I was recently asked to put together a list for the budding videographer using a DSLR.   I am mostly a photographer but have now shot video with the D90, 7D and T2i.  The more I shoot video the more I realize the importance of the following-

A nice wide aperture lens like Canon’s50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens ~$99  Lets you shoot in lower light and create those great shallow depth of field shots that your friends still using camcorders drool over.

I don’t care how steady you think your hands are, if you want professional looking video it needs to be rock solid and steady . Use either a tripod I recommend  Manfrotto 785 Video Grip Head Tripod $70 or use a steady-cam system like Manfrotto 585-1 ModoSteady 3-in-1 Camera/Camcorder Stabilizer and Support System.

Large cards – Video, especially HD video eats up space quick -
SD – SanDisk 16GB Extreme – SDHC Class 10 You can shoot fine on class 6 cards but the slower cards will be painfully slow to pull the video off of.

Compact Flash – SanDisk16 GB Extreme III CompactFlash Card

External Mic (if your DSLR has an external mic port) Much better audio quality over the built in mic port
Rode VideoMic Directional Video Condenser Microphone w/Mount

And you might want to read up on using all of the above in From Still to Motion: A photographer’s guide to creating video with your DSLR (Voices That Matter)

And feel free to ask for my thoughts on anything else you come across while researching shopping.  I wil be happy to share with you my thoughts and recommendations @camerarec.

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Sigma’s newest lens the 17-50 f2.8 followed by acronym hell is now available. Let’s break down those acronyms and features

EX – A nicer fit and finish on the exterior of the lens. Sigma uses the word Superior.

DC – Designed for smaller, crop-sized sensors

OS – Optical Stabilization, Canon calls it IS – image stabilization and Nikon uses the acronym VR – vibration reduction. Tiny gyroscopes in the lens allow you to shoot at slower shutter speeds without getting blur from shake or handshake.

HSM – Hyper Sonic Motor, Canon uses the acronym USM- ultra sonic motor and Nikon uses the acronym SWM – silent wave motor. It all translates to fast and quiet auto focus.

A longer post is in the works discussing the pros and cons of buying 3rd party lenses, namely Sigma and Tamron, versus the ones made by Canon and Nikon but in the short term I will say that recent Sigma lenses have been excellent and they seem to be doing a much better job of quality control. The more important question you may be wondering is why would or should someone shell out ~$670 for a lens that offers a very similar range to the kit lens included with entry level DSLRs from Canon and Nikon. Not enough reviews are in for me to recommend this lens yet but I will share with you what it is offering over the kit, which it really isn’t designed to compete with. It is designed to compete with Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Wide Angle Zoom Lens both of which are over $1000. The Sigma has a constant aperture of f/2.8 as do both of the lenses linked above, this combined with the OS provides the potential for excellent low light shots. Once the lab tests come in I will update this post with comparissons to the two lenses above, but at a savings of $400 and nearly $900 respectively it would be might tempting for anyone needing a fast, low light lens. And because it is optimized for crop sensor cameras it is fairly compact.  One final note – those using DSLRs for video should give this a long look – again the OS combined with f/2.8  gives you a smooth lowlight lens.

Buy on Amazon

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Currently folks are talking about the D3000 replacement to be called the D3100. The D3000 is Nikon’s current entry-level DSLR – replacing the much loved D40/D60 models. The D3100 looks to add video with one serious new feature, continuous Auto Focus while filming. Now some of you may not realize it but all current Nikon and Canon DSLRS that shoot video only focus when the shutter is half pressed and the focus is noisy and on the slow side. If the rumors are true those moving up from P&S, and this what the D3100 will be aimed at will be quite happy.

Other features -

• 10 MP CMOS sensor
• HD video: 1080p/24 and 720p 30/24
• AVCHD video codec
• In camera video editing capabilities
• 3fps (same as D3000)
• will be sold with the 18-55mm lens

For those of you thinking that your current P&S has more Mega Pixels than this model please remember that the sensors in DSLRs are much larger providing higher quality images especially at low light.  The D3000 does a decent job in low light now and I expect this model will improve at least slightly on that.

I still usually lean toward the Canon entry level cameras simply because of the infocus body motor issue.  The D3000, D5000 will not auto focus with some nikon lenses – there are plenty of lenses still to choose from that will AF on those cameras but the one that is great for learning – the nifty-fifty (50mm)  does not.

How interested in this camera are you?

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Sony’s first consumer camcorder with interchangeable lenses.

Details -

• Interchangeable lenses – E series lenses, such as the E16mm ($250) & the E18-55mm ($300), also Zeiss and Sony lenses
• 14-megapixel still shots at 7 fps
• Electronic viewfinder, and a swiveling 3-inch LCD.
• Large, quad-capsule spatial array stereo microphone with high directivity.
• Stores video on either Sony’s Memory Stick Pro Duo or SD, SDHC or SDXC memory cards.
• Price – $2,000

The APS size sensor gives the NEX-VG10 a 1.5x magnification factor for stills (slightly more for video), meaning a 200mm lens will function much like a 300mm lens for stills.

Lots of video folks have been jumping on the 7D and 5D Mark II – so lets take a second and compare.  The sensor size is comparable to the 7D so we can expect similar low light performance, doubtful that it will be better than the 5D Mark II which is very impressive.   But for two grand you get a video system that is ready to go with the nice LCD swivel and a quad mic.  The 7D is about $400 less but you need to buy a decent mic ($150) and if you will really be doing dedicated video  you would want to add the Zacuto Finder ($265) and you come out the same minus a nice LCD swivel.   So far on paper the VG10 looks like it is a great option for shooting video, Still shots at 14MP should be decent too.   We will have to wait till September when the hands-on reviews and tests start rolling in.  Feel free to leave your thoughts and predictions below.

Previews
Engadget had a brief hands on – generally quite positive review/preview.

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