Another music video shot on the Canon S95

On Sunday I shot a second music video for 206 Collab, a track called Deadly Concoction. Terry from the group conceptualised and directed the video. Most of it was shot in the garage belonging to another member of the group, James. The guys had covered the back wall with white plastic, and there were leaves hanging from the ceiling. I was quite impressed.

Of course my job was to shoot the video, and will also be to edit and maybe grade it, if necessary. This was the fifth video I’ve shot using the pocket size Canon S95. Including the videos I shot using my older Canon Ixy 510 IS, also know as the SD960 IS and the Ixus 110 IS, that’s 9 proper music videos to date that I’ve shot using these little pocket sized cameras. A lot of a people are still amazed at what’s possible using these cameras. But for me, the Canon S95 especially, has just become like any video camera I’ve used in the past, except a lot easier to work with.

Shooting handheld with the camera is very simple. To be honest, all I really need to worry about is just locking the exposure. Then it’s only a matter of focusing on the subject and taking the shot. One of the great things about the camera is that I can easily get macro shots too, without having to change lenses or anything like that, as would be the case with a DSLR camera. I guess that’s why these little cameras are called Point & Shoot cameras. That’s all you really need to do.

Below are a few photos from the shoot. There are six behind the scenes photos and six actual video frame grabs taken from the footage I shot (untouched). And yes, that’s me in the yellow shirt 🙂 Additional photos by Terry & Ian.

Should you use the Canon S95 to shoot your own music video?

To be honest, I think this would depend more on your skill set. Personally I like a challenge, and I also like the convenience of having a camera I can carry with me everywhere in my pocket. Give me one of those Barbie cameras and I’m sure I could do something decent with it! Video professionals on the other hand normally like having all the manual controls they can get their fingers on. Most would dismiss the S95 as not being good enough. If manual control is important to you, you might be better of using a DSLR for video. Likewise, if shallow depth of field is important to you, of course a DSLR would be the better option. But me, I don’t care. As long as I can make a shot look good, that’s all I’m worried about.

At the end of the day, it’s probably best just to watch a few videos shot on a acamera you’re interested in, and decide whether or not that’s the look you’re after. I have a couple of other music videos shot on the Canon S95 that I should should be able to post up soon. Stay tuned for those.

If you have any questions about the shoot, leave a comment below.