Interesting. I don't know what I don't know about video. My kid's school had their spring pops concert, and I shoot stills mainly. Just got a D7000, and thought, "What the heck..shoot some video." I don't even know how to choose setting for video!...I need "D7000 Video for Dummies." I had it on ISO 800 or 1600, AF, with the 17-55 @ f4, at 17-20mm, 24frames p/s i think. I just threw in in Live View and pushed the go button :) Here's the result of a dance/choir number, "Safety Dance"--

http://youtu.be/RsJiNRL5kc8

Thoughts/suggestions? I got some motion blur, which doesn't bother me too much. Was that avoidable? The AF seemed to track ok, and I had to go that way because I don't have a Hoodman Lupe to focus on the LCD. didn't have a tripod so hand-held it, braced on my knees. I do have some old primes I'll try next time once I get the lupe to focus manually... a 24/f2 and 35/1.4. I know the audio lacks...I don't have a separate mic yet, but that would have helped, even if mounted on the hotshoe.

thank yall soo much for the help and advice! jorpet, i think the quality you got on that video is more than perfect for what i need. im going to have a few hours to play around before the event so i will definitely take notes from this post - and i got a copy of Adobe OnLocation, which i never used before but i think i will give it a try also

I haven't shot a dance recital yet, but have/had similar issues with my older son's percussion ensemble.

For what I have done, I have found setting the camera's focus and not letting it auto focus has given the best results. I typically run at f/2.8, but from far enough away to get the DOF that I need. You will find that at 70mm and 50' from the stage you will have the full stage in focus.

This video was shot at the state finals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrEcFtwr0pc

The stage was not lit with spot and half of the overhead stage lights were out. This was shot from over 100' away with a 24-70 f/2.8 set at approx. 60mm and f/2.8 and 1/60.

I will be shooting my younger son's ballet in a couple weeks, so will get to give that a try as well, but I think it will be fairly similar to the ensemble performance.

**Edit: My apologies for the long start to the video before they start to play at about the 2 minute mark. In the competition they have the stage for exactly 10 minutes. They must set up, play and move off in that time or be disqualified, so I filmed from when they entered the stage, so there is a lot of set up at the start.

Hi,

We did a dance recital this past weekend, our video cameras did fine.

Having used the D7000 for my first dance recital, I'm humbled.

We live in a remote location in Western Montana, and the lighting designer is more accustomed to doing parties. All of the lighting instruments were pointed parallel to one straight line one the floor left to right - if the dancers were on that line, left to right, and the light was consistent, it would have been a dream to shoot them. :-)

Secondly, they must have had a 'beat' program to rotate lighting color to sound.

Anyway, their beam was somewhat off kilter and in my line of view and one of the crew ofter of raise it and I really thanked them saying it was in my frame - and nothing came of it...

Back to the D7000, while Gelu88 is typically right about manual controls, I might offer this, depending on how much control of the environment you have, there are some great auto controls on the D7000 that make this work easy to do and make for great captures.

Allowing the camera to make automatic exposure and focus adjustments within the parameters of the zone for the dancers makes a lot of sense. Everything should be in focus and exposed well. Audio will suck due to motor noise, and there will be an 'occasional' seek, _depending_ upon which lens setting you use. If I had it do over, I might use a smaller aperture (again departing from Gelu88) to increase the DOF and forget focusing all together.

It's a dance recital, not a creamy bokeh that you're after - you want deep DOF.

We used a TASCAM DR100 for audio, set 30 feet from the cameras to sync up in post.

I think everything will work out in post, but it will be a challenging edit.

My best,

Mike

I'd get there as early as possible and make the conditions like they will be during the show. Then try out different ISO levels and exposures (on manual). That will greatly improve the quality of the shot, as its the type of things that hard to get right in real time.

Don't be afraid of going as high ISO as 3200, perhaps even 6400. its worth it for the added flexibility.

If you know that you will not zoom in, then rent a wide large aperture lens, such as a 35mm 1.8 or 20mm 2.8. totally worth it, and quite cheap. and it ill give you 3 extra stops of light, which you can trade for brighter exposure, lower ISO or faster shutter speed.

yeah im definitely going to overlay the music, as i do the music editing for her too! ive been around dancing all of my life and have a vast collection of dance recital dvds and vhs's, maybe even a betamax :-) the sad truth is, ive never seen one filmed that was great - good is the best ive ever seen - and too many horrible ones to count... i guess without serious top dollar equip the best we can hope for is good!

the lighting is definitely the challenge and you cant zoom in too much because all dancers want to see the whole dance, the whole stage - we had a guy that filmed for us once - best quality ive ever seen - except he zoomed so much, feet and heads were cut off thru the whole thing - so i guess its a give and take. id rather get the whole stage than see someones nose hairs - essentially its the dance you want to get... good luck with yours!

-angie

Hi Angie,

There are two methods of using the D7000 for video auto and manual, (in the A or M modes) and you can acquaint yourself with the manual on how to adjust for lighting conditions with either mode by using ISO or adjusting exposure compensation.

Audio will be a weak link. I would add a good short shotgun microphone such as an Audio Technica or EV and place it away from the camera and towards the stage. You should be able to get a copy of the audio used by the dance copy and patch that in with a copy of your NAT audio. Synching it in with your NAT will be easy in most NLEs, and mixing it will give you great audio for the number and audience reaction as well.

I would likely keep the auto focus off as much as possible.

Depending upon how much your lighting changes, you might be able to handle the what happens from number to number with little fanfare, but not likely.

I'm shooting a dance recital this weekend with two video cameras and the D7000. What I expect to see in tomorrow's rehearsal is wildly varied lighting and dark, dark backgrounds to fool the light meter.

My best,

Mike

hello to everyone - im new here! im using a friends D7000 to video a dance recital and was wondering if yall have any suggestions on the low lighting situation.

the show will have regular spotlights as well as colored spotlights. i will setup the camera on a tripod approx 50ft from the stage. i do have a zoom lens but i need to have a full shot of the stage for most of the recital. i understand that i shouldnt expect great hd quality in a low light situation but any suggestions on how to achieve a decently good video would be greatly appreciated...

i only have about three weeks to do research on this before shooting the recital so im trying to learn as much as i can to get the best results!

thanks so much,
angie

p.s. i should add that i am doing this for a friend that owns the studio. its going to be copied and sold to the students (so i AM getting paid for the job) but i do edit work so the shooting part has me a bit nervous :-)