New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

Hi all,

I tried posting this but I don't see it., I shoot tennis videos mainly. I shoot other sports videos like auto racing and landscape videos.
My current equipment is as follows....

Canon 60D with the ML firmware
Canon 10D
Sony FX 7 HDV Video camera
Lenses All Canon

18-200mm IS
28-80mm USM
100-300mm USM

My current workflow is shooting with the 60D and taking the SD card directly from my camera and importing my footage into my iPad Air. Then edit in Pinnacle Studio on my iPad and upload to Youtube. I don't want to loose this workflow it is so sweet. :-) There are other great apps that I use in my workflow that I will not get into here.

Here are my thoughts on what I am looking for in a new camera.....

What I like about the Sony Camera is the deep depth of field. Continuous AF.
This is what I love about my Canon 60D...
I love that it shoots in 1080p or 720p 60fps.
I love that it uses an SD card to record on instead of Mini DV tape.
I hate the Auto Focus in Movie Mode on the 60D. I love the Auto Focus in Still modes. Sometimes I will change to still mode focus and then switch back to movie mode. This is how much I hate focusing in Movie Mode.
I love the swivel out view screen on the 60D. There might be a few other items I am forgetting but these are the main ones.

Another think I love about my Sony camera is that I do not have to worry about where to focus in order to capture a good deep DoF. Like I do with my Canon 60D. I do adjust the Aperture on my 60D to F22 when I am shooting out doors. With my 60D I learned to shoot differently. Meaning to not Zoom very much. And use a lot more fads in my videos to compensate when I want to zoom into my subject.

Maybe I just need to practice more with my Canon 60D?
I do Like that I can shoot video and then quickly shoot stills with the same camera. But this is a secondary feature for me since I already have the 60D. My main concern is video shooting.

So, any thoughts will be appreciated,

PS my eye are not supper great so I would like a camera that can do the auto focusing for me in Movie Mode. My budget is probably around $1-2 thousand.

John Gerard

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

John get the 70d with STM lens they are quiet unlike other lens, if music going over all the footage then all lens will do. Touch screen brilliant fir focusing and depth of field and rack focus with ease. 70d really is the same as the 60d but better for video. At times it may struggle to adjust auto focus if there are lots of people close in the scene but sometimes I like the look that gives especially on a glide-cam.
There are lots of examples you tube ect where they show how good the auto focus is. Steve

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

You want deep dof, good autofocus and you have plenty of light to work with? Then a dslr is the wrong tool for the job, get a handicam style videocamera instead like a panasonic ag ac90 or a sony cx900, you will get better quality 50p as both can do that in 1080p and you get much better video functionality then on a dslr.

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

I have to agree with Noa.

If your goal is to shoot sports...and not miss important moments...DSLR's do not cut it.

You have to look more towards traditional style video cameras...which fit your budget.

Rapid zooms and still keeping focus, following ever changing action at various locations quickly, and again not missing important moments, these are what determine your choice of cameras.

You may think, briefly, audio does not matter but this is another pitfall of the DSLR. Plenty of time consuming work-arounds for audio for DSLR camera but...that is just a waste of your time.

I think it is a mistake for anyone shooting sports to rely on auto-focus. They will never be fast enough. You have to learn to do that yourself and not rely on the camera lens to do it for you.

You should get the right tool for the job to begin with.

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

That's one of the smartest things I've ever read on a forum....
Experience always trumps technology. Practice with what you have, if your eyes aren't that great for focus (I'm in the same boat) - spend some of your budget on a good loupe or EVF. there are a lot of guys shooting top level motorsports on APS-C/Super35 cameras pulling their own focus. You can too. When you can do that, then move up to anything else, any time, any place.

Just my two cents, owning a lot of cameras and having shot a lot of motorsports professionally. In car racing, there is a saying "until you can outdrive what you have, you don't deserve anything faster."

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

Hi Steve,

I you go to the Monterey Raceweek in August? I have been going almost every year since 2005. On my website Sleepingdogphotovideo.com I have links to a lot of he videos I shot over the years. The 2013 videos were shot totally with my Canon 60D. You can see viewing my video starting in 2005 how I have progressed over time in better equipment and technique in shooting. For the 2013 videos everything was edited on my iPad in Pinnacle Studio for the iPad.

John Gerard

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

H all,
Thanks for the thoughts. I agree learning to do anything manually first is he best practice. That why I started out making my own DoF and hyper-focal distance spreadsheets. Back when I used a Canon film camera. And then a ton of Practice writing Down every setting. Which you don't have to do anymore with digital. I have practiced a fair amount with my Canon 60D. But for tennis videotaping I still am not very sure how and where to focus to get the best image near and far. Half of my shooting is outdoors and half indoors.
With my Sony FX-7 video camera the focus worked great most of the time. Some times it would have a hard time focusing for 1-2 seconds. This allowed me to do more zooming than I do with my DSLR. I will try some more practice with my 60d. Such as zooming first then focus real fast, etc just to experiment.
As for the Sony camera I already have. Has anyone used the Hyperdesk Shuttle unit as a way to record to an SD card from my Sony Camera.
Also a camera store person reminded me of a raster focus unit for my tripod that would help keeping focus and zoom more or less in sink. What's your feeling on that option?

Thanks,

John Gerard
PS, I am writing this on my iPhone so please excuse any mistakes.

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

Hi all again,
I did some research on the Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 unit. It looks good. I would like a similar unit that could compress to h.264 format. I could go either way on whether the unit records to SSD OR SD card. As long as there is a way to copy from the SSD To an SD card. That would be the perfect unit for me if I could still connect via the HDMI port on my Sony Camera.
Anyone know of such a device.

John Gerard

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

John:

Is this correct? You can shoot 1080P at 60fps? Please explain. I was only aware of 30 and 24 with the 60D.

Thanks!

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

It can't do 1080p 60p, he probably meant it can shoot 1080p (30p) or 720p 60p.

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

No, I think you are confused with what I said. 720p 60fps not 1080p 60fps.

John

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

Hi all again,

I value all your comment and opinions. That said what do you guys think I would not like about getting the 70d as a. Upgrade. Is it that I stated I did not like the shallow DoF I have been doing a little more research. What I do love is that the 70d would "drop" right into my workflow. It looks like video camera at least the few I have see. So far shoot hc... Something format. The biggest issue for me is keeping with the mov/mp4 video format and being able to directly transfer the file directly into my iPad Air and start editing. No lengthy conversion time. And I don't need a computer as one extra step in my workflow. This is why I think (lower case think) meaning I am not set on it yet. Generally I love the 60D. What I don't like is the autofocus in video mode. I think this is usable at best. DoF was a concern but I could live with it. I can achieve good video if anyone has checked out my website sleepingdogphotovideo.com with the Canon 60d.

Thanks again for any comments,
John Gerard

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

John,

my issue with our 70Ds has been the lens noise when focusing, and the hunting/pecking, along with lens vibration. Now, I don't have the best lenses, so I don't know if the higher end lenses have more success. However, so far, the ONLY lens that was both quiet and smooth was the Canon 18-55mm STM f/3.5-4.6

I really want to test the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens, and a 70-200mm f/2.8

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

Thanks, did you try the canera kit lens 18-135mm comparing that to the 18-55mm? I am thinking of getting the 18-135mm kit if I get this Camera. I love the zoom range of the 18-200mm IS lens I have now. It sounds like they don't make this model as a new lens for the 70d.


John Gerard

Re: New Camera Purchase 70D or video camera
 

I am pretty sure I am getting the 70d. I like the fact that the 70d has a lot of the functionality with the Stock firmware as the 60d with Magic Lantern firmware. I have been playing with my 60D in AI Servo and AI focus modes to simulate what it might be like to use the 70D's Auto Focus mode in video mode. I think my 28-80mm older Canon USM lens seems a little quieter to me than my 18-200mm iS lens and not any slower. I also have the 100-300mm USM lens that if it turns out not to be to noisy and slow will use that lens as an extended telephoto lens for awhile. I wish canon had made a 18-200mm lens for the 70D. I like not having to switch lenses. For tennis video taping I don't need an extreme Telephoto. I really could use a super wide angle lens like a 14mm zoom. Something like a 14-55mm range or 14-85mm.

John Gerard