Pulling the wool over their eyes
 

I am in Israel just finishing up a one week shoot in Egypt and then here.

In Egypt, they get very unhappy if you pull out a video camera. I decided to take along my Canon 7D and a Canon HFS100 to shoot with instead of my EX1 that I usually use when shooting on this current project.

We did an interview on Thursday with the President of Al Azara, the most prominent Islamic University in the world. When we finished we decided to shoot at open for that segment in a small park right next to the Khan El Khaili, which is the tourist market.

We had to walk through a police check point to get into the park and they went nuts when they saw my tripod. They asked me if I had a video camera and I showed them the HFS100. They then told me I couldn't shoot video. I then held up the 7D and PROMISED them that I would only shoot with the 7D and not the HFS100. They were happy with that and let us into the park. I had to quickly hide the wireless on the host of the show so that he could walk off and get set up for the standup. I sat on the ground and acted like I was shooting stills of him while a policeman was about 30 ft away watching the whole thing.

I was waiting for him to come over and throw the cuffs on me!! We got the shot and quickly moved on.

The 7D surely does have its place when it comes to shooting video where you are not supposed to!!

Daniel Weber

Neat story Daniel! I wonder when it will be common knowledge that SLR-like cameras shoot video. With the "matte box" effect, camcorders seem to be easily recognizable, but it looks like for now, it goes the other way too!

I think it will take about 1 - 2 years and then they will be on to us. The main reason I went with the 7D on this trip was that the customs guys in Egypt are really bad about not letting in video cameras. They didn't even search my backback when I came into the country, so I could have brought the EX1, but I would have had a hard time shooting on the street.

Shooting with the 7D is a lot of fun, but there are times I still miss the form factor and all in one usefullness that the EX1 brings. Having to change lenses when you see a long shot that you want to get is a pain.

The images that you can get with the 7D are the trade off.

Daniel Weber

Have you mixed in footage from the HFS100 with the 7d ?

Not yet. This will be the first project to mix footage.

Daniel

An interesting story. Thanks, Daniel.

I own Vixia HFS10, which is a sister camera of your HFS100. I am planning to purchase Canon 7D. Can you, please, tell me if you could completely substitute your HFS100 with 7D video shots? Thanks.