An open letter to Canon, or, to dreamers who believe DSLR cameras shoot video well

Lensmith

Member
This one made me smile.

Hosted on Vimeo

Here's the article I read with a lot of good advice about why DSLR cameras just may not cut it for people wanting to actually make a dollar shooting video...unless they are into weddings. ;)

<part of the article>
"I, like many of you, rushed out and bought a 5D2. We were off to the races to become the next movie director, documentary maker, or whatever. Everything could be pushed to the web and the world was ours to take! Then most of us quickly found that it was not so easy. “You let me buy these dreams Canon. Knowing they were lies.”

Suddenly a cottage industry of “****-to-bolt-onto-your-camera” popped up. DSLR video was getting expensive and becoming a royal pain in the ass once you started adding rails and follow focus rigs and audio and sliders and jibs and on and on. I started watching people build the biggest, ugliest, and most expensive Frankenstein camera rigs on the planet. I went to one of Laforet’s workshops soon after buying my Canon gear and I quickly realized that I didn’t want to do this. I mean, I wanted to shoot video. I wanted to work with motion again but not like this."


For full article...
http://dedpxl.com/moving-to-motion-part-01/
 

fotofinish

Active member
I own a Canon DSLR, but I don't use it as a primary camera. I might set it up for reversals... But never as a primary. It's designed for stills, and that's what I use it for mostly.
 
Well actually for a few hundred dollars in accessories and a bit of patience while overcoming the learning curve, a DSLR can be an incredibly useful tool for news. I realize this youtube clip is a bit of comedy, but seriously if you learn to use a 5d3 or similar you will be more than happy with the results. Shooting with small sensor cameras is obviously much easier (and necessary for sports and other fast moving content) but having that large sensor "look" and good glass can make your video stand out. And in our business standing out can be all the difference.
 
DSLR's depend on Creativity.

Some of the Internet's Best.

Andy Ax on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66MWzGlv3fQ

Andy Ax - Location Scout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqn6mWuqwE0

Modern Warfare Fan Films by - Sam Gorski and Niko Pueringer @CorridorDigital

Frozen Crossing Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzQMGMuD1sU

Frozen Crossing Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a08ViuvORRM

Left for Dead - 3 Parts by Conner and Colin McGuire
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q42t95cCIk
Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEnMN02d1E8
Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE-VU0XDNn0
 

SimonW

Well-known member
I wrote about a similar article for RedShark News earlier this year. It wasn't Canon who fooled people. Canon only ever intended the video mode on their DSLR for quick and dirty journalistic work. I believe that when Laforet got hold of the 5D2 originally they told him that it was never intended for the uses he put it to.

It wasn't Canon who fooled the camera using world and pushed us into the world of frankenrigs, but the "gurus" like Philip Bloom, Laforet etc.
 

Robin

Well-known member
Nail on head.. but clever guys for pulling off a good money spinner for themselves.. beats shooting news for sky I guess..
 

Cameradude

Well-known member
The video DSLR's were intended for the growing number of "video journalist", basically still photojournalists who were being tasked with shooting video for their newspaper websites.

The following storm of the Panasonic AF-100, C300, F3, etc. were specifically created for the video world.

All of my predictions about the evolution of those cameras have been correct, and I hope that my next prediction comes true soon; all of the large sensor perks will be packed into a "traditionally styled" should mounted camera like Varicam.

Hopefully we will say bye bye to the frankenrig in the next 4-5 years.
 
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