Canon 7D, what else?

[rost12]

Hello,

I'm a complete newbie to video editing. After seeing some awesome examples of footage out of that camera and having some Canon lenses to play around with, I'm thinking of getting a 7D body and diving into some motion pictures...

What else would I need, software wise, to process the footage? I understand that camera will produce *.mov files. Quickly browsing this forum, people talk of converters, ProRes, etc... I'm clueless.

Are there any guides out there that spell out the basics, or would anyone be kind enough to walk me throw some basic PP workflow with footage from 7D (I assume 5D mkII will be fairly similar).

Thanks in advance.

 

[anthemus]

A good site for guidance in this area is :
http://philipbloom.co.uk/

Or for samples of his work checkout: Vimeo - Philip Bloom

He not only gives good shooting examples of Video on DSLR's but he also has good tutorials in converting and editing properly with the footage.

There are a couple of concerns you should be aware before getting your Canon 7D. One thing I would look at is the type of production you will be doing. Personally I work in video for a living and I'm only considering the Canon 7D for small films projects, timelapse, commercial shoots and experimental. If your doing events like sports, concerts or long form in general you may want to consider other options.

For Timelapse: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/164271-REG/Canon_2477A002_Timer_Remote_Controller_TC_80N3.html

Limited to recording up to 12 minute clips or clips limited 4Gb in size.

Next, you will need a BeachTek of other type of device for clean and controllable audio.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/597128-REG/Beachtek_DXA_5D_DXA_5D_Dual_XLR_Adapter.html

For lenses: I've done some research and found that since is has a cropped imager it will add 1.6x to your lenses. Meaning: if you buy a 10mm lens it will act more like a 16mm on the 7D. The 5D does not have this problem.

Popular Lenses: Tokina 11-16mm, 35mm, 50mm, 28-135mm and a 70-200mm for filmmaking. That's a pretty normal lineup.

Other sites for research:

http://www.dslrtips.com/

http://provideocoalition.com/

Hope this helps with some of your questions and gets you started in making your decision.

 

[thewallbanger]

I just made a movie from my 7D using iMovie 09 and MPEG Streamclip. The process is pretty straight forward. I thought editing in HD would be difficult, but it was pretty easy actually.

http://vimeo.com/6901913

Hook up your card reader to USB port. You do not need to drag files to the hard drive.

Download the free program called MPEG Streamclip. Drag your video file into the Streamclip and select File --> Encode to Quicktime. In the next menu select the format "Apple Intermediate Codec" (AIC) and save the converted files to any designated folder on the hard drive. Then click Run.

The converted files will be playable in iMovie 09. Go into iMovie and choose File --> Import Video/Movies.

Start editing. When finished select Share --> Export Using Quicktime. Use the setting 1280 x 720 HD. Audio should be AAC codec at about 128 kbs. My 3 minute video ended up at 90 MB. You can then delete the original footage to clear up hard drive space.

 

[anthemus]

Nice example with the Canon 7D. I missed the first batch at the camera store so now I have to what another week.

Rolling shutter wasn't to noticeable. Looking at the fence and other objects during movement, didn't see anything to bad... what was your experience?

 

[MBX]

as for rolling shutter, there's a neat plugin by the foundry made specifically for such dslr's as 5d/ 7d: http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/pkg_overview.aspx?ui=47C4AB50-4636-4326-87D1-FB380B2119EF

it seems to be able to pretty much eliminate the problem.

500 bucks though, ugh.

 

[rost12]

Thanks a lot guys. That 7D looks more and more tempting, and if I can get decent video out without having to buy and learn something like Final Cut, all the better

 

[ikos]

I have the 7D and it is a great camera. The only problem is that iMovie 09 does not edit 24p, it converts your clips to 30p. Thats the only problem I've found with editing with iMovie 09. And iMovie 09 automatically converts to AIC when you choose optimize movie, you don't want to edit with H.264.

 

[TH3D4RKKN1GH7]

Final Cut isn't hard to learn its a simple little program. Also I see someone has posted a link to THE Philip Bloom's site which is great. Don't expect to run around shooting movies without some stabilization gear for that Canon. Tripods, rail systems, Zacuto and RedRock Micro are your friends.

Also Premiere Pro is essentially the same damn thing as Final Cut Pro and from my experience on my machine, its better optimized.

EDIT: BTW Wallbanger, your daughter is freaking adorable. Looks like you and your family had a nice time, congrats on your purchase. I'm adding you as a contact on vimeo.