The Microfilmmaker Community

[BrianKing]

What do you all think of shooting video with this camera?

It looks like it shoots true 720p video. From reading reviews, the major complaint seems to be with panning. However, if you minimized quick camera movement, this camera seems like it could be an excellent choice. Besides soliciting thoughts, I'm wondering about two specific topics, as well:

1) Will Final Cut Express / Final Cut Pro be able to handle these movie files natively?

2) If I use an external audio recorder, would sound syncing be relatively easy?

Any input is appreciated. Thanks. -Brian

[JeremyHanke]

Brian,

While we haven't had a chance to review this specific Video-enabled DSLR, we did do a review of Canon's new Mark II. The big issues you run into with DSLRs is how how clunky they are to shoot video with. As such, you end up having to get a rig to be able to hold the camera comfortably if you want to be able to move it at all like a traditional video camera. While both Redrock Micro and Zacuto carry these rigs, it definitely bumps up your price tag a bit.

To date, I've never heard of a DSLR that recorded video that wasn't fairly heavily compressed. As such, you're probably going to have to decompress some or all of the footage in Final Cut, which can yield lower quality, depending on what you do.

One other thing is that most of these cameras do not have any frame rate control. You're stuck with their default, which is usually 30P or 24P. While 24P is nice, it's much nicer to be able to choose the exact frame rate you want to shoot.

Finally, I have yet to see a video DSLR with a dedicated timecode sync so that you can properly sync up audio. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as easy to sync up audio from divergent devices without that, especially if the recording camera isn't a professional video acquisition tool. (Even though these DSLRs are high quality, there is a good probability that there will be subtle fluctuations in recording speed. When that happens, it'll change the sync with your external audio so that, even if you sync up the beginning, you may be out of sync in the middle. Too much of this and you start having to do what Robert Rodriguez did in El Mariachi!)

As such, unless you're going to buy the DSLR for a still camera and play around with it for video acquisition, I would recommend against using at as your primary camera. For more control and lots more frame rate and syncing options, the smart money still looks on waiting for the Red Scarlet. Hopefully it'll be out by the end of the year. (Of course, if it's like the REDOne, select models will be available in February and we won't see mass sales until Q2 2010. Only time will tell if that's correct.)

Hope this helps! Sorry to be a downer and, anyone else who has experience with this camera, feel free to chime in!

-Jeremy
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Jeremy Hanke
Editor
Microfilmmaker Magazine
"Improving no-budget filmmaking through technique and critique."
http://www.microfilmmaker.com
jhanke@microfilmmaker.com