I spent a chunk of the weekend editing 30 minutes of holiday video footage down to a nice, tight 10 minutes that went down a storm with the family. And that reminded me of several experiments I've wanted to conduct with video for a while, and a few extra ones that crossed my mind while chatting with Documentally when he came to speak at RBI.
So, I pulled some experimental video I shot on my Canon EOS500D DSLR (an enthusiast level camera, available for around £500) out of Aperture, and edited it up. It was shot hand-held, with some image stabilization applied in iMovie during the editing process:
And...I'm quietly impressed by it. The quality is pretty good (as you'd expect with a decent lens on the front), and it's actually easier to handhold than some of the Flip-style cameras, because it's easy to get two hands on it. One shot near the end betrays how difficult it is to handhold at the further end of a telephoto zoom. With a tripod, you could get some really nice footage off this thing.
Room for more experimentation, I think.
There's a YouTube version after the jump, for those of you on iPads and their ilk...
I'm actually looking to buy a D700 with a 24-70 f/2.8 lense. Trying to nab the both of them for about £2,000 used, but it's a tall order given the sporadicity of the market. Might just settle for £2.2k and get the body and glass before the summer is out. Obviously need to buy the usual accessories plus a DSLR backpack, but it's been a long time coming.
Handled a D700 in a shop local to me this morning...lovely piece of kit but quite cryptic to my uninitiated self. Hauling my antiquated arse into photographing modernity will take awhile.
It's nice that even a budget model can perform well at video - that's handy, although I've not even begun to get my head around all the bells, whistles and otherwise arcane stuff bundled in with the Nikon I'm to buy.
-Pete @ dirtygarnet.com
DSLRs are getting better and better at shooting video these days. I shoot with a hacked Lumix GH1 (I know, not a true DSLR), and the results are often stunning. Its their sensor size, glass and crazy high bitrates.
But because they all contain CMOS based sensors, there's the nasty problem of rolling shutter. This can be eliminated by shooting static shots, preferably off of a tripod, and avoiding fast pans and other movements. You seem to already obey these good filming habits.
I liked your day at the beach video!