Filming with a DSLR Camera

Here’s a quick guide for using a Canon 800d/80d DSLR camera for recording video.

Movie Mode

Audio Setup

Although the camera does record audio from its own microphone, it generally won’t be the best quality.

Because of this I would recommend using an external microphone, or even a separate audio recorder such as the Tascam DR-40 altogether. Our Canon 80d’s come with a shotgun microphone, which captures high quality audio in a fairly narrow cone in front of it, making it quite versatile and good for targeting certain things. However, for situations such as interviewing someone outside, the microphone would pic up everything from the interviewee to anything behind. This could mean if you are filming someone talk with a buy road behind them, you will hear all the cars. Using a separate recorder along with a lavalier mic in these instances would work a lot better as they record everything within a small area around it, while mot picking much up outside of that range.

Camera Setup

  1. Set the Mode Dial (also the dial which turns the camera on) on the camera to the top. This puts it into filming mode.
  2. Make sure the focus control on the lens is switched to Auto focus or manual focus depending on your preference.
  3. Hold the shutter button half way to focus while in AF, rotate the focus ring in MF.
  4. You can move the focus point using the arrow buttons in AF, or by touching the screen.
  5. Press the button with the camera icon and the red ring around it to begin or stop recording.

Please Note:

  • The camera will record for approximately 20 minutes at a time.
  • You should not need to record a single clip for longer than this.
  • Do not leave on for prolonged periods of time.
  • The frame rate standard the UK uses is 25fps

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