Thinking about buying a Digital SLR still camera to shoot video?
At a visit to the IOV Show a couple of years ago, I was amazed by the beautiful images demonstrated by a professional wedding videographer, shot on a Canon Digital Single Lens Reflex still camera (DSLR). Like everyone at that seminar, I want my shots to look that good.
As a keen video maker, I have been enthusiastic about still photography for over 40 years and for some time now I have mixed things by using stills in my video. So when the opportunity came to replace my digital still camera, I decided to buy a camera to do both stills and video. I am no expert, quickly I discovered that I have a lot to learn and so if you are considering replacing your Camcorder, before you jump to DSLR, I want to share what I found with you.
As most of us rely (to at least some extent) on the auto functions on our camcorder, on a DSLR, much more attention needs to be paid to camera settings. So let's compare just a few of the differences in more detail.
Yes, the depth of field enables you to separate your subject more from the background than you would normally be able to with your camcorder, helping to create almost a feeling of three dimensions. This is due to the larger image sensor and bigger lens aperture, allowing more light in which also enables you to film in lower light conditions. But this makes focusing more critical and whilst some DSLR's can autofocus when you start your shot, any movement needing a change of focus has to be done manually.
A DSLR works by a mirror reflecting the image seen through the lens, which is normally viewed through the eyepiece. When a picture is taken, the mirror is raised to expose the sensor and create a digital photograph. This means that when taking video, the mirror is held in the raised position, so during filming the image can only be viewed on the camera's monitor screen (this is sometimes known as Live View). If you're like me and prefer to look through the viewfinder, devices are available to convert the screen into a type of viewfinder.
The ability to change lens is usually only found on professional camcorders, so compared with what is a fixed lens (plus any adaptors you are able to add), the flexibility, lower light ability and optically better lens you can use on a DSLR enables much better images, but they are not cheap!
A DSLR is primarily designed to take single pictures in a fraction of a second, this means it's not easy to hold steady for the length of your shot unless it's very short, so use of a tripod becomes more important, especially if you have a large lens fitted.
Currently these cameras are not built with sound in mind, so the audio quality of the built in mono microphone is awful. You can improve it slightly by plugging an external mic (this can be stereo), but this still falls short of what many camcorders can achieve. There is no headphone socket to monitor your sound and levels are controlled by automatic gain, which doesn't always adjust quickly enough. There are some exceptions, for example, the Canon 60D can show an audio meter as part of the screen display and levels can be set and adjusted manually. Users who want decent live audio will most often use a separate digital sound recorder, then sync the sound in edit.
Recording onto a Flash memory card instead of tape makes importing video files onto your Mac or PC for edit sound easy, or so I thought, but not so. Videos off camera are recorded in a H.264 format, which is a finished format, ready for play but not compatible with editing software. You will need to convert your video files to a format that is better suited for editing. The good news is that there is a FREE piece of software which will do this job Squared5. Advice on how to use this and what file formats to choose can be seen on vimeo.com. Links below.
Well, have I created those beautiful images? I'm working on it. Parting with my camcorder? No, I want to find a way to mix not just stills with video, but also video footage shot on DSLR and my trusty camcorder.
Roger Lawrie. Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers. January 2012.
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