Need help selecting a DSLR with HD video

cdc28p

Hi,

I've been lurking here for several years but finally registered to ask this beginner question:

I'm looking for a DSLR with video capability and need you help.

# My regular subjects: my always-moving infant, family events, and travel photos (mostly street scenes)... No sports. No need for fast fps.
# Settings: 80% indoors, 20% outdoors. I never use flash and love to shoot in low lights.
# My experience: Nikon D40 mostly used with 50mm f/1.8 (manual focus only) for 3 years, the camera is almost always in Av mode. I love a great bokeh. Usually shoots in RAW because of screwed-up WB in most of my indoors settings.
# My video need: short clips of infant and, less frequently, family events. Tried but returned a Canon Vixia HF200 because of my love of wide aperture
and not wanting to buy a 35mm DOF adapter; hence, my desire for DSLR video so I could use my fast lens. I don't mind the focusing difficulty. I probably don't need the 1080p; 720p looks good enough for me on Vimeo. I love editing in Sony Vegas.

Recommendations?

ziggy53

Cdc28p, welcome to the Digital Grin.

I honestly don't think that any dSLR is a serious video acquisition tool except for "Indie" style videos. AF is so poor, compared to traditional camcorders, and the sound systems and built-in microphones are also just not suitable for most general videography.

If you add an external microphone to some of the higher-end dSLRs it helps, but now you have another thing to attach and I still haven't seen "any" dSLR with an audio monitor, so you really don't know what you're getting.

If family video is your primary concern then a traditional camcorder is by far my recommendation.

With all that said, I do see interesting video coming from dSLRs. It's a lot more effort than it looks and I don't see much general family video (probably thankfully.)

I too like Vegas Video for editing and, once you learn the interface, it's very fast for basic editing and the sound editing portion is very nice indeed.

If you've suffered through all of this and still want a dSLR for video work, the models that have 720p:

Nikon D90 (the first dSLR to sport video capture)
Nikon D5000
Nikon D300s
Nikon D3s

Canon Rebel T1i
Canon 7D
Canon 5D MKII (720p may be coming in 2010)

Pentax K-x
Pentax K-7

Olympus E-P1
Olympus E-P2

Panasonic DMC-GF1
Panasonic DMC-GH1

There are considerable differences in each of these cameras so you still need to research and hopefully we'll have some members voice their experiences as well.

cdc28p

ziggy53 wrote:

I honestly don't think that any dSLR is a serious video acquisition tool except for "Indie" style videos. AF is so poor, compared to traditional camcorders, and the sound systems and built-in microphones are also just not suitable for most general videography.

I think it's exactly the "indie" style videos that I like to make as I learn to edit videos. A well-done 2-minute video with nice composition and nice depth of field is worth more than a 15-minute clip with great resolution and clarity but no powerful message.

ziggy53 wrote:

With all that said, I do see interesting video coming from dSLRs. It's a lot more effort than it looks and I don't see much general family video (probably thankfully.)

Agree. The samples on Vimeo are amazing. But again some of those guys can make art even with a phone camera.

Thanks for the list of cameras. I'll do research on them all. But for now I'm thinking of staying with Nikon or Canon due to used lens availability. I thought I would buy the Canon 7D for sure but was disappointed to hear of the AF problems on some units. Would love to hear from anyone who has experience using video on the Nikon or Canon cameras.

ziggy53

cdc28p wrote:

I think it's exactly the "indie" style videos that I like to make as I learn to edit videos. A well-done 2-minute video with nice composition and nice depth of field is worth more than a 15-minute clip with great resolution and clarity but no powerful message.
...

Thanks for the list of cameras. I'll do research on them all. But for now I'm thinking of staying with Nikon or Canon due to used lens availability. I thought I would buy the Canon 7D for sure but was disappointed to hear of the AF problems on some units. Would love to hear from anyone who has experience using video on the Nikon or Canon cameras.

AF is typically not absolutely necessary for an Indie video acquisition. You would normally use a lens with manual focus and then block out the subject and camera moves and set focus marks to coincide with the required positions. A "rack focus/pull focus/follow focus" device is generally used for that purpose. It is very similar to a Hollywood take in that regard.

I do like the 5D MKII as it tends to yield the best visual short DOF and creamiest bokeh for appropriate focal length large aperture lenses.

Here is a device used for pull-focus on a dSLR:

http://www.redrockmicro.com/mff_product.htm

And here is a Vincent Laforet class showing its use:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3350/3584004335_56c04720e0_b.jpg

cdc28p

ziggy53 wrote:

AF is typically not absolutely necessary for an Indie video acquisition. You would normally use a lens with manual focus and then block out the subject and camera moves and set focus marks to coincide with the required positions. A "rack focus/pull focus/follow focus" device is generally used for that purpose. It is very similar to a Hollywood take in that regard.

I do like the 5D MKII as it tends to yield the best visual short DOF and creamiest bokeh for appropriate focal length large aperture lenses.

Here is a device used for pull-focus on a dSLR:

http://www.redrockmicro.com/mff_product.htm

And here is a Vincent Laforet class showing its use:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3350/3584004335_56c04720e0_b.jpg

The microFollowFocus looks really cool but pricey for me right now. I really like the 5DII, having used a friend's, and am looking for a used one without much success.