# Settings for a movie



## Davephoto (Oct 10, 2012)

Hi all,

What would be the best settings on my 5D mark III (Zeis Prime 50mm 2.0) for making a movie (short fiction)?

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Dave


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## paul13walnut5 (Oct 10, 2012)

Download one of the superflat camera profiles:


http://www.technicolor.com/en/hi/theatrical/visual-post-production/digital-printer-lights/cinestyle

Get a qpcard. Use a preset, shoot 5s with qpcard in front of subject / intended lighting.

Keep your iso as consistant as possible.

Adhere to the 180 rule for fluid motion.

What else?


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## willis (Oct 11, 2012)

What else, Hmmm..

FPS and Shutter speed if you are going with 24FPS use 1/50th, 30FPS 1/60th etc. ISO between 100-800 ( With 5D3 you might go higher )


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## paul13walnut5 (Oct 12, 2012)

@willis


> FPS and Shutter speed if you are going with 24FPS use 1/50th, 30FPS 1/60th etc.



Yes...


> Adhere to the 180 rule for fluid motion.


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## dirtcastle (Oct 12, 2012)

This is super helpful. Thanks for great info and to the original OP. I'm just starting out and little details like this aren't necessarily obvious.


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## Axilrod (Oct 14, 2012)

Use ISO's in multiples of 160, they're the native ISO's so they produce less noise. I would avoid using Cinestyle (on the 5D2 at least), if you're going to use a built-in picture style I generally use Faithful with sharpness at 0 (or 1 on Mark 3), Contrast at -2 and Saturation at -2. You don't want to have a super saturated image because it gets "burned in" and that's not ideal with compressed footage. I've been playing with Lightform picture styles recently and have been pretty pleased with the results. 

Make sure all the noise reduction settings, Auto Lighting optimizer, and Highlight Tone Priority are OFF. Like the other guys mentioned, 1/50 shutter for 24FPS and 1/60 for 30FPS, so really the only settings you should be messing with are ISO and Aperture. 

Also, try and get the white balance as close as possible from the get go, if you make large changes in post it can degrade the image. With video in general, try to get the shot as close as possible to how you want it and avoid "oh we can just add it/do it in post." I've seen some people take "does well in low-light" as "you don't need any lighting," which couldn't be further from the truth. Granted there are some situations that available light can work fine, but you're going to get a much better image if the scene is lit properly.


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## Davephoto (Oct 21, 2012)

Thanks a lot, very helpful. So, it's ISO that matters the most!


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