Question for people with DSLRs that have HD movie capabilities.

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kasabian

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Hi everyone, hope you can offer your opinions on something.

I have a Canon 1000D that I'm happy with. I just do photography as a hobby every now and then.

This weekend my sister is getting married and whilst there is a professional photographer already hired, my sister asked if I could bring a camcorder along to film parts of the wedding. Not an "official wedding film" or anything. Just something to share amoungst our close family.

I don't have a camcorder unfortunately and I've been looking at basic HD digitial camcorder type things, but I'm not too convinced by the image quality.

I'm considering hiring a Canon EOS 7D for the weekend as it has film recording capabilities. Is this a good idea? It would mean I could take photos too as well as recording film, which would be cool.

I've never used a DSLR that had movie recording mode. How is it? Is it not ideal for recording long length stuff? I've seen the image quality on Youtube. Looks really nice.
 
You can shoot a single clip up to 4GB in size i.e around 12 minutes approx for High Definition. If you shoot in Standard Definition you'll get 30mins on the 4gb limit. So a minimum 16gb card would be best.
This recording length isn't an issue since you don't want to shoot long continuous video clips which would require massive editing afterwards. Lots of small clips is much better and makes post editing a lot easier. The image quality is superb but also borrow or hire an external microphone, the built in one is adequate but not great. The main downfall of DSLR video recording is that auto focusing motor can get picked up and heard on playback so manual focusing is essential.

The external mic may negate this problem but I don't know if it does, over to someone who has shot on a DSLR with an external. Anyone shed any light on this ?
 
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Thanks for the reply, Gazamonk!

That sounds good. My only concern is, is recording video on a DSLR tricky considering that it's pretty hefty? I mean, you hold it in one hand, right? Will it be hard to hold steady and not shake? :shrug:
 
Ideally for DSLR video, you need either a tripod, which limits your movements, or some kind of steadyshot rig and focus puller. A lot of these videos you see on youtube will have been using a lot more equipment than just someone holding a DSLR and shooting. Its really hard trying to manually focus/zoom whilst holding the camera without shaking it, and the mic picking the noise up.

Not impossible, and carefull use of short clips editied together could work well. As stated, an external mic, should eliminate much of the noise associated with handling the camera.
 
kasabian said:
Thanks for the reply, Gazamonk!

That sounds good. My only concern is, is recording video on a DSLR tricky considering that it's pretty hefty? I mean, you hold it in one hand, right? Will it be hard to hold steady and not shake? :shrug:
Click to expand...

Never hold a DSLR with one hand its just not steady enough even when shooting stills. Right hand on the grip and left hand under the barrel of the lens and the camera up to your eye gives you a pretty steady platform but as TCR4x4 said a support of some kind is ideal. If you want portability (and trust me you will) I have used a good sturdy monopod very successfully shooting Video on my 60D and its very easy to move around. Since you are not looking for professional quality video I think this will be the more practical solution for you. The video image quality from the 60D/7D is astonishing btw. :thumbs: but get that mic.
 
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If you are there to shoot primarily video then it would seem more sensible to hire a dedicated video camera rather than a 7d...Panasonic and a few others make consumer HD video cameras that are virtually broadcast quality.
 
If you are going to hire a DSLR just for the video why not hire/borrow a 500d? It has video and uses the same SDHC cards as your 1000d as opposed to the 7d's CF cards.

Paul
 
Mmm good point, it will of course still need a darned big sdhc card but at least if he has to buy it he can still use it in his 1000D afterwards. I also hadn't considered the CF card required for the 7D. So yes go with Redpauls suggestion and hire a 500/550/600d/60D. BTW sensor on 550D,600D and 60D are to all intents and purposes the same as the 7D so either would do. I would lean towards the 600D/60D however as the flip screen is great for video shooting.
 
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