Getting the most out of my Canon T6 1300D

[TheEngineer]

Hi Everyone

I have owned the Canon T6 for about a month now and have been using it heavily for my Youtube channel. I feel that when shooting video it looks very soft compared to other channels even comparing raw footage to posted videos. I compiled some clips from a boat parade and would like to know what you think I could do to improve the quality of the video. All of these clips were filmed with an iso 100, shutter speed between 200 and 400 and with the 18 to 55mm lens. The shot of the draw bridge is out of focus I find that it hard to tell if a shot is in focus with the small screen, I am using manual focus for all these shots. Also all of the other videos after the camera unboxing are filmed with the T6 if you want a better idea of what I am able to do with closer focus.

Thanks for your time

 

[weepete]

Modern dslrs are more designed to use the autofocus module with the AF points than use manual focus (the old split prism veiwfinders were better for this). Manual focus can be used for live view, but it's best to zoom in (with the buttons) and turn the focusing ring to achieve sharp focus.

I'd suggest you want to pre-focus on an area using the AF or live view and zoom buttons, then switch to manual to avoid refocusing to make sure it's sharp and check your DOF covers the depth that you'll need for the shot. I don't really shoot video but that's the way I'd do it.

 

[KmH]

For shooting that type of video I make sure I have sufficient (deep) depth-of-field, zoom my 18-55 mm lens out to 55 mm, auto focus on a distant subject, turn off AF (put it in manual), and then am careful not to change the focus of the lens.
When the point of focus is far from the camera you don't need to use a small lens aperture to get a deep DoF.
I get sufficient DoF using f/5.6 as my lens aperture with a crop sensor DSLR.
My DSLR is in Manual shooting mode. I trust the White Balance in auto mode with my DSLR. Your T6 may not do auto WB a well as my DSLR (Nikon) does.

Also. When shooting video you need to have the shutter speed set to as close to 2x the frames per second rate of the video as possible.
If you're shooting at 25 fps the shutter speed should be as close to 1/50 a you can get it .
If you're shooting at 60 fps the shutter speed should be close to, or at, 1/120.

Lastly, the T6 and it's 18-55 mm kit lens are consumer grade devices and won't deliver as sharp a focus as more expensive prosumer or pro grade gear.
For high quality video a dedicated video camera is a better choice than a DSLR that can does video as a secondary function.

 

[TheEngineer]

So I think I made it a little bit better in this video, I went up to f/9 and turned on as many lights as I could. For now I would like to get the most out of my camera as I don't have the money to buy another one
thanks