SLR vs HD Camcorder

[orm]

If I were in your shoes and had the opportunity to dive almost everyday, a DSLR for video makes sense.

Well, we'll see. It will be interesting to see if this can perform on a daily basis in a commercial environment.

To be fair, I know pretty much 80% of my shots before I get in the water, so it's just going to be a matter of getting a good working exposure setup then getting that to work.

Plus there's also other elements that shooting with the HDSLR can bring to the table which I'm quite excited about. I love to experiment with the POV and angles, so we'll see what we can come up with, especially with a 15mm stuck on the front

 

[Tienuts]

To each his own. I respect your opinion. The items you list as having to live with, can end up in lost video footage. That is my main negative against DSLR for UW video use. As a vacation diver, my UW video opportunities are limited. I would rather have a quick easy to use system that maximizes my opportunity to capture quality footage.

I noticed you live in Riviera Maya. If I were in your shoes and had the opportunity to dive almost everyday, a DSLR for video makes sense.

I agree with you that in the end it's the quality of your video footage that matters.

I agree with ORM, when you use the auto settings, using dSLR for video isn't any more complicated than the compact camcorders.

I've shot both types extensively. The dSLR isn't any harder to use for a vacationing diver, and gives you room to grow, as well as having a great camera to use for topside shots.

 

[ronscuba]

Do you have any UW video footage from a DSLR you could show ? I haven't seen much.

 

[orm]

Do you have any UW video footage from a DSLR you could show ? I haven't seen much.

This was shot by Russ, from Backscatter. Shot on a 5D2. There's other footage in there also.

Dive Xtras - Dive Xtras

 

[ronscuba]

Nice video. The wide angle footage shot by the Backscatter guys is great.

 

[Tienuts]

Do you have any UW video footage from a DSLR you could show ? I haven't seen much.

Here's a perfect example - Here's a stupid little video we made of us goofing off with scooters. For this, I used a Canon 7d with Tokina 10-17 lens in a Nauticam Housing, and I also had a Sony CX520 with a bluefin housing and Fathom 90 lens. If you look carefully in the background you can see some shots of me shooting with it.

Conditions were harsh this day - bad vis and strong current. You'll notice that all of the footage in this video is from the 7d - the stuff I shot with the CX520 was not nearly as good, so I didn't use it. I had constant autofocus issues and white balance issues with the Sony, and because the Fathom 90 wasn't as wide, the vis made the footage look bad.

With the canon, I did one manual white balance when we got to depth, and left it in program mode the entire time.

YouTube - Fun with the Magnus 950

 

[Tienuts]

This was shot by Russ, from Backscatter. Shot on a 5D2. There's other footage in there also.

Dive Xtras - Dive Xtras

Yeah that Ginnie video is cool. Russ does some outstanding work with that 5dmk ii.

 

[bvanant]

If you are only interested in shooting wide angle stuff and have the Tokina 10-17 or the new Canon 8-15 (look here for some impressive video shot with a 7D and 5DMII)
Sample Movie
then a DSLR might be the way to go. On the other hand, if you shoot macro or behavioral stuff with small critters then the lack of autofocus will be a killer. My take is that for wide angle stuff or where you want to be able to selectively blur the background then the DSLR is the way to go. Otherwise I think for general purpose video shooting the traditional HD video cams with the appropriate housing is a far better and easier choice.
Bill

 

[ronscuba]

Here's a perfect example - Here's a stupid little video we made of us goofing off with scooters. For this, I used a Canon 7d with Tokina 10-17 lens in a Nauticam Housing, and I also had a Sony CX520 with a bluefin housing and Fathom 90 lens. If you look carefully in the background you can see some shots of me shooting with it.

Conditions were harsh this day - bad vis and strong current. You'll notice that all of the footage in this video is from the 7d - the stuff I shot with the CX520 was not nearly as good, so I didn't use it. I had constant autofocus issues and white balance issues with the Sony, and because the Fathom 90 wasn't as wide, the vis made the footage look bad.

With the canon, I did one manual white balance when we got to depth, and left it in program mode the entire time.

YouTube - Fun with the Magnus 950

Nice video. I've seen some impressive UW wide angle footage from the DSLR's. Haven't seen any really good UW standard or macro.

Shooting WA with your CX520, you might have better luck with manual focus locked around 3-4 ft. But like you said, it won't have the coverage of your Tokina 10-17.

That lens plus a good dome port would be the main reason I would bring my DSLR UW.

 

[orm]

Here's a perfect example - Here's a stupid little video we made of us goofing off with scooters. For this, I used a Canon 7d with Tokina 10-17 lens in a Nauticam Housing, and I also had a Sony CX520 with a bluefin housing and Fathom 90 lens. If you look carefully in the background you can see some shots of me shooting with it.

Conditions were harsh this day - bad vis and strong current. You'll notice that all of the footage in this video is from the 7d - the stuff I shot with the CX520 was not nearly as good, so I didn't use it. I had constant autofocus issues and white balance issues with the Sony, and because the Fathom 90 wasn't as wide, the vis made the footage look bad.

With the canon, I did one manual white balance when we got to depth, and left it in program mode the entire time.

YouTube - Fun with the Magnus 950

Haha! That's was fun.