r/videography

I've just started playing with log video recording and I'm often hearing we should overexpose a couple stops to get clean darks. but like... if you have no control over the lighting, and you've set your shutter speed to 1/50 and your apeture is wide open and you're still above base iso should you just juice up the iso to get that 2 stops over?

in my experience iso sucks. you want as little of it as possible. like throwing a bunch of iso at a sensor to get 2 stops over isn't gonna give a cleaner image than a properly exposed log image that wasn't overstuffed with iso will it?

thanks for any help. I don't really have any friends that are into this stuff to ask.

A client is asking for vertical versions of several horizontal videos that I made for them. I’d have to reposition and center a lot of the shots and graphics to fit in a vertical aspect ratio. Should I charge extra or is it standard to include different versions for socials and all?

Spent a while condensing my whole lighting package into a single Peli case. Six lights total — Zhiyun B500, G300, X200, and three smaller units (X100, X60, M20) for fills and general use.

The size reduction is real, and it only works because the brand makes unusually compact units. The B500 is the main key — roughly Aputure 600-equivalent output, no separate power unit, everything in the head. The X200 runs off two V mounts via a mounting bracket, which is specifically useful on doc sets when you want a bright portable light that isn't tied to mains.

The smaller three are handy for background work, practicals, or just shoving somewhere. The honest technical downsides: the open-fan design is what makes them so small, but it also means they run noticeably hotter than enclosed lights — I now keep heat-resistant gloves in the case — and they're not waterproof at all, so anything outside in bad weather is off the table.

The app control is genuinely useful for solo or small-crew setups, though closing the app disconnects everything and you have to reconnect from scratch each time, which is a minor irritation.

The one that actually caused me a problem: the G300's power cable is permanently attached to the power unit. When mine failed, there was no replacing just the cable — the whole thing needed replacing. Worth knowing before you commit to multiples of that unit.

My friend and I have recently started a videography side hustle alongside our studies. We've had success on a corporate project and have a couple more leads.

We are fortunate enough to live next to a VERY wealthy area and to improve my business skills (which are lacking) I'd like to pitch / reach out to some of the business there i.e jet charter.

One thing I struggle with is conveying my value to the client. Like how do I say my £1000 package will generate more than that in value? With social media you can argue metrics but a lot of that is out of your hands and up to the algorithm, even if you lead with a one second hook etc. And I can't guarantee someone will see the video and want to buy the product.

I'm looking at a jet charter business currently and whilst they have 10k followers, they get maybe 40 likes per post. A lot of their content is shot on iphone which I think looks out of place considering their £90 million private jets. I could provide something that looks premium and hopefully increases engagement though I'm not sure how important social media is to a business like this? They post quite often so I imagine it's worth something?

Thanks

Due to how intense the job market has become for my current industry (IT), any tips for someone trying to get their feet wet? As far as technicalities/approaches & how to take it from being a hobby to an actual business profession?

It seems like the latest trend in selling to videographers is guys promising to teach how to get clients that pay $50K+ a month. Sometimes the pitch includes a retainer, sometimes they promise you'll work half as many hours while making 10x as much, and often they say that if you don't get the contract you don't pay.

I know not to trust any of this stuff but I'm curious what the gimmick is. What is it that they are selling, what secret information do you get if you sign up/pay, and what's the catch that's allowing them to promise a contract or you don't pay?

I'm planning to record a bunch of talking head videos for work.

It'll probably be at least 100+ videos that'll be viewed by too many people for me to be comfortable just rawdogging it with my macbook camera and pillow hair, so I need to make it as professional as possible (but can't go completely crazy with the budget – say $800–1000 in total for the three lights minus any modifiers).

The room is about 129 square feet/12 square meters with dark walls and a window I plan to cover up, so natural light is pretty much null.

What I already have from previous projects:

• Sony FX30 (with a planned Sigma f/1.4 lens)
• Autopoles and tripods
• DJI Mic 3

However, when it comes to lighting, I'm feeling lost. I've only worked with natural light before. My plan is to have a proper key light, fill light and hair light, but I am very unsure what lights will be sufficient for this scenario.

The lights I'm considering are the Amaran Halo series or the Amaran Ray series, since both series are quite small and seem to be a lot of light for the money. (I don't need the RGB stuff for now, but it could be fun to have for later if they're sufficient otherwise.)

Would some combination of the Amaran Ray 60c/120c, or the Halo 60x/100x/200x be sufficient or do I need more power than that? What would you recommend for key, fill, and hair light?

And what type of softbox/modifier would you recommend for each one?

Any help would be appreciated, this is new territory for me.

Just wanted to rant to somebody who understands.

Can’t wait to get rid of this client but I have a retainer for a marketing guy who has a retainer for a ‘place’ - I just do the creatives. I go and shoot every so often, edit and also bits of graphic design.

It was coming up to the next shoot and the last payment was not made and the next one was just about due. I chased and chased and kept getting the “I’ll talk to them, they haven’t paid me for some reason”. I was tempted to postpone the shoot until the payments were made but I travelled and did the shoot anyway.

I’m not sure who is the one lousy with paying as I head the client always pays on time so was it the client or marketing guy? Who knows.

I get there and nothing was organised for me to shoot ie. Staff were promised but they didn’t want to be filmed and had to actually do work. This lead to not getting any great shots I had planned.

I finally get paid and then they have the cheek to be soon chasing me for the work!

I know it’s not the way to go about it but if you’re going to take forever to pay, I’m going to prioritise clients who do pay on time and do their work first.

Anyway, happy Monday!

Hey so my Mum will be 50 this year and I want to make a shortfilm from clips from the past. I have thousand of videos and pictures but my problem is im not really that creative. I'm really good at making diy stuff, whatever it is but im not good at coming up with an original idea. Give me a pinterest example and I make it 1to1 but and idea of myself idk I always struggle with that.

Ofc I want the video to be personal but I would love to get some inspiration. Do you guys have some ideas on how to structure this video or make it more interesting, instead of just cutting clips back to back with music.

I thought of maybe editing some clips from her fav series with her in or a reference and then show a clip from her own life. And maybe to an animation at the beginning with canva stuff like that. And maybe an narrator for some clips but idk if its weird when I do it.

Idk if you guys have ideas or even better videos on YouTube or that you did yourself, I would love to see it!!

Thanks in advance :)

Recording / Broadcasting an in house town hall tomorrow. Shooting on an R5C and I would love to set a button to punch between off and 2.0x teleconverter, without going through every magnification setting.

Is there a way to do this?

Have a few C stands, but looking at switching to combo stands instead.

c stands have been good, they're solid, they can support weight at height.... but they're heavy and hard to transport (mainly due to length) with all my other gear and getting them packed in a trolley.

And now that my lights are starting to get less bulky and lighter, I'm looking at switching back to normal lighting stands.

What's your recommendations? I need good extended height and weight loads, but small pack down size (or at least easy to get in a trolley). Decent build quality are pretty high up the list.

I typically run a 300 with large soft box or a panel light as key, with a small tube light as a hair. so a couple would be good... hopefully I can find a way to transport them, like a bag/box for protection/better stacking in the trolley

Thanks for your suggestions in advance

Hey everyone! Looking for a videographer to shoot a music video.

Location > Sydney Australia

Dates are not confirmed yet as I’ve been finding it very difficult to find a reliable videographer but deadline is between 24 April and- 7th May

Looking for someone to shoot a music video, if you are interested in shooting a music video for a Sydney rapper please let me know.

Budget wise, potentially $300-$1000AUD

For more details please message me if you are interested thanks ! 🙏🏻

https://reddit.com/link/1sdvfn5/video/k1nnpbw0vjtg1/player

I just started getting into editing (a complete beginner), and this video caught my eye. It looks very simple, maybe a bunch of filters and blurs? I want to replicate it out of curiosity.

Any idea how to achieve this effect?

Thank you!

If I buy one Deity TC-1 device and jam sync stagger start each device at the beginning of the shoot, then in post I just have to line up only the starting points of each recording, so it all falls into sync. Am I correct?

The synchronicity throughout the rest of the timeline between clips should be no less accurate, than if I had a dedicated TC-1 for each lav mic and camera, correct?

Or is it ideal to have at least one time code generator for the camera, and then one to rule all lav mics and boom mics and so on by stagger starting them?

I'm trying to avoid having to buy a freakin tentacle or deity for every mic. I don't mind aligning the beginnings of each track's contents on the timeline.

Is there anything I'm missing here? Are there any other shortfalls to this method beside the one inconvenience of lining up the starting points in post?

Thanks.

I’m working on a project that will most likely end up in some destroyed cameras and I’m considering buying a handful of the super cheap (sub $100) Amazon 4k video cameras. Has anyone actually tried any of them out? Are there any that are actually worth anything? There are so many and I have to imagine that most are garbage, but maybe there’s a few gems in there.