HD video camera - WTF?

[DreamMachine]

As I mentioned here, DSLR's SUCK for recording video unless you are not planning on refocusing.

I have a 5D mk2 with good quality lenses (eg 135/2, 16-35/2.8) and it sucks balls using it for recording video - I have no idea why people are even recommending it. If you're shooting a movie with a crew of people then, yeah buy one because you will need them all to get a decent result.

I tried it the day I bought the camera, found that it sucked after about a minute, and bought a panasonic hdc-sd700 that afternoon. As much as I like mini-dv tape (I used to own a Canon XL1 and XL2 and sold them because they were too big and heavy) I think the future is with digital media and I'm not doing anything anymore that requires pixel perfect quality (and if I wanted to shoot a movie I can always go with the 5dii & crew!)

I'd recommend getting the best quality 'proper' video camera you can afford that writes to flash. And take as much video as you can as your kid only grows up once. (and buy some backup external HD's and make sure you do periodic backups)

 

[bizousoft]

As I mentioned here, DSLR's SUCK for recording video unless you are not planning on refocusing.

I have a 5D mk2 with good quality lenses (eg 135/2, 16-35/2.8) and it sucks balls using it for recording video - I have no idea why people are even recommending it.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cX9vlwWJcE]YouTube - JI-WON! test short (canon 5d mk2 24p)[/ame]

 

[johnmatrix]

My Samsung Omnia 7 phone records in 720p with a 5MP camera and it works great in low light...

 

[Dave_IL]

As I mentioned here, DSLR's SUCK for recording video unless you are not planning on refocusing.

I have a 5D mk2 with good quality lenses (eg 135/2, 16-35/2.8) and it sucks balls using it for recording video - I have no idea why people are even recommending it. If you're shooting a movie with a crew of people then, yeah buy one because you will need them all to get a decent result.

I tried it the day I bought the camera, found that it sucked after about a minute, and bought a panasonic hdc-sd700 that afternoon. As much as I like mini-dv tape (I used to own a Canon XL1 and XL2 and sold them because they were too big and heavy) I think the future is with digital media and I'm not doing anything anymore that requires pixel perfect quality (and if I wanted to shoot a movie I can always go with the 5dii & crew!)

I know plenty of people that shoot solo with the 5d and 7d, so yours is not an honest review on the technical abilities of the camera. The fact that you cant focus and shoot at the same time doesn't mean the camera is junk it just means you don't have the skill set or the need/desire to learn how to shoot with it. Most people that shoot real video in any professional manner wont ever use auto focus. There is a learning curve for the DSLR line of cameras for video, and you will usually only get the best out of it with post processing because of the codec. You are correct if your not willing to learn to use it correctly or do post processing then it isn't the camera for you.

 

[DreamMachine]

I know plenty of people that shoot solo with the 5d and 7d, so yours is not an honest review on the technical abilities of the camera. The fact that you cant focus and shoot at the same time doesn't mean the camera is junk it just means you don't have the skill set or the need/desire to learn how to shoot with it. Most people that shoot real video in any professional manner wont ever use auto focus. There is a learning curve for the DSLR line of cameras for video, and you will usually only get the best out of it with post processing because of the codec. You are correct if your not willing to learn to use it correctly or do post processing then it isn't the camera for you.

What sort of passive aggressive shit is this? Dude, I've shot short films on DV tape with the aforementioned xl1 & xl2 cameras. I fucking know how to use it as a video camera as well as a still camera - I've worked as a pro photographer over 15 years ago, shooting film in a time when nobody would accept digital shots and anything shot in the studio had to be produced on medium format at a minimum.

If you're making a short film, yeah its great. It's awesome. You can get a setup that beats $100k film cameras for under $10k. But the OP wanted a camera for shooting his kid and a DSLR is the worst possible choice you could make in this situation. A kid isn't predictable and doesn't follow a script. Even that short film linked above - how many times was the focus changed? I didn't watch all of it, but from what I could see it was fuck all.

Yeah you can buy all the shit that makes it easier - essentially turn it into a shoulder mount camera with a big manual focus ring but then you have to carry all the shit (which sucks and is underestimated how much it sucks - try carrying 2 camera bodies, 6 lenses, 2 flashguns, bags, film, etc. etc. around all day).