Springtime Sunrise in Ely

Filmed over 3 hours very early one Monday morning just north of Cambridge at Ely - around the Cathedral, Cherry Hill and down by the River Great Ouse. Shot mostly with Panasonic TM900 in 1080p50 but also Canon 7D plus Canon 100mm Macro IS and Canon 70-200mm IS for the few flower shots in my garden back at home. Full manual on both cams and using a Libec TH650 Tripod.

I actually used my new Rode Videomic Pro too (but did not incorporate any of the bird sound in this film). This was due to the still air in the first hour or so after sunrise carrying much of the unwanted traffic and train noise into this small, still medieval looking, area within the centre of Ely.

Some shots demonstrate the 20x iZoom capability of the TM900 well - see some of my other films on YouTube for further examples. Just a couple of shots where I was very slightly off with my exposure, despite using the excellent Zebras, Histogram and Exposure % Indicators on the Panasonic. Some of the early shots were taken at about 6.00AM in pretty dim light too!

You'll also see a few close up shots with my Canon 7D and the lovely Canon 100mm Macro IS with it's wonderful bokeh. Note the Quince flowers (we have two old examples of these unusual trees in our back garden).

Edited in Vegas in a 1080p50 timeline and converted to a 1080p25 file at 10Mbps for web uploading. Sure, the YouTube compression takes its toll - much less latitude and some line twitter appeared that was not on the Final Cut master etc. But at least you get to see the film!

Music is a copyright free/royalty free purchase called Zen Woods (this is the alternative version).

See more of my professional corporate video work in and around Cambridge and all over the UK on:

http://www.shootingimage.co.uk

Enjoy! Andy

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Panasonic TM900
• TM 900
• SD900
• HS900
• TM700
• Low Light Test
• Canon 7D
• Canon 100mm Macro IS
• Ely
• Cambridge
• Shooting Image Ltd

[ZachAtk1]

Just curious, what file format did you render it as from Vegas? I've been using .wmv but when it's viewed on youtube at 320P it's compressed a lot. I tried .mp4 but I think it's even worse. I have my bit rate around 10MBPS like you do. The clarity you get even at 320P is amazing!

[AndyKWilkinson]

@ZachAtk1 From memory (it was 6 months ago) I used customised variant of Vegas 16:9 Internet HD AVC template, 1920x1080 at 25p, Video at 10Mbps, Stereo Audio as AAC 192Kbps 44.1Khz. Note that a lot of the shots are static/on a tripod - REALLY helps YouTube's encoding to attain very sharp images as bit rate is not used (wasted) on lots of moving pixels frame to frame as it is much less taxing.

[mjkobb]

So, just so I'm sure I understand, was everything from about 2:54 onward shot with the 7D?

It seems that the Canon (with nice glass) produces superb images, but I guess it does not adjust exposure or focus on the fly and of course has no motorized zoom, so for shooting the typical "home movie" or relatively active event, it seems like the Panasonic would win the day?

[AndyKWilkinson]

@mjkobb Yep, opening shots and closing shots (i.e. all the Macro and close up flower stuff) was with 7D with either Canon 100mm MacroF2.8 IS or Canon 70-200 IS on. Different tools for different needs these cameras but a good all round camera/travel cam would be the TM900. If you want more filmic look, go for a DSLR but be aware of issues with ergonomics and sound that need attention (and cost) as well as the need for good fast glass (can be old lenses with adapters).

[marifzee]

Hi

I live in Zurich. I want to buy this camera from US. My tv, samsung UE46b700, supports both NTSC and PAL. Is it a must to buy PAL camera?

Thanks

[AndyKWilkinson]

@marifzee Best buy a PAL model for filming in PAL countries as you will need to be able to set the frame rate to 25 or 50 and shutter speed to 1/50 or 1/100th when in manual mode to avoid horrible strobing under artificial lighting situations, especially flourescent lights. I don't know if NTSC model of the TM900 gives you those manual shutter options - but I suspect it won't. It certainly won't give you the 25p and 50p frame rates so that could be a big problem. Hope this helps, Andy

[AktepiuS]

Absolutely great ! I hope you will offer a video workshop here on youtube !

[mjkobb]

@AndyKWilkinson Thanks, that's what I thought. I forgot to mention another advantage of the Panny: zoom lens. It's not very easy to find a 10x or 12x zoom on a DSLR (certainly not with high quality). I agree that I think there are different tools for different needs here, and as my needs are more in the realm of shooing video flexibly and quickly without a lot of setup time, I think the camcorder is still the way to go! The 7D produces lovely images, though!

[nattoplasmin]

Beautiful impressions. I bought my TM900 three months ago. I made some

experience with the Panasonic HD writer. Pls have a look at my videos if you like.

[MoxxieDreamer]

the quality is very impressive, i'm about to buy the Canon Vixia hf 10 but when i ran across this video, it actually better than it