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Canon 7D Quirks?
Hello All,
I recently purchased a Canon 7D and am very excited to get my hands on it. I have done a ton of research on it over the past seveal months and am aware of the pitfalls that come with a DSLR for video purposes. I’m aware of the 12 minute recording limitations, the auto focus issue and the audio limiter. I would like to know from anyone that’s used one if there are any other quirks or things I should be aware of so I don’t get a “surprise” when I start using it regularly in my workflow. I’m used to shooting on cameras like the Sony HVR Z1U so DSLR video is a whole new adventure for me. My editing system is an AMD Phenom II 3.4 GHZ quad core on Windows Vista 64 with 8 gig of RAM, a PNY NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT and a 1.6 TB RAID 0 config with Western Digital Enterprise drives. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
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6 Replies
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A couple of things you might also want to know:
1. The camera records the video as a H.264 which is an excellent codec for delivery of a final edited video but not so great to do actual editing with. You will want to use something like mpeg streamclip to convert it to a better codec. I use a Mac so what I use (ProRes) wouldn’t be an option for you, others can advise you better on the PC side of things
2. If you plan on shooting outside with your camera you will need:
* a loupe (see prior thread on this forum)
* ideally something like the Fader ND which will cut down the light hitting the CMOS chip and allow you to still film at wide open apertures for a shallow depth of field look without blowing out the image
Finally make sure you have a fluid head tripod and an external audio recorder to deal with the Automatic Gain Control issue I know you are aware of.
That’s all I can think of right now.
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Steve,
Thank you very much sir! I completely forgot to mention I’m using the Adobe CS4 Production Premium for editing software. I read that the Cineform AVI was a good conversion for editing with. I will at some point upgrade to CS5 so I can natively deal with the H264 files. Is there a particular brand of Tripod you recommend? I like Ventons but my budget is very low after buying the camera. I do plan on shooting both outside and inside and will get a Fader ND as you recommend. I saw one on Amazon and thought about getting it but sluffed it off at the time. Thanks again for the advice!!
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No worries. If you would like further suggestions you can read more on my blog here where I did several detailed posts with pricing, including tripods.
Intro: https://bit.ly/aaFQQp
Basic Kit Recommendations: https://bit.ly/becPat
Advanced Kit Recommendations: https://bit.ly/aoe5LI
Pro Kit Recommendations: https://bit.ly/bOApXq -
One more thing to mention are aliasing effects ( i. e. moiré ) on regular patterns in the focus distance. A blurred brick wall in the background won’t hurt, but a shirt with fine stripes on the actor will.
Director of the Institute of Media Research (IMF) at Braunschweig University of Arts
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Thanks again Steve! I just read your blog and will be bookmarking it when I get home. My next parts to purchase will be tripod, mic and ND filter. As for sound recording I have a laptop with Adobe Audition 3 on it. I was thinking of just using that to record sound. Should I stay away from that option?
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Yes that would be very cumbersome and besides it all comes down to the Microphone you would be connecting to the laptop – using the laptop’s built-in mic would actually be worse than using the one built into the camera.
If you are strapped for cash, look at the Rode VideoMic, not 100% awesome but better than using just the camera’s built-in Mic, you will still have the automatic gain control issue however
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