Huge quality discrepancy between photographing and filming LEGO

[brickpreviews]

Hey there, I recently got a Nikon D5200 DSLR and have been photographing LEGO with it using a manual setting of f/9.0, 1/50 shutter speed, and ISO of 800. I am an amateur at photography but the results came off okay - images were bright and in focus.

Example image:

Then I tried to switch to video mode to capture some action shots of the sets and this is where the quality went down the drain. I kept the same settings on the camera and picked best quality at 60 fps, 1920x1080 resolution. I have the same lightbox setup but the video came out dark and everything was blurry/grainy like this was filmed by some cheap $20 webcam from 2000.

Edit: This flickr image doesn't show the full extent of how bad it is since it scaled down the pic, try this imgur like for a bigger pic: http://i.imgur.com/ir9wihC.jpg

Anyone know if DSLRs are bad at videos or I am missing some setting?

Thanks

Edited March 13, 2015 by brickpreviews

[Robianco]

DSLRs can be very good at video. I've got a Canon EOS600D and I've done filming for a client in their factory and the lighting was good... So I adjusted film speed to balance it out and the footage turned out really well... Alternatively I was asked to film staff in an office and lighting wasn't as good... The footage was nowhere near the quality.

Make sure you're lighting the subject really well and dial back the film speed and you should find your results improve. Lighting really is the biggest issue with them.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Robianco

[Meiko]

The same rules of photography apply in videography. To fix the "too dark" problem, you might want to slow down the video speed, raise the ISO, or lower the aperture (but depending on your focal length, you stand a chance of lessening your depth of field and creating more blur on out of focus objects). For the bluriness you're seeing right now, you might want to use manual focus if you aren't already. It's hard to tell what the camera would have been trying to focus on here, but if you use manual focus, and ideally use a tripod or stand as well, you may see better results with less blur.

[Sven F]

Definitely lower your ISO for a start. Always put your ISO to as low as you can get away with, and use good lighting instead. You need A LOT of light for filming indoors.

For lego, if you want most of your layout in focus, use high F, and long exposition to get a wide depth of field. If you want only a small part in focus (like a minifigure) and everything else blurred, lower your F and use shorter exposure for a shallower depth of field. Also zooming in drastically narrows your DOF, so use that to your advantage.

... and don't do anything without a tripod.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Sven F

[JGW3000]

This is not a LEGO problem per se, it is a camera settings issue - best advice is to read the user's manual, check out the camera maker's online forums, and experiment with the settings until you find one that works. Shooting video and shooting stills requires different sets of camera settings, as the demands on the final product are different. Let us know what settings works best for you.

[dr_spock]

It seems like your scene with the Marvel Heros has more dark colors than the Elves. Maybe exposure compensation (EV+) is required to brighten it if you want to keep the F-stop for depth of field.

There are many resources for your DSLR on how to take video with it: