Good set up for recording indoor interviews?

by philg

Folks:

A friend of mine owns a record company and asked for advice on a camera system to record interviews with musicians. These will be in a recording studio or an office. He wants to use an on-camera shotgun-style microphone rather than a lav mic. It seems to me that the criteria are the following:

  • good performance at higher ISOs due to the low light
  • availability of a fixed normal-perspective lens at a reasonable price
  • ability to use an external microphone

I came up with the following recommendation:

The microphone recommendation is the one that I am least sure about. It doesn’t seem likely to isolate the subject as well as a true shotgun mic. On the other hand, perhaps the interviewer’s questions should be audible as well even if the camera is not pointed at the interviewer.

Do readers have a better idea?

17 thoughts on “Good set up for recording indoor interviews?”

  1. Wouldn’t it make most sense for them to use a lavalier microphone connected to a good field recorder, and sync up in post (use a clapboard), rather than rely on a consumer DSLR’s limited audio capabilities?

    As for the choice of DSLR, rolling shutter is probably a non-issue for talking heads, but I would not be so quick to dismiss Canon. Far more videographers use Canon 5D and successors than other systems, other than possibly the Panasonic GH2, and until recently Nikons had crippling limitations for video (see bythom.com for details).

    The camera I would look at is the m43-compatible Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema camera, which is designed specifically for video (expected in July):
    http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera

  2. I’m not sure how long the interviews are supposed to be, but a Canon/Nikon system won’t work for interviews longer than around 12 minutes — you hit the 4GB per-file limit on FAT32 after about that long and recording stops.

    I’ve been recording technical talks in Boston recently (blog post about it at http://blog.printf.net/articles/2013/05/22/technical-talks-should-be-recorded/) and I use the Panasonic Lumix mirrorless system, because it has no limit on movie length other than the size of the SD card, and has fast prime lenses available (I use the Lumix 20mm f/1.7).

    If it’s okay that each clip be 12 minutes or less, your recommendation sounds fine. I’d personally lean towards Canon because of the availability of Magic Lantern, which provides focus peaking and a zoom area to check precise focus while filming, but that’s not for everyone. If the flexibility of being able to go longer than 12 minutes is desirable, I’d get the Lumix GF5 and 20mm 1.7. The GF5 has stereo mic in, but I don’t think there’s a good way to mount the microphone on the camera.

  3. My wife records a blog that is somewhat popular. We use Nikon equipment. She uses my (our?) D800 to record the main video. To be honest, for someone who does not have a significant investment in Nikon, I would highly recommend considering alternative capture packages, like a video camera. You could get more for your money at this price range (D5200) The 12 minute recording limit in nikons Chris mentioned will be a big deal in interviews. Other things if you decide to go down this route:
    *the default video profile that came with the D800 is not ideal. I have not used the 5200 but I imagine it to be similar. We like to use Flaat Picture Controls from similaar. (I recommend 10-stop version). You will grade the video in post and the flaat profile gives you better skin tones, better shadows.
    *I highly recommend an external recorder, and lavalier mics. In a sit-down situation, it will give you better audio quality than a 27045. We use a Zoom H4n with audio-technica mics but there are other recorders which are cheaper and will do everything the H4n can for interviews.
    *I highly recommend a second camera for cutaways and in case the 1st camera breaks or something. We just use a Nokia 808 pureview with contrast set down 1 notch. It matches well with the D800 flaat profile video and the video quality is awesome. It’s also great for concert footage to cut in because the on-board audio does not overload even in front of a speaker.

  4. Folks: What is this about a 4 GB or 12-minute limit? http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d5200/spec.htm says that it can do up to 30 minutes and can take SDXC memory cards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDXC#SDXC says that SDXC is good for cards up to 2 TB in size. The specs say that they can handle 128 GB cards. Can it not in fact handle cards larger than 128 GB and therefore with some file system other than FAT32 (e.g., exFAT)?

    Probably my friend will be recording at 720p anyway! The goal is Internet distribution, not Blu-Ray.

  5. philg: I’m not very familiar with Nikon cameras, but this page says:

    The maximum size of a single video clip [on the Nikon D5200] is 2 gigabytes which, given that movies occupy about 100 megabytes of storage space per minute, would theoretically translate into about 20 minutes of continuous recording, but – apparently because of certain legal regulations in the EU –, Nikon decided to limit the clip length to 5 minutes for high-definition movies.
    — http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/nikon_d5200_review/

    Sounds like there are some artificial limitations being imposed by the Nikon firmware, on top of the 4GB limit which would be in effect if FAT32 were being used.

  6. http://www.eoshd.com/content/9586/is-the-cheap-nikon-d5200-a-better-option-than-d800-for-video-no-moire-aliasing-and-good-detail seems like the author knows what he is doing and is very positive on the D5200 for video. His one complaint regards the rolling shutter but I don’t see how that could be a factor for a talking head. Supposedly my NEX-6 has a bad rolling shutter problem but I haven’t noticed it when taking videos of family stuff.

    http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d5200/18 says the camera is not as good for video as the Panasonic DMC-GH3 (twice the price).

  7. philg: Right, but I wasn’t questioning the quality of the video, I was questioning whether you can record enough of it at once for an interview — neither of your links say anything about the maximum video length at HD resolutions, and my link suggested that it’s 5 minutes per video.

    I’ll bow out now, since I don’t have the Nikon experience to know what the actual answer to that question is. But it seems like it would be very important to find out.

  8. Aren’t you forgetting about a very important aspect for a great (and professional) looking video? Lighting.

    The biggest complaint I have with these do-it-yourself videos is the horrendous lighting most of them are shot in. At least use a couple of reflectors on c-stands to direct the ambient lighting to light up the subjects in a pleasing manner. Add a dedicated LED video light (with a diffuser) if the budget allows it.

  9. Chris: I think the Nikon specs can be considered authoritative at 30 minutes.

    Peter: Agreed, but I’m not making the videos! My first question was if he was going to set up a dedicated space for this with a background and some lights. The answer was “no”. Maybe he would go for an LED light but haven’t we already used up the camera shoe with the mic? So now he needs a bracket than can hold the light? What light works well in your experience?

  10. > Chris: I think the Nikon specs can be considered authoritative at 30 minutes.

    I was pretty sure that you were being insufficiently skeptical, so I looked up the D5200’s manual:

    http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D5200RM_NT(11)01.pdf

    On page 102 it says “The maximum length for individual movie files is 4 GB”, and on page 103 it says that there’s a maximum length of 20 minutes for videos in “high” quality, and 30 minutes for videos in “normal” quality, independent of the 4GB limit.

    The spec was telling you the maximum possible length under any circumstances, not the maximum for HD resolutions/quality. Of course, at 1080p you’d hit the 4GB limit before the 20 min limit.

    So I still think it’s important to ask whether any interview would be longer than around ten minutes, and whether 1080p is a requirement, and to find someone who’s used these cameras for video and knows how they actually operate regarding length.

  11. Thanks, Chris! I do think it would be a mercy killing for the camera to cut off an aging rocker at 20 minutes. I have to believe that “normal” quality would be good enough and the MPEG compression would work great due to the fact that the background is static.

    What is the deal with Nikon then? Do they not support exFAT? Why are they bound to 4 GB and Canon is not? (or maybe Canon is?)

    Maybe he needs to back off and get an NEX-6! I love mine. But I think the Sony 35/1.8 lens is not as good as the Nikon and it is also way more expensive (albeit image stabilized).

  12. Interviews are firstly about sound, and secondly about picture. An interview with bad picture and good sound is tolerable, but an interview with a good picture and bad sound can be unwatchable.

    Unless the camera is going to be within 2-3 feet of the subject (which would look horrible), and/or the interviews are going to be recorded in an acoustically isolated recording studio, I would think very, very hard about the on-camera mic idea.

    Yes, it is a hassle to set up a lav mic or a mic on a stand, but it is *so* worth the pain it will save later. There’s really no way to fix “roomy” sound, or excessive backrground noises, in post.

    It’s not even necessary to go to the trouble of recording separate sound on a field recorder and syncing it (not that this is difficult, but it does add an extra step to editing), even a cheap wired mic is likely to provide a superior result to a good on-camera mic.

    If the on-camera aspect really is negotiable, the Rode videomic might be worth a look.

  13. The 30 min limit (in fact, 29 min 59 sec) is to avoid being classed as a video device in the EU and taxed higher. They just didn’t bother to remove this artificial limitation in the US model.

    I’m surprised no one has suggested the Panasonic GH3. Granted, it’s a bit more than the D5200, but it is a much better video device.

  14. Looks ok except the microphone. Forget the Nikon mic and get a Rode. Videomic or Videomic pro unless you really need stereo – Rode SVM in that case. I’ve recorded a ton of this sort of thing with a Canon 5dmk2, 50mm 1.2, Rode SVM combo. Two problems – first, the SVM is limited to a very short distance for good clear speech. The SVM is good for ambience, but the directional video mice would have been a much better choice. Second, the depth of field in low light situations is very shallow. This causes major problems in an interview when the subject starts moving forwards or backwards. My technique was to warn them ahead of time and ask them to get comfortable, then focus and tell them they always had to return to that point if they strayed.

  17. I’ve looked at some low light footage from the same and previous model and it seems adequate for our needs. The advantages of being able to mount it on the ceiling and control it remotely and take footage of a band’s live performance – typically 45 mins – in one long shot means compromises in terms of picture and sound quality. I realise that this is quite different from your friend’s needs.

    In your friend’s case, I’d have thought a wired table mic would be worth considering since he’d presumably want to pick up the questions too, although you imply that the interviews will be voice-over style rather than having the interviewer in shot. We’ve done sound bite interviews with a DSLR and shotgun mic and found that the interviewer’s questions have been inaudible unless we constantly pan between interviewer and subject, which has its own problems, so we switched to a wired handheld mic.

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