot is going to be in focus.
Now, if you want
to know more about creating that blurry background look
that everyone seems to want on YouTube
then check out the video I've got linked up in the cards.
So for this setup for me right now,
the lens I'm currently using is a Panasonic lens,
which will let me go down to an F-2.8.
So that's what I'm shooting at right now.
Now a lot of the videos
that we shoot on this channel, I'm using a Sigma lens
and that'll actually let me get down to, I think it's F 1.4,
so more light and a blurrier background with that lens.
So I just switch
between the two depending on which video I'm making.
So once you've got
your shutter speed and your aperture locked in,
the third piece that really dictates the exposure
of your shot or the brightness of your shot is your ISO.
So the three of those together form
what's called the exposure triangle
and making adjustments to any one of those three
will allow you to brighten or darken your shot.
But that's why I want you to set them this way first,
if you're locking down your shutter speed
to get that correct for your frame rate
and for any flickering
in your scene, then you're setting your aperture.
So you're locking down the look
and feel of the shot that you want as for how blurry
or not things like the background are in your shot.
Then the third piece then that you can adjust is your ISO.
So again, this is another number.
Now, the lower the ISO number the darker the shot,
the higher the ISO, the brighter the shot.
Now you can think of ISO kind of like digital brightness,
the brighter you go with it you can start
to introduce noise and pixilation into your shot.
So you really don't want to be going too far with it.
Now as for what too far is,
this is going to come down to again your specific
camera make and model,
but as a general rule most cameras will be fine
up to around 800 some of them even 1600,
but pushing beyond that
is where a lot of cameras will fall apart
and look pretty average.
So again, for my setup here
with this specific camera and this specific lens,
my ISO is set to 320 to get this look.
Now, if you are going to be filming outside
and you've set your shutter speed, you've set your aperture
and when you're dialing in your ISO
and it is still too bright, even at the lowest settings
that's where using an ND filter on your camera lens
can really help you.
Again, dial in all of those settings,
but still have control over the brightness of your shot.
So you can think of an ND filter like sunglasses
for your camera lens to darken your shot down.
So when I'm shooting outside,
I'll always take with me a variable ND filter.
So I can just turn it and adjust the shot
to make it brighter or darker.
Once I've got all of those other settings set correctly.
Now it's not something that's absolutely required,
but it is something that's nice to have in your toolkit,
depending on which camera you're going to be using.
So now that you've got your ISO dialed in,
the next one is your white balance or the color temperature.
Again, plays a big role
in the overall look and feel of your shot.
If you have this set wrong,
then your shot could look very blue
or very orange, depending on how it's set.
Now, when it comes to white balance,
most cameras out there will have some sort
of presets that you can choose from.
That could be presets
for a cloudy day, a sunny day, indoors,
or for incandescent lighting or a lot of cameras will also
let you take this one step further
and manually type in your color temperature number,
your Kelvin number to manually set your white balance
so that it is correct for your scene.
So what I suggest that you do here
is to cycle through those presets
and find the one that matches your scene
or the one that you like the look of most,
or if you're going to be manually setting your white balance
by typing in a color temperature, again, measured in Kelvin.
A great place to start with that
is to match the color temperature
of any lights that are in your scene.
So if you're using say any LED panels and on the back
of them they tell you what the color temperature is,
let's say 5,600 Kelvin,
then you want to be setting your camera to match that.
So that brings us to number eight,
which is setting your microphone volume level.
Now, the reason you want to manually set this
and not just leave it on auto is because if you leave it
on auto and you stop talking in your video
for a second or two, then your camera is going
to say, all right, there's no sound
or like I'm not hearing anything
and it's going to boost up that volume.
And then when you start talking again,
it's going to be really loud and your audio is going
to sound terrible, it's going to sound distorted
until it automatically lowers it back down.
So it's constantly checking,
constantly adjusting your volume levels
based on when you're speaking
and when there's noise or audio or not.
So to set your volume level,
this is usually done inside your camera settings.
You'll have to go through to where you find
the audio settings or the microphone settings
and in there you'll have
an option to adjust your microphone volume levels.
Now, if your camera shows the audio bars
or the visual representation
of audio coming in through your microphone,
you'll want to make sure that you are setting this
well below the red area or well below the maximum.
And you also want to leave a little bit
of space or a little bit of breathing room.
So that worst case,
the audio you're capturing, if it got louder,
someone sneezed, someone coughed or someone got excited
and started talking louder that it's still not going
to max out and hit that end peak limit,
because if it does that, that's when your audio is going
to sound bad, it's going to sound distorted
and it's also going to be annoying
and distracting for your viewers watching.
So you want to set your volume levels
to a point that even worst case,
you're still not going to hit that maximum volume point.
And the last one then number nine is your focus.
This is another one
that I would strongly recommend depending on the videos
that you're making, that you are locking down your focus
so that you have zero chance
that your camera is going to automatically adjust
and change the focus on you while you're recording
and leaving you or the subject of your video out of focus.
Some cameras out there do have really good auto focus,
but a lot of them don't.
So I like to remove that risk of ruining your shot
by just putting your camera into manual focus.
Now, you might be thinking,
but Justin I'm shooting my videos
by myself so how am I going to manually set the focus
if it's me that needs to be in focus?
So I'd say ideally, yes, if you've got someone there
to help you then that's going to obviously be easy.
They can set the focus
for you, but if you don't, you can still do it.
You want to use something as a placeholder instead of you.
So it could be a pillow, it could be a light stand,
could be anything
that you've got, that you can bring into your shot
and focus on that, and then swap it out,
move it out of the way and then put yourself
in that position, knowing that your focus is locked down.
Or another way that you can do it
is a lot of camera these days have wifi control capabilities
so that you can control your camera
and set everything up while you're standing
in front of it, just using a phone or a tablet.
That's exactly what I'm doing here right now,
I am controlling and watching and monitoring my shot
here on my Panasonic camera, just from an iPhone.
So this way I can get into position, I can set the focus
and make sure that the shot and everything is all good.
So that's it!
You now know how to get your camera set up
and to get the best results out of your camera.
Now there's two videos linked on screen.
The first one is all around helping you get
that blurry background look
in your videos no matter which camera you're using.
And the second one is all around microphones,
helping you find and decide,
which is the best microphone for your videos.
I'll see you in the next one.