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 17-50MM F2.8 EX DC OS HSM

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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Comparing Three Popular DSLRS in the $800 – $1800 Range

Canon T2i – $899, Body only $799 | 18MP | 1080p @ 30fps | 29min 59 sec or 4GB movie clip limits |  9 point focus | 3.7 fps| 95% Pentamirror | 3″  1,040,000 pixels LCD | 18.7 ounces

My thoughts: offers all the video capabilities of the 7D at ~$800 less, SD Card memory(cheaper than the compact flash used by 7D), smaller/lighter body (some may not like the feel).  You lose the faster FPS of the 7D, the more precise AF abilities of 7D, and D90, the wireless flash control and a highly customizable control scheme.  Bottom line – this is more than enough camera for most folks. If you are primarily looking for a video camera I see little to no reason to buy the 7D over the T2i.  Put the dollars you save buying the T2i toward a nice lens. Note: as of May 04 the T2i is out of stock on Amazon and most reputable resellers so there is a bit of price gouging happening.

DPReview says: Quite simply, taken as a whole, it is the best camera of its class that we’ve ever seen, and one of those rare cameras that won’t look out of date in a couple of years’ time. (April, 2010)

Canon 7D – Body only $1599 | 18MP | 1080p @30fps | 29min 59 sec or 4GB movie clip limits |  19 point focus | 8.0 fps | 100% Pentaprism | 3″  920,000 pixels LCD | 28.9 ounces

Offers excellent ergonomics in weatherized body and control scheme that is highly customizable, external mic port for high quality sound, wireless flash control (allows remote triggering of 430ex and 580ex flashes), bright viewfinder(absolute pleasure to look through) with 100% coverage, battery life is approx 1000 shots

My thoughts: if you are making money from photography gigs, especially ones where you plan to use off camera flashes or are shooting sports and need the faster FPS you should consider  this camera, it is a stellar camera but it is hefty and solid and most folks reading this would be better off buying T2i and putting the savings toward lenses.

DPReview says: It offers excellent image quality in all shooting situations and an impressive speed of operation, combined with very good build quality and ergonomics. Both its specification and the results of our testing make it a very easy recommendation. (November, 2009)

Nikon D90 – w/ 18-105 lens $1021, Body only $749 | 12.3MP | 720 @ 24fps | 5min clip limits | 11 point focus | 4.5FPS | 96% pentaprism | 3″  920,000 pixels LCD | 21.8 ounces

My Thoughts: The D90 is an excellent photographic camera and the body only price is an amazing value. If you already have Nikon lenses it is a no brainer of an upgrade.  The build quality and ergonomics sits between the T21 and the 7D.  Where the D90 falters is video, Video is max 720 resolution, no external mic port, clips are limited to 5 minutes (which isn’t as bad as you might think) and video suffers from the jelly effect (straight lines look wavy when the camera is in motion) more than the T2i or 7D

DPReview says: After using and testing the D90 extensively, it’s hard to think of a better enthusiast-level camera. (October, 2008)

Which one should you get?

T2i unless you have specific and justifiable reasons for the 7D. D90 if you have Nikon lenses or have friends/family with nikon lenses you can borrow.

Want cheaper options? Read my Short/Sweet DSLR Guide

Need some lens recomendations? Read My Canon Lens Guide | Nikon Lens Guide [coming soon]

Feel free to leave comments or your thoughts.

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Two options I recommend

The Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Excellent lens but you will need to get pretty close to your subject

The Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro More reach, you won’t need to get as close but a little more limited in use and more expensive

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A few days ago I mentioned “tagging” when announcing the release or Aperture 3. If you are not already taking the time to add keywords (aka tagging) to your images please take a few moments and think ahead 5 years when you want to find that photo of susie when she was blowing out the candles at her 3rd birthday. I would use the following keywords: susie, susie3, cake, birthday.

Iphoto, Aperture, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Picasa and other programs allow you to easily add keywords to your images and once those go online the popular photo sites all allow search and sort by keywords. It is well worth the time invested. You may not consider the amount of photos you have now to be overwhelming but the numbers will only continue to grow, you will only continue to get more forgetful and the technology that will allow searching and sorting based on keywords is only going to get better – No reason not too in my mind.

Leave a comment with your thoughts on tagging. Look for a short How-to video on using Lightroom to efficiently tag large groups of images.

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It is hard for me to type T2i, its predecessor the T1i was just starting to feel natural and here, less than a year later, we have the follow up. Announced today and shipping in early March the T2i looks on paper to be an amazing camera at an equally amazing price. So much so folks are wondering where the rumored to be announced soon 60D will sit. The Rebel line has been Canon’s entry level line since 2003 with their introduction of the 300D, nearly seven years later the T2i takes that entry-level moniker and stands it on its head offering a very serious camera under $900.

Updated: DPreview has the following summary line – Quite simply, taken as a whole, it is the best camera of its class that we’ve ever seen, and one of those rare cameras that won’t look out of date in a couple of years’ time.

(more…)

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Here it is. . .

Full written review is coming soon along with a gallery of sample images.

Enjoy and remember to friend me on Facebook

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