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I'm a Nikon man, but this is why I love the Canon 7D

R

Renderz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 27, 2004
315
0
My photography cameras of choice for my weddings and events are the D3 and D7000l, but when shooting videos I love what Canons can do.

Recently I borrowed a Canon 7D to shoot a video in the studio and I wanted to share it with you.

Technically I know this is a 'video' and not photography but I wanted to share my efforts with a modern day DSLR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGEl2HGVDck
 
Renderz said:
My photography cameras of choice for my weddings and events are the D3 and D7000l, but when shooting videos I love what Canons can do.

Recently I borrowed a Canon 7D to shoot a video in the studio and I wanted to share it with you.

Technically I know this is a 'video' and not photography but I wanted to share my efforts with a modern day DSLR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGEl2HGVDck
Click to expand...

Nice video and great song. It is amazing what you can do with a 7D. What lens were you using?
 
Nice video, what is it doing that you love? Is it more of the audio part of the video or you prefer the Canon lenses for this stuff more?

I just got the D7000 before Xmas and the 35mm which is a really nice combo but I haven't tried any video with it yet. Also I'm not a Nikon only type so I'm just interested in your selection choice.
 
Artful Dodger said:
Nice video, what is it doing that you love? Is it more of the audio part of the video or you prefer the Canon lenses for this stuff more?
Click to expand...

The big reason I like the 7D was how easy the buttons are to take video. Also it gives me 60fps at 720p so I can shoot slow motion (my videos are always at 24fps). Now that the D800 is out, I'm saving up for that.

Audio on SLRs are sub standard. If I'm recording live audio then I tend to use an external mic that sits on the Flash hot shoe. I went for the Rode Videomic because it was light, it had good quality and relatively cheap.

This is me testing the Rode Videomic on a Canon 5D. http://youtu.be/6yP3cDLnHZY

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VirtualRain said:
Nice video and great song. It is amazing what you can do with a 7D. What lens were you using?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback, that is very nice of you to say.

I only used the 50mm f/1.8.

The guy I borrowed it from didn't have any pro lenses for his 7D so I just stuck with that.
 
Renderz said:
The big reason I like the 7D was how easy the buttons are to take video. Also it gives me 60fps at 720p so I can shoot slow motion (my videos are always at 24fps). Now that the D800 is out, I'm saving up for that.

Audio on SLRs are sub standard. If I'm recording live audio then I tend to use an external mic that sits on the Flash hot shoe. I went for the Rode Videomic because it was light, it had good quality and relatively cheap.

This is me testing the Rode Videomic on a Canon 5D. http://youtu.be/6yP3cDLnHZY

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Thanks for the feedback, that is very nice of you to say.

I only used the 50mm f/1.8.

The guy I borrowed it from didn't have any pro lenses for his 7D so I just stuck with that.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks! Like I mentioned I haven't played around with the video end of the D7000, I did on the D90 and it was good for what it offered.

I have the Rode Video Mic as I use that for my Canon HF-S21 and oh yeah it is a great mic for my needs so that end is covered very well.

Button layout I can agree is a big deal, the HF-S21 has touch screen and I've programed a few things for the screen and the adjustment button on the lower front as I don't want to go through layers of menu for my needs. I did play around like I said with the D90's video and that is when I felt for short video times a DSLR was going to be the new way to have the benefit of changing out glass for each persons needs be it a prime or zoom.

How long of a time length does the 7D allot for video? I was under the impression that any DSLR had a 20 minute max time limit but I'm not sure if that has changed or not which was the main reason for my purchase of the HF-S21 a few years back.

Good stuff, thanks :D
 
Artful Dodger said:
How long of a time length does the 7D allot for video? I was under the impression that any DSLR had a 20 minute max time limit but I'm not sure if that has changed or not which was the main reason for my purchase of the HF-S21 a few years back.
Click to expand...

12 minutes for a variety of reasons. First off, that's a 4GB file and that's the max you can put on a 32bit card. Secondly there's some tax issue in certain countries where past 30 minutes it becomes a "video camera".

But you can get around that with MagicLantern. It's a firmware add-on for Canon HD-video DSLRs. Basically a group of people built some software that runs on top of what Canon's to add a bunch of features Canon didn't put in the first place. Amongst others, it's possible to lower the bit-rate so the camera will capture the image with in a lower quality so it'll take more time to make a 4GB file. IE record with half the bit rate and you'll be able to record a 24 minute file. The drop in quality isn't too bad. The firmware also has a mode where it will start a new file after finishing the last one. There's a little gap between the two but in some cases that might be okay.

I can see some times where you'd want to record for a long time but it's quite easy to work around that.
 
TheReef said:
That's great, very well done!

The 7D body down under has fallen to almost as low as $1200... hmmm :cool:
Click to expand...

Go for it mate! It's a great camera.

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Artful Dodger said:
How long of a time length does the 7D allot for video? I was under the impression that any DSLR had a 20 minute max time limit but I'm not sure if that has changed or not which was the main reason for my purchase of the HF-S21 a few years back.
Click to expand...

Remember that's a limit only for a single continuous shoot. But there's no reason that you can't stop and then restart shooting. For the music video, I didn't shoot for more than 4 minutes at any one time. When shooting documentaries I keep the lengths short. I always edit the footage down in Premiere.
 
Renderz said:
Go for it mate! It's a great camera.

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Remember that's a limit only for a single continuous shoot. But there's no reason that you can't stop and then restart shooting. For the music video, I didn't shoot for more than 4 minutes at any one time. When shooting documentaries I keep the lengths short. I always edit the footage down in Premiere.
Click to expand...

I thought so as with some seminars I do they go 1.5 hrs before a break but for a second cam for some different angles I would use the stop and go method. I'll be trying out the video for a test run this Friday for a yoga video so it should be interesting as it's for a friend and he wants to see how the video looks from a DSLR for down the road. I sent him the link with your video and he thought it was "sweet". Cameras have come a long way in the last 5 years, if the recording time limit(s) in the future end up removed it will be a field day with a ton of choices for all price points :cool:

Thanks again :D
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. It's really nice to read such positive comments.

I'm hoping to get my hands on the D800. I have high expectations from that camera; not just as a stills camera but also has a high performance video camera.
 
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