Future Video Cameras

Not phased out Les, it's just that the big-chips have discovered a new movie-making market.  In the old days you could shoot 8mm, 16mm or even 35mm, and each bigger film format brought with it different filming problems.  Same with digital.  You can shoot movies on your phone with a 1/8th" chip or on your 5DIII with it's full frame chip.

 

tom.

Took two EOS 50 lenses to PCWorld. Current Canon SLR's do accept.

 

Told that maximum length of video shot cannot exceed 20 minutes.

 

When shooting video no auto focus is available.

DSLRs are stills cameras. That soem of them can also shoot video means that it's a 'bolt-on' with compromises. the more you look at these cameras the more you'll see just how serious these compromises are. If you want to shoot video, use a video camera.

Aww Alan you are such a killjoy, you should know that real artists don't shoot Videeeo but to get that artistic real earthy look we need to shoot Fill-um and that is what these stills cameras used to be!

 

Besides how else can we get that arty searching for focus look with the added colourmetric and pretty pattern effects without having to put vaseline on our front elements! as everyone knows real arty fill-uming is done in grainy black and white anyway and that can be done so easily in the edit now!

 

Now if someone could some up with a 10x8 stills camera that can shoot videeeo (sorry fill-um) it will knock spots off any of these small chipped video cameras and give us real art!

If, like me, you haven't already bought into the Canon/Nikon DSLRs and lenses scene then you are free to go with the much more video capable mirrorless cameras.

Look up the Panasonic GH2 (and GH3) - it stands apart from the regular Canon and Nikon DSLRs in the price bracket. You get face-tracking autofocus, flipping/rotating LCDs, image stabilising, unlimited recording times, basically everything I need in a domestic full HD camcorder and it takes great stills too. I put my old film Nikon, Canon and Tamron lenses on it. I won't be bothering with a video only domestic camcorder again.

On the subject of old lenses, here's an anecdote.

 

I have a Canon 400D. It doesn't shoot video, or even fill-um, it shoots stills, and they're nice.

 

An old friend died a while back, and he had a Pentax Spotmatic with a few lenses. So, when we were selling everything off, I tried his nice, glass lens, Pentax 125mm prime on my 400D. I'd already got a lens adaptor. It was a soft as old boots compared with my modern, plastic lens, Canon zoom lenses. We sold the lot on to a specialist camera shop.

 

Just because it's old and you've had it a while and are used to it, doesn't mean you can't do better.

 

And I still use video cameras for video, stills for stills. It'll take a major step up in the performance/price ratio of stills cameras for video performance to get me to change that. A decent stills camera shooting video costs more than a decent video camera for the same image quality.