Gear for a Same Day Wedding Edit by Oceanwide Studios
This is a guest blog post by Brad Seidenfeld of Oceanwide Studios.
Check out Oceanwide Studios website to see more of their work!
Normally, we always are shooting our Canon C100s and C300s because of the wonderful images and great dynamic range. But, because we were delivering a ‘Same Day Edit’ (The video was shot, edited and viewed all on the same day), we opted to shoot with four Canon 5d Mark III’s and one Canon 70d.
With all of our DSLR cameras we start with a color profile that we learned from the master Stu Maschwitz many years ago. We start by cranking the sharpness and contrast all the way to the left (0 and all the way negative). Then crank the saturation to the left by 2 notches. We have found that this leaves more detail to work with and essentially gives the camera a little more dynamic range to work with. DSLR’s have a look, while very beautiful, it is kind of “baked in.” So we fight that as much as possible in order to have a little more control during post processing.
What’s in our Bag:
Our lens package consists of all Canon L glass- you really can’t go wrong with Canon L series primes:
- 24mm f/1.4
- 35mm f/1.4L
- 50mm f/1.2L USM
- 85mm f/1.2 II USM
- 135mm f/2L USM
- 15mm f/2.8 fisheye
- 100mm f/2.8L Macro
Typically, we begin the day with our 50mm on the 5d Mark III. This is kind of a barometer lens. That helps gauge how that lens feels in the space, while I allow time for everyone get used to having cameras around. If I have the space, I love to move to the 135mm. This lens has a SWEET creaminess to it and really beautifies the face. Early on, understanding the “why” of lens choice really forced us to push our composition and understand lens compression.
Throughout the day we use in order of most to least:
- Monopod – Manfrotto 561-BHDV
- Gimbal – MOVI M5
- Slider – Philip Bloom edition 3’ slider
- Rode video mics of all sorts, Zoom H4n recorders and a handful of other little tools of the trade.
- Tripod – Manfrotto (a couple of different models with varying fluid heads)
- Drone – DJI Phantom 2 and 3 (we use the GoPro on the phantom 2)
The MONOPOD!!! This thing is amazing! This model has a ball joint at the bottom and three small feet. This along with the small fluid tilting head allows this device to not only stabilize quickly but also add some very pleasing natural motion without having to do cheesy looking tilts and swoops that most monopods are limited to. I love to do what I call the “twisty-go” shot of the couple nice and close. I love to backlight with the sun and let the movement of the monopod and my body’s natural motion just play with the light off of shoulders, hair, hands etc. This thing makes up nearly 75% of our shots during the day.
The Movi Gimbal Stabilizer: From our very first wedding almost 8 years ago I firmly believed that we needed to have a way to show movement in a way that would let our subject travel in a natural way. This is the reason we have the Canon 70D. The dual pixel autofocus that camera has makes for a really great combo with the MOVI in its single operator mode.
To stabilize the cameras: the Kessler quick-release system is a must. Every device that we have -from jib arm to a monopod- has one of these units on it. The quick releases make our lives so easy in that the change of cameras from one device to the next takes as little as a second or two.
The Kessler Philip Bloom slider is a nice lightweight durable slider that travels extremely well. We use the slider to add solid movement to shots. A lot of slider shots can be used to transition from scene to scene. We also like to reveal a location, like a church, with a slider shot. This is so much more effective than a tilt with tripod. The tripods are used only in the back of the church or venue for the ceremony.
And then the drone…ah, this lovely device is all the rage. We used it in this wedding for the first time and most likely close to the last. One thing I love about the drone is that it gets everyone’s attention, and usually in a good way. It’s a good way to create good relationships with the bridal party because they will inevitably ask you all about it and want to look over your shoulder. BUT, to be honest, my opinion is that it is only icing on the cake. It has the tendency to take away from the story so use sparingly.
At Oceanwide Studios, we don’t claim to be the experts on all subjects, but we always make a conscious effort to always base our decisions on cameras, lenses, and tools on whether they enhance the type of story that we are trying to tell. We hope that shows in the work:)
-Brad Seidenfeld of Oceanwide Studios
Check out Oceanwide Studios website to see more of their work!
