Blog

Stop Shooting Video on the Canon 5D mk III

The Canon 5D mark III has been one of the most popular cameras for shooting video in low-budget applications ever. In 2012, it was the camera to use for reality, corporate, interviews, B-roll, and even some commercials.

Since 2012, it’s been completely outclassed, eclipsed, and out-priced.  It’s always been a great stills camera, but it’s time to send that dinosaur back to the still photographers.  In 2015 so far, I would guess I’ve been asked to use the 5D mark III as an A or B camera more than a dozen times. Whenever I can convince a producer/editor to make the move to something newer, I do.

Here’s a few reasons why producers are still shooting video on the Canon 5D mark III, and why they don’t make sense any more.
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Shooting "Filming" on Planes

I was recently approached by the Greater Milwaukee Committee, Southwest Airlines, and Kohl’s, to shoot a mini travel documentary about their Destination Innovation program. We covered the event as it happened in Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Milpitas over three days. The most exciting part of the project was documenting the competition on board a Southwest Airlines commercial flight between MKE and SFO. Working at 35,000 feet is something I’d never done before. Needing to be highly mobile, as well as TSA-compliant, meant I spent a lot of time choosing and trimming my camera kit. Read More

Shooting Live: Terminology

While most of my work is scripted commercials, TV, or movies, occasionally I get to work as a camera operator for live events. This summer, I was lucky enough to join High Five Entertainment of Nashville to shoot the Willis Clan’s appearance at Milwaukee’s Irish Fest. While there is much in common between live and scripted shooting, there are a lot of differences in the language we use. I teamed up with one of my favorite PAs to create this crash course for people finding themselves working on live video production for the first time. Read More

How to choose the right video camera for your project

Once your project has a director, producer, cinematographer, and post-production supervisor/editor on board, it’s time to choose the right video camera that makes the most sense for your production. Here’s what you should consider before you pick your camera kit. Read More

Encryption and Security

While 99% of this blog will be about cinematography, I think it’s important that we’re all having a conversation about how we’re communicating online. This post is my contribution to that conversation.  I am an advocate for free and secure communications for everyone, and hope that one day all digital communications will be truly secure, end to end, without leaking metadata, by default. Read More