Canon 7d recording time

[Bill Bruner]

Hi Scott – Sadly, there is no way to increase the 12 minute limit on the 7D. Yes, Magic Lantern will “auto restart” your camera so you lose a fraction of a second between clips, but that can be jarring in the middle of a song or a speech.

Even the newer Canon DSLRs are limited to 30 minutes of continuous recording (to include the brand new $1799 7D Mark II).

If you want a DSL-style camera that records for hours continuously (outside of the EU) and uses Canon EF lenses, you’ll need a either an $1100 Panasonic GH3 or a $1700 GH4 plus a Metabones Canon EF to micro 4/3 Speed Booster.

The 12/30 minute limit was one of the reasons I ditched my Canon for Panasonic GH cameras.

Good luck!

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution

[Scott Gaskin]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Bill. I will have to check out the panasonic cameras you mention. Just out of interest, how do they compare in quality to the canon cameras?

Cheers

Scott

[Bill Bruner]

Glad I could help, Scott. With respect to the video image quality you’ll get from Panasonic cameras, here are a couple of side-by-side comparisons of 2012-era Panasonic and Canon still/video hybrid cameras (the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 60D):

60D vs GH2 Moire Test

Canon 60D vs Panasonic GH2 evil moiré test

The new Canon 70D is not much better when it comes to moiré: Canon 70D and 60D moiré comparison

Bottom line – Below $1700, Panasonic GH cameras have both higher resolution (up to 4K) and less artifacting in the form of moiré.

On the other hand, Canon APS-C cameras have large sensors and (generally) better low light performance and shallower depth of field.

I can fix low light with faster lenses and shallow out my depth of field with ND filters, wider apertures and longer focal length.

Poor resolution, moiré and a 12 to 30 minute clip length limit, on the other hand, you’re pretty much stuck with.

That’s why I switched from Canon to Panasonic a few years ago and now shoot with the $1698 4K Panasonic GH4.

Again, hope this is helpful!

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution

[Jp Pelc]

As Bill said, Magic Lantern will auto-restart but you will still lose some frames. Having said that, ML is still an amazing firmware and I highly recommend you install it.

The Canon 6D can record ~30 minutes continuously (perhaps more, not exactly sure as I myself have never pushed it beyond ~23 minutes.) It will break it into a few different clips, but not a single frame will be dropped between them

[Scott Gaskin]

Thanks again for your help with this Bill.
Much appreciated
All the best

Scott

[Scott Gaskin]

Thanks for the info JP

Scott