Hi,
Have a 70D and considering it also for taking videos at airshows when not doing stills.
Anyone tried this and what are the problems if any.
First one that struck me was being unable to use viewfinder. Camcorder use saw me always using viewfinder, one cant see screens in sunlight and also they mean holding the camcorder at arms length so not good for a stable hold with elbow to chest, left hand under body of camcorder. The correct way to also hold a camera, hand supporting lens and body.
Holding it at arms length trying to use screen with varifocal glasses and looking through the normal part of the glasses sees screen well out of focus, one ends up peering over the top of the glasses. Also the sheer weight held out at arms length for long is a killer. hopeless.
Then the zoom range, wide angle to telephoto, what lens delivers the same range as a camcorder with decent optical zoom ?
Then its said the lenses for stills are no good, need an STM lens, but suggested 35-135 hasnt the wide angle aspect for taxiing aircraft. One has to remember there are stills to be shot as well.
lens swopping isnt practical. What lens would deliver camcorder functionality ?
No sound playback.
Motor of lens chugging gets recorded. Turn off movie servo af stops this but then camera wont keep in focus on moving target.
Discoveries are starting to put me off the idea, yet folk say ditch camcorders, get dslr, they do movies as well..the thought of one heavy item not two to lug around was something I was looking fwd to.
DBenz
By: AlanR - 12th October 2015 at 22:43
Some nice videos there Simon, better than those I have taken.
I have looked at the red dot finders Tony, and use one on our astronomy telescope.
I’m not sure how effective it would be in helping to video an aerobatic display ?
The best option is probably the loupe or hood which fixes over the LCD. This lets you see in daylight, focus,
and control zoom. I believe touching the shutter control while videoing will maintain focus. Although I
don’t know how easy they are to fit and remove, between taking video and stills.
Although The DSLR can give good results, on fast moving small aircraft you are fighting a losing battle.
I think that for shooting flying aircraft, a camcorder is the best bet as they are pretty inexpensive these days.
I still have an old Hitachi camcorder, now if I could convert that from tape to digital………..
By: TonyT - 12th October 2015 at 19:34
I have not tried it on my 1D but have you considered something like this
By: SimonR - 11th October 2015 at 10:13
Hi Alan,
Owning a piece of kit that is capable of such outstanding image / sound quality has been too much of a temptation for me so I’ve been using a 650D for the occasional video shooting and have been wrestling with its limitations ever since since I bought it. Many of the following points will also apply to the 70D. Incidentally, I’m off in an hour or so with it to get a video of the Vulcan over Rutland Water.
The first thing I found was that I needed an external microphone because I got a lot of focus and wind noise with the built in one and also it is only mono. I now use a stereo condenser mic which fits into a hot-shoe holder, which is fine, except that the cable gets in the way of my forehead if I want to leave it in place use the view finder for photos. It’s a bit of a faff but I have to take it out of the hotshoe and turn it round by 90″ when not in use.
I don’t have the luxury of lots of lenses so either use the standard 18-55 or a 70-300. To be honest, I think something in the range 30-200 would be about right for airshow work, to include both taxiing and flying aircraft.
These days I usually shoot video from a monopod which also has its limitations, but I’ve found that having a grip under the camera for my left hand while I use my right to operate the camera/focus works well and also the the IS lenses help a great deal. Panning requires a lot of room and pre planing so that I can stand in the middle of the arc so it requires minimum movement on my part, also it’s a bit tricky when something goes directly overhead, especially with the bigger lens. The monopod does help a lot with keeping the image steady, especially with the tendency of the camera to rotate when zooming.
Focus is the other thing that can be troublesome, especially with the bigger lens, and it’s also fairly difficult to see in the small viewfinder. I get varying results but mostly if I’m able either to estimate the focal distance and switch to manual or wait until the subject is in view and then auto focus on it it’s OK. Trying to re-focus during filming is usually a failure though. Apparently you can off set the problems a bit by manually setting an aperture value but I’ve not been able to work out how to do it!!
I’d say that it is worth giving it a go with the SLR, but if you want decent sound then invest in an external mic at the very least. You can get some very good results as long as you accept its limitations.
Here’s my Youtube channel Anything that’s in HD was shot with the 650D and you’ll see that the more recent stuff is steadier due to monopod use. I’ll upload the Rutland video later on if it turns out OK.
Have fun!
By: AlanR - 11th October 2015 at 08:46
My results have been much the same using my Nikon. LV is pretty
useless for video in daylight. Although you can buy a viewfinder to fit
into the flash hot shoe. That doesnt get over the focusing problem though,
for flying aircraft. Fine for taxying aircraft.
I had better results using a Canon bridge camera, as that has an electronic
viewfinder.
By: Arabella-Cox - 11th October 2015 at 03:44
The system for shooting video on DSLRs is too clunky as you say you can’t always see the screen and also the video quality does not seem that great considering it is HD quality.
I tried a fly by of the Vulcan with my 7D with a 100-400mm lens and the results were a shaky mess that ended up being deleted might have been OK with a tripod and remote but too much fiddling about and stuff to carry, i have had better results with my I phone than a DSLR which is a shame as if the system let you use the view finder and did not require pushing the AF lock all the time to focus the camcorder would be a thing of the past.
Curlyboy
By: boguing - 10th October 2015 at 09:50
My attempts at video with a lesser 650D won’t inspire you. At airshows it has been pretty hopeless when used hand held for the reasons that you’ve given (I’m afflicted with varifocals too). I also have a compact camera without a viewfinder and have the same problem – I don’t seem to be able to take photography seriously without one.
Using it on a decent tripod to record a friend walking and talking, and using AF, I was truly impressed by the capability and results. I felt like a real film maker! The noise from the AF was nothing compared to the wildlife, which was so bad that we had to record the sound separately and edit it together later. If I were to do it again I’d buy external microphones.
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October 9, 2015 at 8:16 pm