In-person, video podcast filming setup. For remote (online) guests, I recommend the Livestream filming setup.
✨ Lighting setups for a video podcast.
🧙 While natural light is free, it's also wildly inconsistent due to changes in weather and time of day.
🧙 For best results, turn off all ceiling lights to prevent hot spots and unflattering color shifts.
🧙 For best results, use a powerful daylight-balanced LED video light on a tall stand aimed toward the ceiling to brighten the entire space or film in a space with an abundance of natural light.
🧙 Use a daylight-balanced LED studio key light (preferably with a large softbox) to light your face.
🧙 Create some distance between you and the background so that the key light for your face won't lighten the area behind you.
🧙 Use a daylight-balanced LED studio key light (preferably with a large softbox) to light your face.
🧙 Create some space between you and the background so that the key light for your face won't wash out the colored LED light behind you.
🧙 Place a daylight-balanced LED video key light (preferably with a large softbox) to the left or right of the camera for a dramatic effect.
🧙 For best results, turn off all ceiling lights to prevent hot spots and unflattering color shifts.
🧙 Use a daylight-balanced LED studio light (preferably with a large softbox) to light your face.
💎 These image quality settings will produce fantastic detail, color, and dynamic range without needing to color grade.
Rotate the Mode Dial to Movie Mode
Set the File Format to XAVC S 4K
Set the Record Setting to:
Set the Picture Profile to PPOFF
Set the Creative Style to Standard
🧙 If you prefer a more natural look or a better starting point for color grading, I recommend increasing saturation slightly while lowering contrast and sharpness.
🧙 DRO/Auto HDR brightens the shadows and produces an image with more dynamic range.
Set DRO/Auto HDR to Lv5
🎙️ These settings will allow you to pinpoint and lock focus on a spot, to prevent the camera from hunting or racking focus while recording a podcast.
Set the Focus Mode to AF-C
Set the Focus Area to Flexible Spot
Set Face/Eye Priority to Off
Set the AF Drive Speed to Normal
Set the AF Tracking to Responsive
🧙 Touch Focus moves the focus box to wherever you tap the screen.
🧙 Pause autofocus to prevent the camera from hunting or racking focus while recording.
Assign a Custom Key to AF/MF Toggle
Press the AF/MF Toggle button to switch between AF and MF
🧙 Focus Magnifier enlarges the image, making it easier to see fine details and double-check focus.
Assign a Custom Key to Focus Magnifier
Set Initial Focus Mag to x4.0
🤴👸 These exposure settings provide enough sharpness (depth-of-field) for a two-person podcast, while still allowing for some separation (blur) in the background.
Set the Exposure Mode to Manual
🧙 Your lens may not be capable of reaching F4, in which case, set the aperture to the lowest possible F-number instead.
Set the Aperture to F4 or Higher
Set the ISO to 100
Set the Shutter Speed to 1/50
🧙 Most daylight-balanced LED video lights have a Kelvin temperature around 5500K.
🧙 A custom white balance corrects any color shifts and produces an image with accurate colors and better-looking skin tones.
🌓 Steps to make the image brighter or darker.
🧙 Using a Variable ND Filter is best since it keeps the shutter speed fixed at 1/50 for natural motion blur.
Attach a Variable ND Filter and dial up the filter strength
🧙 Raising the shutter speed too much may introduce flickering with certain lights and make your movements look unnatural.
Raise the Shutter Speed to a higher value ( 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, etc.)
🧙 Raising the ISO will introduce noise (grain). However, it's the best option to evenly increase brightness in most cases.
Raise the ISO to a higher value ( 125, 160, 200, etc.)
🧙 If you raise the key light intensity too much, the background may get darker due to the imbalance in light levels.
Increase the Intensity of the Key Light
🧙 Zebras can help you determine whether or not the highlights in the image are too bright (overexposed).
Assign a Custom Key to Zebra Display
Set the Zebra Level to:
🎤 These audio settings are intended for a dedicated microphone, which will significantly enhance the quality of your audio.
Connect a Microphone into the Mic Input
Set Audio Level Display to On
🧙 To prevent the audio from clipping, make sure the audio levels never surpass -3db while talking into the mic.