Help me decide: Canon t2i or HF S200 ?

[Hitrate]

Hey guys,

I'm awaiting the macbook pro on which I'm gonna do music and video productions. I haven't bought the camera yet, so everything is open.

My max is around $850 in total, but gladly less. I'm gonna use this cam for YouTube videos mainly - focusing on instructional videos (music lessons, tech tutorials, reviews, live concerts/studio jams, greenscreening) and hopefully later on for documtary movies.

So it's paramount that the video image quality is as crisp and pro as possible with this amount of money.

I've been looking at the Canon HF S200

And then get a 16 or 32gb sd card for it initially.

I like all the manual video control's and the fact that I can get/use other Canon DSLR and video lenses on this. So I've more or less settled on this if I go the video camera route.

BUT then the big question is, should I get a DSLR instead? The t2i comes to mind

because it's actually even cheaper than the S200 (with the 18-55mm lense - I btw have no idea what lens to go for with the purchase..the included? just get the camera and get a lense seperate from the get go? What..)

Why I'm leaning towards the t2i is because of the quality of the video...I haven't seen direct comparisons but I always think the expensive canon dslr video's that I see look more pro, than the ones done on these consumer video cameras..

So long story short I'm not quite sure what to do...I do like the fact that with a DSLR I can also use it as a really good PHOTO camera - which would probably be a big plus when it comes to doing my own marketing and website etc. (though I think the S200 would take OK pictures aswell, a DSLR would definitely be better)

Help and suggestions much appreciated !

 

[gødspeed]

DSLR video is awesome. Just in terms of picture quality, the T2i will blow the HF S200 out of the water.

There are other concerns though, like the 4GB file limit on the T2i, overheating issues, and of course the suboptimal form factor (which can be compensated for with some third party hardware).

If you don't mind working around some small shortcomings, the T2i is a much more capable camera. And you can start building up a lens collection, that will stick with you if you later decide to upgrade to a higher-end Canon DSLR.

 

[Hitrate]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; da-dk) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/7C144)

Ok thanks, yah exactly the same thing I was thinking. Though if the t2i has these limitations like the 4 gb thing, what should I look at that covers the needs yet aren't too pricy?





And also any lense recomendationd when buying a dslr for my kind of videos ? I kinda don't wanna have to spend big money on a second lense because the pone doesn't cut it..

 

[TaKashMoney]

I recently sold my Canon XHA1 ($3,000 camera) to move to a t2i ($800). I am more than happy with my switch, and the results have been amazing. To be perfectly clear, however, there are hidden costs and problems involved with moving from a traditional video camera to a DSLR. For me, these were more than worth it for the benefits of shooting with the T2i, but each person has their own opinion.

In any case, I am always a fan of being completely prepared before purchasing and I think the following articles paint a clear and complete picture about the realities of shooting video with a DSLR.

8 Reasons NOT to buy a DSLR for video:http://poetzerofilm.com/2010/04/8-reasons-not-to-buy-a-dslr

8 Reasons to buy a DSLR for video: http://poetzerofilm.com/2010/04/8-reasons-to-buy-a-dslr-for-video/

Finally, from the same site, here is a pretty good starter kit for the T2i:http://poetzerofilm.com/2010/02/canon-550d-the-core-kit/
Instead of the lens he recommends, I bought the 50mm f1.4 which runs about $300. I also bought two 16GB Class 6 Transcend cards ($40 each), and two after-market batteries from ebay ($6 each including shipping).

I hope this helps!

 

[Hitrate]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/7C144)

I recently sold my Canon XHA1 ($3,000 camera) to move to a t2i ($800). I am more than happy with my switch, and the results have been amazing. To be perfectly clear, however, there are hidden costs and problems involved with moving from a traditional video camera to a DSLR. For me, these were more than worth it for the benefits of shooting with the T2i, but each person has their own opinion.

In any case, I am always a fan of being completely prepared before purchasing and I think the following articles paint a clear and complete picture about the realities of shooting video with a DSLR.

8 Reasons NOT to buy a DSLR for video:http://poetzerofilm.com/2010/04/8-reasons-not-to-buy-a-dslr

8 Reasons to buy a DSLR for video: http://poetzerofilm.com/2010/04/8-reasons-to-buy-a-dslr-for-video/

Finally, from the same site, here is a pretty good starter kit for the T2i:http://poetzerofilm.com/2010/02/canon-550d-the-core-kit/
Instead of the lens he recommends, I bought the 50mm f1.4 which runs about $300. I also bought two 16GB Class 6 Transcend cards ($40 each), and two after-market batteries from ebay ($6 each including shipping).

I hope this helps!

Great links, thanks ! What made u go with that lense compared to the cheap one he recomends in your last link? I'm a bit "afraid" of having too shallow a depth of field as I will do many shots on a tripod covering 3-4 musicians in a jam where they all need to be in focus. What would be an ideal cheap "multiple purpose" lense hat could do this AND give me the option to shoot with shallow depth for other projects? In other words a good allround starter lense that I don't nessesarily have to upgrade from the first long while that I'm using the camera? (have to take in softboxes and other things into the budget consideration so can't afford to make a mistake when purchasing the lense) thanks

 

[TaKashMoney]

I bought the f1.4 because of the better build quality, resale value, but most importantly the MUCH better focus ring. You dont always have to shoot with shallow DOF. If you close up the iris (increase your fstop value) then your depth of field will increase and more things will be in focus.

Every person has their own opinion on lenses and it really depends on how much you can spend. Because you want an all-purpose type lens, then I may recommend this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1FCYQ8T4GE0JBHQNM7EQ

Or the one without vibration compensation:
http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-17-50mm-Aspherical-Digital-Cameras/dp/B000EXR0SI