Cameraman – Nino Leitner about shooting with DSLRs and the advantages of publishing online

The Vienna-based filmmaker and director of photography Nino Leitner (www.ninofilm.net) doesn’t see himself as a DSLR shooter of the first hour: “When the Canon 5D Mark II was released, the first DSLR with a proper video function, I wasn’t convinced about it because all the manual settings for filmmaking were missing.” Instead of this expensive professional model he took on a considerably cheaper model, the Canon 550D / T2i, which was introduced one and a half years later: “It was cheap and also relatively compact.” Even Hollywood increasingly started using DSLRs because of these reasons. In “Rush” they were used to shoot in the constraints of a racing car cockpit.

The 550D was also the start of his blogging career. With a preproduction model he shot the short film “February”, which was watched more than 500,000 times on online video sites. Because of the huge interest of the web community regarding DSLRs he feeds the website www.cinema5D.com together with colleagues, and it has become a very popular place to go for hobbyists and professional filmmakers alike.

Camera doesn’t produce jobs

When the short films are online, the chances of being discovered are higher. “When you do a lot of stuff online, the jobs almost come automatically,” says Leitner. However that doesn’t mean that amateur filmmakers should immediately buy a professional camera to pursue the dream career filmmaker. “Unforunately I keep seeing this: People think that if they buy an expensive camera, jobs will come. But with a camera you don’t buy any jobs.”

He recommends that beginners should start with an inexpensive DSLR with video function and rather invest in fast lenses. Prime lenses with f/1.8 and faster are available starting at 100 Euros. A good tripod and an audio recorder are essentials. “Audio recording functions of DSLRs are usually bad, but audio is 50% of a film.” Rigs, stabilizers and slider systems are recommendable for shooters who already know their camera well.