Bill Bruner
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Harvey – the problem is the 14-140. It is well known to produce the too-sharp camcorder “look”. Another problem may be deep depth of field, especially if you are outdoors without an ND filter. I recommend you try a $13.60 variable ND filter first, to open up your aperture – and, if that doesn’t work, try some old Nikon or Canon FD primes with inexpensive Nikon or Canon FD adapters.
For example, here is a Canon FD 28mm f2.0 for $172 on eBay
.
I have gotten good results with these lenses.
Others prefer old Soviet Helios lenses. Andrew Reid of eoshd says, “If I were stuck on a desert island with only one lens, I’d choose the $20 Helios 44M-2 and anamorphic adapter…”
You can get the Helios 44-2 58mm f2 from the UK from a reputable seller for less than $40
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Hope this is helpful,
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Hallo Johannes – all of the cameras you listed have the same sensor and image processor. The 7D has a more robust metal body and the 650D has autofocus in video mode. That’s about it.
From a video standpoint, the Canon DSLRs on your list are best defined by their limitations:
– viewfinder stops working in video mode
– autofocus stops working in video mode (except https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0089U6CEQ/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1638&creative=6742&creativeASIN=B0089U6CEQ&linkCode=as2&tag=hybrcamerev02-21“>650D)
– 12 minute continuous video limit (22 minutes for the 650D)
– susceptible to a phenomenon called moire (shimmering colors on patterned subjects), seen here and here from the Canon 60D in a comparison with the Panasonic GH2.If you have your heart set on a Canon, the T4i/650D is the best of the lot for video, outside of the moire-free (but expensive) 5D Mark III.
As for me, I sold my Canon T2i/550D because I grew tired of these limitations and bought a Panasonic GH3, which has a video viewfinder, video autofocus, a headphone jack and unlimited continuous shot length – all essential for an actual video camera, in my view.
Good luck with your decision,
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[Craig Richard] “I found a matte box and accessories online for a company called ProAim, which I believe is out of India. If you have had any experience with this company, or their equipment, please give clueless a clue. I’m also leary about no credit card, only paypal, should I be?”
Hi craig – I bought my Flycam 5000 from them through eBay. The item arrived, nicely packed, when they said it would. As of today, they have several hundred items listed there. They also sell through Amazon, if you prefer paying by credit card.
Hope this is helpful,
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Carlos – Great choice on the GH3! What lens(es) do you plan to use?
But that’s a lot of money for light rental. If you’re looking at the Lowel DV Creator Kit from lensrentals.com, that’s $87 for 6 days plus $50 for shipping. You might as well buy your own 3 light set (with backdrops) for $170.
The Sennheiser G3 is a very good choice for your wireless mic, but you will need a Hosa XLR to 3.5mm line matching transformer to connect it to the GH3.
Again, hope this is helpful,
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Carlos – I recommend the GH3 – it will give you both long recording times and a headphone jack – and it will be a lot less expensive than renting the AF100 (or a C100/C300!).
Lensrentals: https://www.lensrentals.com/rent/micro-four-thirds/cameras/panasonic-gh3
Borrowlenses: https://www.borrowlenses.com/product/DSLR_vid/Panasonic_Lumix_DMCGH3_Mirrorless_Digital_Camera
Good luck with your interview project!
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Hi CB – you need a powered mic with a balanced output and shielded XLR cable if you want to reduce the possibility of RF interference. You will also need a way to convert the low impedance of the mic to the higher impedance of your camcorder input. You can get expensive JuicedLink or Beachtek solutions, or you can do what I did – buy a used professional mic on eBay, along with some XLR cable and an inexpensive line matching transformer.
For powered mics below $500, I recommend the Sennheiser K6/ME66, the Audio Technica AT897, or an old AT835, if you can find one (I picked one of these up for $75 on eBay).
You will also need a wind muff for outdoor shooting (I use this $55 wind muff on my AT835), a $30 shock mount, a $49 boom pole, a $45 coiled cable to run down the boom pole, maybe some more extension cable, and the $15 line matching transformer.
If you buy an unpowered mic such as the $173 AT875, you can save some money on the mic, and you won’t have to deal with dead batteries as often, but you will need to provide external “phantom power”. And after a long cable run, especially if you use multiple sound sources, you may want to think about a preamplifier and a mixer – but this is all probably more complexity (and expense) than you want to deal with.
The setup outlined above will work, and will provide your VG20 with clean audio, if you get your mic close enough to your talent. I have shot with the VG20, and it is a great camera for sound and video.
Here is a picture of the Audio Technica AT835 mounted on top of my GH2: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6x2ziHgKUyQ/UOq2-ksrfPI/AAAAAAAAGXk/8i0Hrh9rLFw/s1149/P1010660.JPG
Hope this is helpful,
Bill
Hybrid Camera Recolution (more details on my blog) -
Hi Carlos, we use the HMC40 at work, and it is a great camera, but it is getting a little old. I would get the newer AG-AC90. The XLR mic inputs are built-in, not added on, it shoots 1080/60p at 28mbps and takes dual 128GB SDXC cards. Only $1956 at Amazon.
You can get a $199 Audio Technica AT899 omni lavalier, plug it directly into this camera, and you’ll be all set.
Hope this is helpful,
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No need to hit pause. You can rent a Panasonic GH2 or GH3 (with headphone jack) from either lensrentals.com or borrowlenses.com
Simpler to use than the AF100, great for interviews and no time limit.
Here is what the GH2 can do in an indoor interview setting: https://vimeo.com/22664017
And outdoors: https://vimeo.com/23026405
Here is the GH3 outdoors (50mbps): https://vimeo.com/56749236
Cheers,
Bill
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Nick – Glad it was the card and not your camera. But life can be better – there are DSLR-type cameras with no limits on clip length (Panasonic GH2/GH3, Canon 1D C), 30 minute limits (Sony, Nikon D600/D800, Canon 5D MkIII), 22 minute limits (Canon T4i), 20 minute limits (Nikon D5100, D7000) and 12 minute limits (rest of the Canons). If longer clips are important to you, it might be time for another camera.
Cheers,
Bill
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Hi William – welcome back to world of imagemaking! On the T4i – it may not overheat, but it will definitely shut down after 22 minutes of continuous recording (see specs here, click on “specifications” and scroll down to “continuous shooting time”). People who buy Canon DSLRs for video are sometimes surprised when they shut down in the middle of a shot (see this thread for a T3i shooter who was surprised when his camera shut down after 12 minutes).
If you need shallow depth of field video in a DSL-type camera that you can put on a tripod in the back of the church, turn on and leave running for hours, your only choices are the Panasonic GH2
or its successor, the new GH3
cameras.
Here is what the GH2 can do: https://vimeo.com/37401106
Here is what the GH3 can do: https://vimeo.com/52632262
For wireless mics, you need a couple of Sennheiser G3s
. They are the best wireless lavs below $1000.
On camera mics are OK for pickups, but most of the amateur mics with 3.5mm unbalanced outputs are not very good. I use a pro mic with a balanced XLR output – and an inexpensive little XLR to 3.5mm transformer cable
to match the impedance of my camera’s input (see photo here: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6x2ziHgKUyQ/UOq2-ksrfPI/AAAAAAAAGXk/8i0Hrh9rLFw/s1149/P1010660.JPG)
With this setup, I get really directional sound with very little noise introduced by the mic. To get away from these cameras’ noisy preamps and really clean up the sound, however, you will need a high quality mixer/preamp such as a Sound Design 442 or an SQN.
Hope this has been somewhat helpful, and good luck with your new (old endeavor!