T2I and feature length

Planning a feature has a lot more to do with other aspects than the camera.

In respect to just the DSLR, have spare batteries, lots of memory cards, worry a little about overheating and have a good support system to minimize camera shake.

EDIT: oh and practice pulling focus with it so you can get more usable shots when you're in production. And the viewing the LCD can be problematic. You can go eith an external monitor
or a Z finder. Those can be pricey but there are DIY options on the internet.

Overheating was my main concern.

I would say that there's no reason why you can't shoot with a T2i.

Like EW says you need to have spare batteries and cards. I would go so far as to say that you should have a computer on hand and be saving the footage you shoot, almost constantly.

But other than those limitations there's no other real reason why it wouldn't be possible. A lot of people would advise against it (but then again a lot of people would advise against DSLRs in general) but I think it's perfectly reasonable. If you're at the start of the process and are thinking about equipment then I reckon you can cross camera off the list.

EDIT: As for over heating, I've never had a problem in England and as far as I know it's very rare outside of really hot conditions.

I shot a feature with the T2i. Nick and Ernest offer good precautionary advice, what with the extra cards, and all. Except, I got by just fine, with my lone 16GB card. If you get a 32GB card, you're rock solid; no need for more. A computer on-hand would definitely be way-overkill, and would probably disrupt the flow of your shoot.

Lots of batteries. Generic ones are cheap. I rotated four, and there were many days when all four got used (more than once, charging while other was being used). As cheap as the generic ones are, I might go as high as eight.

Support system? I'm not convinced it's needed, with this paperweight camera. Ernest, I would understand if you'd judge my work by the only scene you've scene me do handheld, but that's absolutely not representative of my work. In that scene, I'm walking backwards, and I normally don't walk more than a few short steps at a time, while handheld. As a general rule, my handheld is pretty damn steady, and I never use any support.

A support system is absolutely necessary, if you plan to follow-focus, and all that. But is that really necessary? I mean, that's kind of advanced camera work. I have to assume that wparrish24 is not exactly "advanced", in any aspect. In my opinion, simplicity might work best, at least for the time being. A wider depth of field might be a better option, and perhaps we should keep the camera on the tripod the VAST majority of the time.

I can't imagine overheating would be of any concern in Seattle (and that's my home). It only affected me in the middle of a very hot Summer, in a very hot and humid Richmond, VA. If you're really worried about it, a battery boot might alleviate the potential problem.

I'm not sure what you'd do with a monitor. Cuz they're not HD. I don't know why a non-HD monitor would be better than the viewscreen. A Z-finder is probably necessary if you'll be using a shoulder-mount. They also help when you're shooting outside, cuz sometimes you have to struggle to see the viewscreen, in the sun's reflection. But if speed is a concern, the Z-finder ain't helping. If you're run-and-gun, the Z-finder will get tossed to the wayside, quickly.

Here's my #1 suggestion: Play with it. And don't worry about whether or not this camera will work for a feature. Of course it will! It's better than most cameras being used for indie features.

thanks cracker funk

Cracker Funk said:

Support system? I'm not convinced it's needed, with this paperweight camera. Ernest, I would understand if you'd judge my work by the only scene you've scene me do handheld, but that's absolutely not representative of my work. In that scene, I'm walking backwards, and I normally don't walk more than a few short steps at a time, while handheld. As a general rule, my handheld is pretty damn steady, and I never use any support.

Click to expand...

I wasn't judging your scene at all, CF. By the way, when do we get to see it?

But for the most basic shots to cover a feature, i would advise at least a tripod and a shoulder mount. Plenty of affordable options out there.

And after that you have to practice with them. The tripod and shoulder mount wont automatically make your shots professional.



I mean you can always keep stripping equipment until u end up with a flip cam and nothing more. But i was recommending things that would get the best basic use out of his DSLR. But yeah, CF is right, you can get away without it as well.

Ernest Worthing said:

I wasn't judging your scene at all, CF. By the way, when do we get to see it?

But for the most basic shots to cover a feature, i would advise at least a tripod and a shoulder mount. Plenty of affordable options out there.

And after that you have to practice with them. The tripod and shoulder mount wont automatically make your shots professional.

I mean you can always keep stripping equipment until u end up with a flip cam and nothing more. But i was recommending things that would get the best basic use out of his DSLR. But yeah, CF is right, you can get away without it as well.

Click to expand...

That's all very good advice. Additionally, I think some camera operators just feel more comfortable with a shoulder mount, whereas I find it awkward (then again, I'm not really a proper camera operator, per se).

Oh, I didn't think you were judging me, but thanks. My comment was meant more to say, hey, if you've seen that one clip, in which I do an extended handheld, yeah, I know it's really shaky, and my footage isn't usually anything like that. Here's the clip in reference. In particular, I'm talking about the shot in which I'm walking backwards, while my actor walks forward, past the cars. Thankfully, AE has some nice smoothing-out effects, which I had been planning on using (otherwise, I would've never shot this). Shaky handheld starts at :57.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHTnPlRJVg

Yeah i remember this clip. You're stuff goes to show the importance of conent, that you can get away with a lot if the content is good and entertaining.

By the way at have you noticed :07 and :08?

EDIT: oops, i just read the description and you say some shots have to be cropped. nvrmnd.

Ernest Worthing said:

Yeah i remember this clip. You're stuff goes to show the importance of conent, that you can get away with a lot if the content is good and entertaining.

By the way at have you noticed :07 and :08?

EDIT: oops, i just read the description and you say some shots have to be cropped. nvrmnd.

Click to expand...

Yeah, actually that one's not gonna be cropped (:07). In this rough cut, somehow I accidentally put motion on the clip. How do you accidentally put motion on a clip? I dunno, but somehow I did it. Problem corrected by un-doing (deleting) the motion filter. No, the cropping I had to do was for a shot when the boom creeps in. I'm also going to crop the shaky handheld shot. I normally don't keep my subject so center-frame. I shot it this way, wider than I wanted it, to leave room for shake-correction and cropping.

Never used a DSLR, but have used P2 cards, so similar workflow to SD cards. Best method is two (and only two) cards, say two 16 Gb (or 32 GB) cards, an editing workstation, and two hard drives.

You fill Card 1, you replace Card 1 in the camera with Card 2. While you are filling card 2, Card 1 is taken to the editing station where it's dumped to a hard drive. That footage is then verified on the hard drive, and the card is wiped and returned to the camera operator. The footage is then copied from the primary hard drive to the backup hard drive.

One reason to use the smaller 16 gig cards instead of the larger ones is that sometimes the cards go corrupt and you could lose footage. Another tip I heard from my networking is to reformat the card everytime before you use it to help eliminate coruption issues.

On my 48 hour project shoot using the 7d, I know they did have a computer set up and had a guy that was downloading while we were shooting and then he would send back the reformated card after he downloaded the footage. But then again you risk losing footage if it does not get downloaded correctly the first time or something weird like that happens. (By the way I was acting in the short film not running camera.)

I know we used many extra batteries and many cards just for our 48 project. We did have a jib, dolly, and hand held stuff too. Another project I worked on we used tripods and three 7d cameras. It is all a matter of what you need done. The above posts are right in that you could film the whole movie with just a tripod and also hand hold (with no support) it if needed. Not much else is needed.

Reason to only use two cards is to reduce possible confusion. There is the card in the camera, and the spare not in the camera, no way to get them mixed up.