These days what is a good consumer HD video camera good for production?

[Morne]

Hi all

My last camera was a Sony TVR22e DV camera so I'm a bit out of touch of the latest models. Any good consumer HD video camera you guys can recommend?

I see some of them comes with 16GB internal memory? What for? To store the video on memory instead of tape? 16GB seems very little for HD footage? Or does it get compressed?

[flino2004]

I've seen a lot good videos around with canon 5D and 7D
http://www.cgarchitect.com/upclose/article1_OMP.asp

[joconnell]

Canon 60d is the current best for video - get one of these, a fast 50mm lens (even the cheap 1. and a really good wide lens like the sigma 10-22 or the tamron 11-16 and you'll get gorgeous footage with a top notch stills camera to boot. To make it more viable to shoot with you'll need a few accessories to make it easier to hold as a video camera though.

[Morne]

Canon 60d is the current best for video - get one of these, a fast 50mm lens (even the cheap 1. and a really good wide lens like the sigma 10-22 or the tamron 11-16 and you'll get gorgeous footage with a top notch stills camera to boot. To make it more viable to shoot with you'll need a few accessories to make it easier to hold as a video camera though.

How does video shooting with the Canon 60d compare to the new Nikon D7000? (Nikon D7000 replaces the Nikon D90)

[3DMK]

My vote is for the DSLR that can shoot video.

I have the Canon 550 [with a 50mm f1.4 lens & the footage is more cinematic than a video worth 5-10 times the price.
You just can't beat filming at HD 1920x1080 with progressive format in square pixels.....suddenly video conversions are a thing of the past & the clarity of the image compared to Interlaced footage is just not in the same class.

And the best thing is you can take either your HD movie footage or a big ass 20 megapixel photo for your 3D background/camera match -all in one Piece of equipment

And yeah.....no more bloody tapes...just sweet little memory cards
Do a search on youtube for DSLR video & you'll be amazzed

There are however a few minor drawbacks to be honest but you would have to be a full on proffessional photograppher to even notice it.

Cheer
Jamie

Thumbs up for the DSLR
Death to the Video camera

[joconnell]

How does video shooting with the Canon 60d compare to the new Nikon D7000? (Nikon D7000 replaces the Nikon D90)

No idea to be honest - canon were fairly far ahead of nikon in all aspects of video shooting aside from the bonkers low light performance of the d3x but that's one specific situation where it wins out. The only major nice improvement of the 60d cmopared to the rest was manual audio controls and also a fold out, articulating screen. In terms of image quality there's a new panasonic called the gh-2 which is beating them all for image quality - just coming out literally this week. worth hanging back for a few months to see how prices or other announcements go.

[stevesideas]

I have a 5d mk2 and the video is great but the camera falls short in a few areas. Im sure there a few others but im not a camera guy so wouldnt recognise some of the extra bits. For me though the camera needs peaking (to distinguish if you are in focus or not), some kind of external mic feature, overcranking would be nice but is very limited on the 5d.

The main one for me is the lack of knowing if you are focused with a moving camera or subject. There are external attachments and monitors you can get but you are paying more then. By the time you have paid for those bits its almost worth shelling out for something like a Sony EX1, which is a great camera.

Im pretty sure the 60d is pretty good, although im still not sure it has peaking.

[dellis]

Wasn't there an issue with rolling shutter for the SLR cameras?

[joconnell]

Yes. It's gotten better since the 5d and the foundry have a good tool to remove it. Steve you're right in that there's no focus assist tools on any of the dslrs so most people will use an extra viewfinder to make this more possible. The 60d has a stereo jack in but again a lot of people use an external sound recorder. Lastly the 5dmk2 can't do overcrank as since it was the first generation of the video image processors, it had a few heat issues when using higher frame rates - the camera would overheat and shut down.

[stevesideas]

There was talk of the updated firmware adding overcranking to the 5d...unfortunately it hasnt surfaced yet !

[Morne]

So then it sounds to me a traditional HD VIDEO Camera is the better option? As that has all the features you want for video, which the DSLR's still lack at this point in time?