DSLR Buying Guide
Question: I would like to purchase a DSLR camera for some short commercial productions where the client wants their video to look like film. Which one should I buy?
Answer: You could make any video look like film with a little creativity, some plugins or just your shooting and lighting style, but since you asked about what DSLR to buy we figure a roundup of all the makes and models would be a good thing.
Here are some of the popular ones we recommend looking at:
Canon 5D Mark II
The mother of all DLSR cameras at this time dues to it’s image quality. Amazing images, outstanding low light performance, 21 megapixels, APS full-frame CMOS sensor, approximately the same size as a frame of 35mm film. Shoots at the highest digital resolution known to man and at 24 frames per second, which is the same as film-based movie cameras.
Retail price approx. $2,500 without lenses. Canon lenses range from $200 to $800 for the gold series up to $10,000 for the L “red” series.
Other manufacturer lenses can be adapted to use on this and many other DSLRs.
Canon 7D & T2i
The two siblings to the 5D Mark II offer great imagery at decent prices.
The 7D is a metal-body camera with an 18-megapixel APS-C format CMOS sensor. The APS-C is smaller than the full-size sensor on the 5D, but still many times larger than sensors on consumer and some pro digital camcorders. It takes interchangeable lenses, both specific to the APS-C size and full-frame lenses.
HD video is recorded at 720p, and it has many of the features found in the more expensive 5D. Retail pricing is approximately $1,600 for the camera body only.
The T2i is essentially the 7D except with a plastic body. It retails for around $899 with a basic lens.
It has received significant upgrades from the 7D is in its high definition video capabilities. The previous T1i model offered a maximum resolution of 1080p (1,920 x 1,080 pixels), but with a non-standard (and rather low) rate of 20 frames per second, making this mode perhaps of limited use. Lower-resolution options of 720p (1,280 x 720 pixels) and VGA (640 x 480) pixels had a more useful 30 frames per second rate, but all video modes were also hindered somewhat by offering only automatic exposure, and monaural audio from a built-in microphone.
The Canon T2i corrects every one of these issues, with a new stereo microphone input jack, manual control of video exposure available, and a wide range of standard video frame rates on offer. At 1080p resolution, the user can select between 24, 25, and 30 frames per second. For 720p and VGA shooting, both 50 and 60 fields per second modes are available. Users can also edit movies in camera, including the ability to chop off beginning or ends of movies, but only in one-second increments.
Nikon D90
New D-Movie Mode Features 720p HD cinematic quality. It offers a movie function, allowing you to shoot movies in three different motion JPEG formats: 320 x 216 pixels, 640 x 424 pixels and 1,280 x 720 pixels. Now you can capture life’s moving moments with added drama by using many of Nikon’s NIKKOR lenses, including the AF DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED and the Micro-NIKKOR lenses. The shallow depth of field can give your movies a more creative and emotional impact. An additional benefit is the D90 image sensor, which is much larger than a typical camcorder for higher image quality and exceptional high ISO performance during low-light shooting.
It retails approximately at $900 without lens. Look for package deals at some retailers.
Nikon D3000
Similar to the D90, the D3000 shoots HD video in 720p at 24 frames per second.
Retail price approximately $1,600 without lens.
Olympus PEN EP-1
They shot their own commercial with this camera.
Olympus pioneered easy-to-use Art Filters for still images captured inside its E-System DSLRs, and now those same In-Camera Creative Features are built into the E-P1 with a fresh twist–they can also be applied to High Definition video recordings to take your videos to a new level of creative expression and put you in the director’s chair.
Your movies and YouTube videos will have the incredible clarity of HD whether Art Filters are applied or not. Just imagine how dramatic and unique your videos will appear with any one of the six in-camera Art Filters applied as effects: Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Light Color, Light Tone, Grainy Film or Pin Hole. Whether you’re a videographer, documentarian or established director–or just want to shoot like one–Art Filters set your images and videos apart from the pack.
Because the E-P1 is an interchangable lens system camera you have more creative options in composition for video capture, to add to your visual palette. You can attach any one of the new super-compact Micro Four Thirds lenses or, because the camera can accept all other Four Thirds Format lenses with an available MMF-1 Four Thirds System Lens Adapter, you can add anything from an extreme wide-angle fisheye lens to a super telephoto lens for a wide range of expressive options. All the while you will have more DSLR-like control over depth of field, focus, white balance and ISO.
It’s only $599 with basic lens!
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1
Captures HD video in 720p at 60 frames per second. Tilting viewfinder and somewhat less light sensitivity than its competitors. Twelve megapixel still camera.
Retail price approximately $750 with a basic lens.
The metal-body DMC-GH1 retails for around $1,500 with a basic lens.
Sony NEX-5
It’s not a DSLR (no single lens reflex to look through) but more of a compact camera that now offers interchangeable lenses and HD video.
Priced at $649 with a 16mm lens and $699 with a basic zoom lens. Many cameras take HD movies, but not so many offer the same Full HD 1080-line resolution as most broadcast HD networks. And very few have the same 60i frame rate for fluid, natural motion. In fact, this is the world’s first interchangeable lens digital still camera with 1080/60i HD movies.
Comments or additional questions?
Leave your response here