DSLR Settings

First things first. Before you even start to think about Post-Production … make sure your footage is “good enough” (in a technical standpoint) for example your DSLR look. Quite important with all DSLRs is the “picture style” in order to get as much “room to play” with the footage-look in Post:

Well… there are some other post’s out there … this is nothing new … at least if you are not a 550D newbie

The most important settings (beside shutter speed >>> 180 degree rule) is picture style … it’s crucial to flatten your image so you have some “space” in post to style your look after shooting.

There are two  kind of flat-settings-flawors known and recommendable: one by Stu Maschwitz also used by Philip Bloom and another by Vincent Laforet … well i tried both … and in my workflow / opinion Philip’s got the most usable as his is the most flatten style.
Vincent’s setting is a bit too contrasty especially in low light and indoor situations (in my opinion)  … anyway both settings are workable.

So anyway i got asked several times now to “share” my 550D settings…

so here you go:

here you can see my “550D screens” of my “must set” settings:

that is how my “live view” screen looks like with my 50mm 1.8 (w/ Fader ND)
for PAL LAND 25fps shuttter is set to 1/50th – ISO 100-400 are quite OK … more than ISO 1600 not recommendable

BTW sometimes ISO is called ASA that is the “same” thing as it was called back in the Film days … (rating of  film stock sensitivity)

make sure you set your style to “Neutral” instead of “Standard”
… that will be a difference

you should check if “exposure” is set to “manual”
… BTW: if i don’t need any sound i deactivate it

Some say “highlight tone priority” can help in certain situations … some others say it leads to a “more” noisy picture
well i didn’t use that mode at all yet. so i don’t like more “encroachments” than necessary  so i leave it alone (disabled)

Anyway, you should check Philip Bloom’s tutorial DVD’s for 5D & 7D … as he has some more great information about DSLR shooting & post as well as ProLost by Stu Maschwitz
and a really great Workshop at creativelive.com by Vincent Laforet about HDDSLR Cinema

This was shot with this settings and graded with Magic Bullet Looks:

MORE USEFUL TIPS by RomanMFrance:

Dealing with that DSLR in POST!

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Canon XH-A1 Settings:

coming tomorrow!