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My Vote Goes to…(insert drum-role here)… Post-Production

A question that faces me many times during my video production is how far should I go with in-camera effects while shooting my video. Is fine for me to get my footage as close to the final product as I can. For instance, is it good for me to shoot my video in black and white if I know that my final product is going to be in black in and white; or should I shoot my video in color and then desaturate it while editing? This is a good question; one which I ask myself frequently when shooting.

So far I have concluded that it is better for most cases to save effects to video for post-production. And here are some of the reasons why I think so:

You Can’t Undo What You Shoot
This is one of the biggest reasons to save in-camera effects for post-production. If you shoot your video in letterbox-mode or black and white, then you will have no other option for your video when it comes to editing it. Your video will always have the effect you shot it in. Now, if you know exactly what you want before editing, with no doubt what-so-ever, than maybe you will have no issue with this point. But it seems wiser to keep you options open while shooting.

Further, most in-camera effects can be done in post-production, so the best bet is to give yourself the most options when editing. Who knows how you might want to use the footage in the future anyway. Just remember, there is no “edit-undo” with in-camera effects. Once you shoot it, that’s it.

A Camera’s Options Are More Limited
Not only can you do almost all the effects a camera might offer in a basic editing system, but there is a good chance that your non-linear editor offers more options in tweaking the video footage than the average consumer/prosumer camera. This is another reason to hold off on adding effects until post-production. You will probably be able to create a better more fitting effect for the video’s vision by using an editing system rather than a camera. It just has more options and is more customizable.

So there are the two main reasons that I would recommend using post-product instead of in-camera effects for adjusting your video.

Are there Exceptions?
I would think so, seeing that most rules have exceptions. I can think of a couple reasons why someone would need to use in-camera effects.

One exception could be argues if you wanted to do some video manipulation with a camera that cannot be reproduced in post-production. For example, some camera’s offer to take a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio image produced by a camera and adapt it using an anamorphic lens effect to a 16:9 aspect ratio. This is sometimes called “Stretch mode” in cameras. As far as I know, it is more difficult (and maybe impossible) to reproduce this effect in post production without making the footage look stretched. So, this may be one good reason to use an in-camera effect.

Another reason some one might put forward is that in-camera effects can help with framing for a final product. For example, if you intend to have a video in letter-box in the end, it might be more helpful to use the in-camera effect so you can frame you shots better and not cut off heads of important parts of the video. In-camera effects could possibly help in this scenario. So, I would accept this as a good argument, and it might be something someone shooting video might want to consider.

However, in conclusion, I would recommend that for most situations, it is a better methodology for making videos to keep effects for post-production. Bottom-line is you keep your options available by waiting for post production. However, there are exceptions to be considered and I would imagine that as cameras become more and more advanced, this issue will only get more complicated.

I hope this helped and I wish you good luck shooting!