This short little “film” took a while to create, and I think it came out rather well.
I’ve watched other slider montage videos from Luke Nuemann and Patryck Kizny and been just amazed how they look when put to music, so when Konova Photo & Video asked if I would like to review their slider I jumped at the chance since I don’t own one. I thought it would be cool to make a slider video of some cool locations around Boulder Colorado.
My review of the Konova slider should be done in a few days, but I wanted to first let you see what it is capable of.
This was shot on my Canon T2i 550D with mostly the Tokina 11-16mm wide angle lens which works well for slider shots. Mostly shot at 60fps and then slowed down to 24fps. The BTS are also shot on the T2i 550D.
I used Canon’s flat picture style with the contrast at -3 and sharpness at 1. I got tried of struggling with the “super flat” custom picture styles. No filters where used on the lenses in this video.
My favorite shot is the very first one. My friend David Besnette and I got up before sunrise and captured some awesome light coming up at the NCAR facility in Boulder Colorado.
Time Lapse at the End
As part of my up coming review I wanted to see if I could create a slider timelapse with the Konova slider which does not have a belt or a motor, I did it the old fashion way – I moved it manually 1/8″ each shutter release. A big gust of wind towards the end blew my log over and kind of ruined it, but I think it came out pretty well. My friend David also added some flash light flashes in the grass to make it a little more interesting.
Behind The Scenes
Special thanks to my friend David Besnette for shooting some BTS footage of me with the slider. When I watched Patryck Kizny’s slider video I thought it looked pretty cool seeing him preform some of the slider moves, so I added myself to the video thinking others might want to watch me as well.
Music
The song is “Miss U” by Loveshadow on the creative commons site ccMixter.org. When I watched Patryck Kizny’s slider video I noticed he was using creative commons music from a site I had never hear of before, so I had to check it out since it is so hard to find good creative commons music that actually sounds good. After a short while I found the song I used in this video and was amazed to find out that it was “assembled” by 6 people that have never met (at least I think that is the story). If I understand it right they all remix or added to others work on that site – that is really amazing. I thought the song was so smooth that it would go well with a slider video.
Equipment Used In This Video
I will have more about using the joystick on the slider, it is tricky since you are raising the center of gravity of the camera and can introduce shake.
I didn’t use any filters because I don’t own any yet. But I have some coming in for review soon.
Premiere Pro CS5: I mostly just added saturation and sharpening in post.
Dave, love the slider reel, I’m working on my own now, but it’s based on slow motion sports footage, should be pretty cool.
The music went perfectly with the footage, that was an excellent choice.
Question, for your timelapse, how do you ‘assemble’ all the images in post in CS5? I guess my question is, how do you go from 100s or 1000s of pictures to a fluid video?
Thanks!
RJP
@RJP thanks! I plan on doing a tutorial about the time lapse at the end if that is what you are referring to.
Excellent video. At first viewing, I thought the light flashes in the field were clouds letting in slivers of light. Very cool effect. And thanks for pointing us to that site for the music. Good source.
Really enjoying your videos.
Bravo sir! I loved it. A great slider video
@Luke thanks! That means a lot coming from the ‘king’ of slider videos.
Hey Dave.
Have a look at my slider test video. It’s an DIY slider, but don’t be scared… the DIY part is to drill a bigger hole into the igus dryline rail and to drill a second hole in the moving plate for the videohead.
@Dave — Outstanding video! Once again, colors and saturation look amazing! IMHO you are right there at being able to do commercial work for some resort. What camera were you using that showed you using the slider? And the time lapse slider shot at the end was fantastic. I remember you mentioned giving that a try by marking your slider and moving it manually. Wow, Dave. You are really putting out some quality work. I’m not using my camera enough to get such significant improvement in my work.
@Philipp I love Sushi you just made me hungry!
@Randy Thanks, and the BTS footage is also with a T2i.
I love the feel good movie!
@Dave Loved the video! It really has helped me generate ideas for used my own DIY slider. Keep up the great work.
Amazing work Dave!
Super video. You are so getting better and better every time you upload a video. Good job
Absolutely fantastic work Dave, I can’t wait for the review of the slider. Its a big purchase for me right now, but I think it will be well worth it. I’m directing and shooting a piece on a winery for my thesis (TV production MFA) and I think these dolly shots are essential.
Boulder is truly beautiful, Dave. I just moved to Colorado Springs about two weeks ago and cannot get over how gorgeous the area is.
Fantastic video Dave, thanks again for taking the time to share it with us. Tokina 11-16 and Konova slider added to my shopping list. Any plans on getting a view finder or reviewing one?
Dave, thanks for putting together the video – very nice work. Looking forward to the review.
I noticed that your “Find Prices” buttons actually just link to those images – I’m guessing that’s unintentional.
Do you have a post talking about the 11-16 lens anywhere? I’m thinking about that vs. upgrading my Canon kit lens (IS) to the 17-55.
Dave did you use any filters? CPL or ND? Looks nice, Just got mine in couple days ago. I almost went with Glidtrack and decided last minute on the Konova and very happy with my choice.
@Ken no filters on this one, but i did add some vignetting on some shots.
@Travis thanks, I will fix that.
@John I hope to get some pretty soon to review.
Dave, looks really good, and I do like the music, too
Makes me look forward to improving weather!
Just one thing, youtube insists on blocking many of your videos for me in Germany, which is somewhat of a drag. Especially since I can’t figure out why.
Any chance you could either embed the vimeo version or provide a link next to the embedded youtube video in future posts?
cheers,
-k
Hi Dave,
When you refer to ‘Canon’s flat picture style’ which one do you mean? I don’t have a preset of ‘flat’.
AWESOME job by the way!
@Ross do a search for ‘flat picture style” here on my blog I have tons of videos on it.
Hi Dave, hope this doesn’t sound dumb, I realized you don’t have any ND filters in your equipment list, so how do you control your exterior exposures, shutter speed?
Hi Dave,
Just downloaded Marvel’s 3.3 style for my 600D. Makes a BIG difference doesn’t it! Is this the kind of flat you use? Saw you using a similar one on your ski trip.
When you are just doing green screen for presenting, will you still go with flat and colour it in post?
http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/finally-the-new-marvels-cine-profile-3-x-for-canon-dslr/
dave, great vid, I will be getting a slider soon and testing some outdoor shots with an inexpensive fader nd I got on Ebay, have you considered a fader ND?
Hello Dave,
Very nice footage. Excellent music choice.
Thanks to German copyright law the video is not available in Germany… Too bad…
@Ben You can watch it on Vimeo:
http://www.vimeo.com/21710876
Thank you for that. Great video…
I have the same camera (european 550D) since a couple of months.
Next thing I wanna buy is a slider.
And btw, I just love your website. I’m also learning and learning by doing and doing
Regards from Germany
I live on the far SW side of Longmont and loved your slider shots of the flatirons!! Curious what photo podcasts you subscribe to? Ever taken any photo courses here in Colorado!
Take Care and would love to shoot some pics with u sometime,
Matthew
I’m impressed! Really nice video!
I think I build one of those! =)
Excellent video, Dave. I think it’s one of your best.
I’d like to point out to others that if you mount a tripod head on the slider, you can get some interesting shots; the versatility of this combo, especially if you mount the slider on a tripod, is amazing. In the video linked below, you can see a dutch angle slider shot @ 0.56 sec, and by hanging the camera out over the edge of the slider, and having the slider mounted to a tripod, you can get interesting compound movements as seen @ 0.30 sec. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps-ni1rAhqE&feature=player_embedded
BTW, the vid is mostly done on a T2i, with no color correction or grading. It’s just a test sequence.
I love how you time the music well – like the song saying “liberty” just as the flag appears!
nice work triple-D!
You killed it as usual, keep it up
Great montage Dave! Thanks for the Konova slider demo, it looks like a fantastic piece of equipment and value. I started hearing about it right after purchasing the IndiSLIDERmini (although I only paid about $125). The indi will get the job done most of the time, but the mic does pick up some noise from the friction and there’s some space to wiggle so you have to put a little pressure on your camera while sliding. Also glad you discovered Creative Commons, there are multiple websites that carry CC licensed music. I recommend an artist called Macroform who’s music can be found at Jemendo.com. His music has been on a number of short documentaries and NPR, here’s a link: http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/macroform. Definitely looking forward to your timelapse video coming out soon!
Anyone consider the zaza slider? http://www.zazaslider.com/products.html for $280 it looks like an interesting solution
What length Konova were you using? An how much length were you actually sliding for those shots?
I own the 120cm and shoot news with it….I never use the full length and it’s a bit awekward to maneuver around crowds when mounted on a tripod.
I’m thinking about cutting it in to 2 sliders…1 – 80cm and 1 – 40cm.
Thanks Dave! love the blog too
Good STUFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Hi Dave,
First of all I really wanted to congratulate you for this amazing video montage.
This video really inspired me and I finally went ahead and got my 80 cm Konova slider too.
I have a quick question on motion timelapse using the manual method:
Here is my scenario-
I want to make a motion timelapse with the following settings-
Timelapse Time duration: 1 hour
Final Movie duration 30 seconds i.e. 720 frames (@24 fps).
I have thought of 3 options for moving the camera from 0 cm to 60 cm in that 1 hour time duration.
Option 1: Move the slider 1 cm every minute (Total 60 cm movement). For this option I will have to move the slider manually 60 times.
Option 2: Move the slider 5 cm once every 5 minutes (Total 60 cm movement). For this option I will have to move the slider manually only 12 times.
Option 3: Move the slider 0.09 cm on every frame/shutter release (Total 64.8 cm movement). For this option I will have to move the slider manually 720 times.
Did you also evaluate such options while you were making your motion time lapse or did find using 1/8 inch movement with each shutter release most convenient?
I am sure that Option 3 would yield the smoothest result but it is quite labor intensive. Which option would you recommend or prefer?
Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks for your help.
Great video Dave. I’ve got a similar setup as you and noticed something this past weekend that maybe you’ve encountered as well. I’m using the Manfrotto 055 pro legs as well and what I’ve noticed is that there’s a slight wobble with the centre post when sliding the camera past center from one side of the slider to the other. Have you noticed that as well?
The legs are sturdy and the center post is screwed in tight, but even by hand, I can slightly wiggle the center post. I don’t see the wobble in your videos, so wondered if you found a fix for it. Maybe shoving some paper into the opening of the post or something. Feedback appreciated!
I have not noticed that Gary on my sorry not sure I can help.
What is the weight of the slider itself?
Where can I get the 80cm slider? Checked their site and there is no option for the 80cm. Unless the 80cm is set by default?
@Lawrence I am 99% sure that the default unit is 80cm.
Hey Lawrence, the 31.5 inch slider is equivalent to 80cm.
Why did you shot at 60fps and then slowed down to 24fps? Is the image quality better at 60fps? Or you just wanted to slow down your footage because the slider movements were too fast?