How to Shoot Cinematics Video With Xiaomi 11T

 

Introduction:

What's up mobile shooter and welcome back to another awesome video the video you just saw was shot on the xiaomi 11t xiaomi has reached out to me to test out their new phone as you know i'm an iphone user and so far my tutorials have been based around the iphone most of the tutorials i teach can be applied to almost any smartphone since the principles applied are the same but i know that some of you watching would also appreciate me making videos on an android phone so today is your lucky day.

Because i will be reviewing the xiaomi 11t and show you how to shoot cinematic videos with it specifically we'll be looking at the pro video mode since it gives you more control over your camera it has some great video features that can be used for producing great looking videos now because the xiaomi 11 t is not a flagship phone like the iphone 12 pro max it's even more important to know how your phone camera works to get the best possible quality out of this camera there will be a time stamp below if you want to skip or go back to a particular part in the video and with that said.

First Impression:

let's get started so this is the xiaomi 11t i'm quite impressed with the video features it comes with a pro video mode feature that is crucial for mobile filmmakers because it allows me to control iso shutter speed white balance and more to get the video i want unlike the standard video mode the built-in pro video mode puts the controls in your hands now there are some things i don't like about it that i will address in this video that is important for you to know as a mobile filmmaker.

Camera:

Let's start off with the camera the xiaomi 11 t comes with a 108 megapixel sensor it has three cameras on the back the main camera is a 26 millimeter wide angle lens with an aperture of f 1.8 that produces a nice looking shallow depth of field in your video you also have a 16 millimeter ultra wide angle lens and f 2.2 that gives you a 120 degree field of view this is great if you're in a tight space and need to capture more in the frame it also comes with a 50 millimeter macro lens with an aperture of 2.5 to capture detailed shots the selfie camera or front facing camera is a 24 millimeter wide angle lens with an aperture of 2.5.

So let's look at some of the video mode features it offers the standard video mode is a great place to start but as a mobile filmmaker you want full control over your camera right what's great about the standard video mode is that it works similarly like the native camera app on the iphone which is great for run and gun shooting if you're using this mode at least set and lock your focus and exposure before recording so no changes occur that could mess up the shot the hdr function can also come in handy since it increases the dynamic range in your video preventing your highlights from being blown out.

Now something very important is that you also want to turn image stabilization off something i noticed on the xiaomi 11 t is that it uses electronic image stabilization to compensate for shaky hand movement it uses electronic processing uh instead of optical image stabilization unfortunately when image stabilization is on not only does the image crop in but also introduces strange artifacts and jell-o-like effects in your video.

That's why i recommend turning the image stabilization off in the settings instead what i would recommend is use a gimbal and additionally stabilize your footage in post for better results another feature that i like is the portrait video mode by selecting the magic wand and choosing bokeh you can adjust the slider to increase or decrease the background blurriness this can be useful for talking head videos and this feature is also available for the selfie camera. 

Pro Video Mode:

Let me now introduce you to the pro video mode and show you the camera settings i use to produce cinematic video results i'm gonna set up the xiaomi 11t on this tripod do a screen recording so you guys can follow along so to access the pro video mode just select the stock camera and then we're gonna head over to pro and then you're gonna select video and now we're in the pro video mode section so 

Lock Focus and Exposure:

First of all in the pro video mode you can tap to set focus and exposure and you can also lock it by tap holding on it and a yellow lock will appear which means that your exposure and focus is locked what you also can do is separate focus and exposure the square reticle is the focus and the uh circular reticle is the exposure but unfortunately you can't lock it and that's where we're gonna use the manual settings on the camera. 

Lenses:

So on the top right you have different uh camera setting options we're gonna start off with the lenses we're currently on the standard lens and you can choose between a wide ultra wide and macro

Exposure Value:

Below you have the exposure value which compensates the exposure and i usually leave that at zero and just use the iso and shutter speed to adjust the exposure correctly.

ISO:

Next you have iso and what iso does is it digitally boosts the brightness in the camera as you can see it's set to auto but as soon as i drag start dragging up or down i can adjust the iso value so i usually keep it at the lowest number which is 50.

Shutter Speed:

Next is shutter speed this is also set to auto but as i drag with my fingers up i can start adjusting it so usually i want to set it double my frame rate but as you can see if i do that so we're currently recording in 4k 30 frames per second you will see that the image is overexposed and i don't have an nd filter with me so i'm going to drag this down a little bit more to evenly expose my image.

Focus:

So let's now move on to the next one which is focus when tapping on it i can slide either up or down to set my focus for the moment i'm going to leave this in auto because i actually prefer using a tap to focus like that and when the iso is set to manual i can actually use the tab function to focus which is cool.

White Balance:

Next is white balance the auto function actually does a great job but i want to make sure to lock it to avoid color shifts and you can also customize your white balance and right now it's actually a pretty sunny day so i can set it to around 5600 and the white balance is locked so let me now introduce you to the different uh resolution that it offers.

Resolution:

So we're currently using the wide angle lens and when tapping up here you can choose up to 4k 30 frames per second when shooting with the wide angle lens when using the ultra wide angle lens you'll see that you're only able to shoot in 1080p 30 frames per second and with the macro lens as well 1080p 30 frames per second i usually go with the wide angle lens since it's the best lens of all of the three cameras and i usually would set it to 4k 30 frames per second unfortunately you don't have 24 or 25 frames per second um but you can use like third-party apps such as maybe filmic pro hopefully they will come with an update it doesn't work perfectly yet but uh maybe in the future but for the moment we have to stick with 4k 30 frames per second or if you want to go slow motion you can go with 1080p 60 frames per second.

Log:

Now you also have the ability to shoot in log which flattens the image giving you more options in post to color grade and also increases the dynamic range in your video meaning that you will have more details in the shadow areas now you have to watch out when using the log picture profile because it can introduce noise now log is only available in 4k 30 frames per second

Gridlines:

Now you can also enable grid lines as you can see i have different grid lines that i can activate which is really nice you also have a center mark which is great for shooting hyperlapse for example and i can also enable a straighten to level my camera uh which is quite useful up here as you can see the camera is currently leveled another feature.

Movie Frame:

I like is the movie frame which introduces letterbox into your video this way you don't have to crop in post and it will sort of give you this uh wide angled view in your video which looks really cinematic

Focus Peaking:

Another great feature is focus peaking you want to use this feature especially if you're manually focusing with your finger so as you can see as i drag up i can see what parts are in focus now there's also this feature called exposure verification which shows me what parts of the image are.

Exposure Verification:

Overexposed or underexposed the blue stripes meaning areas that are underexposed and the red stripes meaning overexposed so currently we can see that um in the bushes where there's lots of shadows that area is underexposed but there are no blown out highlights.

Audio Zoom:

Next is audio zoom and what this does is it takes the sound from the subject that is in focus and enhances that if that makes sense so this is how it sounds like using the audio zoom we're recording on the internal mic of the xiaomi 11t and this is how it sounds like without the audio zoom and we're still using the internal mic on the xiaomi 11t now you can additionally adjust your settings.

Assisting Tools:

By heading to the settings icon the first one is allow tagging videos where you can record your video and while you're recording tag certain moments to then bring it up once you play the video back then you have image stabilization i recommend turning that off shoot with screen off i leave that off because i always want my screen on whenever i'm recording a video next is the pro features.

I really like this you can enable the histogram for a real-time exposure feedback and sonograph for monitoring the volume and you can actually adjust the volume using the slider so when heading back you'll see that to the upper left you'll have the histogram and you also have the sonograph and when i tap on the sonograph i can actually adjust the volume up here which is really nice the histogram is a bit small but better than nothing i can still see how the image looks like so nothing is overexposed.

I can see a little bit of under exposure because more of the information is on the left and the goal is really to have the information spread out so what i can do is reduce the shutter speed a bit 1 over 25 so this looks good next is audio settings there's actually a smart noise reduction which reduces the impact of wind on sound recording and this might be very useful if you forgot your external microphone and are recording a vlog you can easily turn that on to really reduce that wind noise in your video it is a little bit windy outside i don't have a smart noise reduction on this is how it sounds like just using the internal mic and this is how it sounds like.

With smart noise reduction on there's a little bit of a wind uh but not that much next is video encoder i recommend shooting in h.265 high performance this will not only give you a higher video quality but will also reduce the file size of your video it might be a bit harder to edit with this code but i prefer using this as it has more advantages now you can actually use the volume button up here to start recording you can also customize different settings here but i leave it how it is you can also save your location shutter sound i leave that on this way i know when the recording starts now this is also a great feature safe previous mode so every time i open my camera it will open up the previous mode i've selected including the settings that i put in so all the settings that i'm dialing in now will stay the same whenever i open up the stock camera so below the setting button.

Movie Filters:

You have movie filter this only works i think in 1080p 30 frames per second but you can put or slap a filter onto your video and this way you don't have to color grade in posts i usually like to shoot in log and color grade my footage afterwards um but it's great to have that option as well now there are also different metering modes.

Metering Modes:

The metering modes let you measure the light in specific area of the frame center weight mainly focuses on the central area of the frame which is great for shooting subjects that are standing in the middle of the frame frame average considers all areas of your image and spot metering covers the area in one spot giving you precise control and to the very bottom you can turn on flashlight [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right.

Final Thoughts: 

So here are my final thoughts on the xiaomi 11t the pro video mode is a great video feature for those that need more control over their camera it has assisting tools such as histogram exposure verification and more.That is normally found in high-end cameras now xiaomi is heading in the right direction but as a mobile filmmaker i would have really liked 24 or 25 frames per second which is the cinematic frame rate 30 frames per second produces a sharper image and is great for vlogging but if you want to have more of that filmic look in your video 24 or 25 frames per second is preferred at least for me third-party apps such as filmic pro needs to be updated since the

Filmic Pro:

Xiaomi 11t just came out i was able to record in 4k 25 frames per second but it still lacks a few function and has some glitches i enjoy the hdr feature for the standard video mode and can be useful i wish they integrated this feature in the pro video mode as i don't want to switch in certain situation hdr can produce better results than the log option i find that the log picture profile can introduce more noise what i like is the fingerprint option that allows me to quickly open up the pro video mode and get started right away with shooting additionally being able to save the previous mode you shot at is a time saver too another benefit is the fast charging option as it only takes me 36 minutes to fully charge the battery now there are more video features that we haven't talked about such as the time lapse function dual video mode and more but as you can see it is packed with video features in this video i really wanted to focus on the pro video mode as this will be important for those that need to shoot more professional videos 

End:

what do you guys think of the xiaomi 11t let me know in the comment section below i hope you enjoyed this video once again thank you so much for your support 100k is coming soon if you're new to this channel make sure to subscribe this will help me grow and keep continuing making these awesome video tutorials now also don't forget to save my free smartphone filmmaking guide that will help you get started making quality videos with your smartphone and make sure to join the private smartphone filmmaking group on facebook to share your work and get feedback from others if you want to learn more here are two videos that you should check out that might interest you anyway i will enjoy the rest of the day i hope you do that too stay mobile and i will see you in the next video peace out [Music] you