I'm taking my parents to Hawaii for what will probably be their last big trip. I haven't done much video with my 7D, but will want to capture them on video, especially what they say. So, I'm interested in two things.
1. External mic set up. I've searched here and on google for a small (travel) external mic that isn't too expensive. Ideally, it will attach to the hot shoe and have a plug that fits directly into the camera body without an adaptor. I've seen the Rode mentioned in many places, but that's a little more than I wanted to spend. Thoughts?
2. CF Card. I've had good luck with the Transcend brand and they have a new 400X UDMA 6 card on the market that seems to be priced reasonably. Any thoughts on this being fast enough for video. For those doing video, are you getting 3 minutes of video per Gig?
Any additional thoughts on basic set up will be appreciated.
If you are going to use lenses with IS, be sure you test with any mic you purchase in a somewhat quiet environment with IS on and off and see if the mic picks up the noise. It can be quite annoying to hear the IS buzzing in the background from the internal mic. My EF-S 17-55 2.8 IS is easily picked up my the internal mic. I now make sure it's off for anything in a quiet environment. I have yet to try an external mic. Perhaps someone here with an external mic can toss out their experience.
I used a somewhat "old" 8GB Transend 133X card in Hawaii and recorded "minutes" of video at 1080P and had no issues with the card keeping up.
If you are going to be recording a lot of video, you will need a LOT of CF card space.
I have a 1 min 30 sec 1080P 30 fps video that is a bit over 500 MB in size. That's about 330 MB per minute, which is close to your 1 GB per 3 minute.
Took my 7D to vacation and movie mode performed reasonably well. Things to keep in mind is there's no auto focus. Be sure to prefocus in a general area and then start recording. Be careful if you're holding the camera with 2 hands. I was holding the lens with my left hand and accidentally moved the focus ring and threw it all off.
Use a wide angle lens when recording. Long depth of field allows you to keep most of the scene in focus. And in full HD, the panoramic view is quite stunning.
As for the mic, although I brought my Zoom H2 external mic, I didn't use it once. But when applied with 7D, the audio quality is studio like.
Any UDMA card will do just fine keeping up the speed. Personally I use PNY's 8 gig and it's been perfect... pretty much on par with Sandisk's Extreme IV.
OP, what's your budget? Depending on the amount, you may want to just consider a camcorder, which will be a whole lot easier to use for this purpose than a 7D.
If this is "most likely" the last big event with your parents in Hawaii RENT a camcorder or buy one and sell it later. The 7D, (I have one) is good but it is not a video camera first and foremost.
Enjoy your trip, I spent 11 years in the Islands, 4 while on active duty and 7 after I retired and had to go to work.
RonR2 wrote:
If this is "most likely" the last big event with your parents in Hawaii RENT a camcorder or buy one and sell it later. The 7D, (I have one) is good but it is not a video camera first and foremost.Enjoy your trip, I spent 11 years in the Islands, 4 while on active duty and 7 after I retired and had to go to work.
I bought a 5D from a production company last month. They use nothing but 5D MkII's for all their video work. {EEK!] I could not believe it myself. And the company owner/producer wants to get a 7D to try out the slow motion it records. His business is mostly film work, but the ocassional video job jumps up now and then.
What is so {eek} about the 5D for video? I work in the "business" and am seeing them used as 2nd cameras, or even for primary camera work these days. Interview shots, natl car ads, ect.
5Dmk2 is the best bang for the buck on doing HD movies and promotionals. Canon is accidently shooting themselves in the foot on this one. 5Dmk2 is taking market share away from their video production line.
timpdx wrote:
What is so {eek} about the 5D for video? I work in the "business" and am seeing them used as 2nd cameras, or even for primary camera work these days. Interview shots, natl car ads, ect.
The 5d has a FF chip, which I know is not that much of a news flash in the DSLR world, but even pro level video cameras have much smaller sensors. The result is better IQ in the hands of a good video guy. Not to mention that while we may gripe about the cost of a DSLR the 5d is cheap compared to a real 3 chip video camera that probably will not match it in IQ. Plus the 5d is physically smaller than a pro level video camera which has advantages as well.
yeah, but to get "production quality" results you need to add another $2k worth of hardware.
back to the OP, I suggest you look int the zacuto z-finder at the very least if you really want to do video. More importantly, do you want to enjoy the trip or be working hard behind the camera? In other words, as the others mentioned get a dedicated video cam for the trip (rent or buy now and sell later)
Thanks for the feedback. I've got a camcorder, but don't use it that much. So I was looking to get the dual use out of my dslr. Maybe you're right, I should just use both devices on the trip.
Really, a 133X works? I've tried it out on my 300X UDAM 5 and it seems to have a little chop in the video playback.
timbop wrote:
yeah, but to get "production quality" results you need to add another $2k worth of hardware.
back to the OP, I suggest you look int the zacuto z-finder at the very least if you really want to do video. More importantly, do you want to enjoy the trip or be working hard behind the camera? In other words, as the others mentioned get a dedicated video cam for the trip (rent or buy now and sell later)
$US2k sounds cheap to me, the additional recommended stuff on lots of cine web sites can run $US10k; and the same stuff is needed for both a DSLR and a much more expensive "production quality" video camera. I have a Sony and a Panny consumer cam corder and a bud of mine has one of the three chip pro level Canons. Without some type of steady-cam equiptment, a matte box, additional stuff to view the live view, and some MF stuff a DSLR, a consumer camcorder, and a three chip video camera will all produce jumpy, shaky, poorly exposed, and probably way too much OOF footage.
What ever choice you make I would suggest you do a google search for DIY steadycam; unless you want to put out the bucks for a store bought one.
