aorr

Hi Steve, Great, glad the video turned out well for him! Take care, -Andy

Hi Steve,

Some great questions! First off, I would suggest he try to simulate the darkness and get some experience with the mic and doing audio/video in similar conditions. The first time you shoot video with a DSLR it's never as good as you hope for. 

 

The D800 does have built in metering for audio. You can access it in the menu structure or when in video mode by holding down the right keys. I forget which they are but I kind of remember the up/down joystick buttons doing it. Could be wrong though.

 

The ISO depends on a lot of factors, but your suggestions are a good starting point. If he can shoot a fast lens he'll be better off. Sadly wide-angle and fast glass is a bit expensive. I use a Nikon 16-35mm F/4 and hate how slow it is for dark lighting conditions with video. If he can, prioritize the ISO being in the range you suggest, and after that try to get in the f/5.6-f/8 range for aperture. If you have a nice prime lens you might be able to get good results opening it up a little more from that to get more light in. Your DOF is going to be tiny so focus is critical.

 

I would suggest shooting at 1080p at 24fps. Try and shoot at 1/50th of a second to get a good compromise of motion blur in each frame along with letting a bit of light in.

 

Hope that helps give a good starting point for you. Nothing beats trying a few settings first though. Noise at high ISO in video is acceptable on the D800 but canons still blow it away on the video end. 

 

-Andy

Good ideas. I'm going ice diving in a few days so I'll be able to test it out! Going to try and stick with gaffers tape to avoid some extra expenses with this first go-around.

-Andy

Great, thanks for the advise Steve! Can't wait to try this!

Hope it helps! Moray Eel is just my current rating, my forum handle is blaisedouros which provides a huge degree of anonymity given that it's nothing like my name. Swear

Ha! Wow, can't believe I fell for that. Lol. Every forum is different on where usernames are shown and this one totally fooled me! By my ideology I would be titled "Hermit Crab" as well!