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Best DSLR Camera for 1080p Video recodring?

post #1 of 30
1/20/11 at 10:54pm
Thread Starter 
Hello guys, I would really like to know which DSLR camera is best capable of HD 1080p shooting?

I understand that most cameras have this feature but I would like your help to decide on which DSLR camera has the best features and quality for shooting 1080p videos.

I'm going out of country and I'll be visiting interesting places and reuniting with old friends. So I need a camera that is capable of shooting awesome video as well.

My budget is $1000 and I'll need something that works well in low light because chances are I'll be shooting videos at night as well. So I don't want the videos to be grainy and full of noise.

Thanks you
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post #2 of 30
1/21/11 at 12:25am
It's probably impossible to find what you want new for a $1000. The best dslr for video most people will tell you is the Panasonic gh2($1499 retail), which is impossible to find now anyway. For the money my guess would be a used hackable gh1. I'm speaking purely based on what I have read, I plan to buy the gh2 when it becomes available.
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post #3 of 30
1/21/11 at 12:29am
Also, if you want extreme lowlight performance regardless of which dslr you choose you'll probably want to invest in a fast lens some of those can cost between $700-$1000 themselves.
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post #4 of 30
1/21/11 at 12:37am
It depends on what you class as awsome footage, i had a canon T2i/550D pal and now a pana GH2,footage wise the canons color was lovely which i have yet been able to quite match with the GH2, the GH2 is sharper for sure if you like sharp images, low light the canon just edges it but that is only going by the lenses i have used.The GH2 has many more options like revolving lcd [but the 60D has that]the GH2s auto focus that is not bad outdoors, with canon slrs its realy manual with video, i miss the the 50P pal frame rate most the GH2 50i or 24P which i do not like ,there are things like sound bars and adjustable sound on the GH2 which the T2i never had i am not sure about the 60D.It may be best if you select some models and google up reviews and tests.
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post #5 of 30
1/21/11 at 3:26am
For that cash Canon T2i.

But best is relative. D90, 5D mk II, and other early generation ones which you might get used for $1K, but when they were new, closer to $3K. T2i for a scaled down version of the 5D mk II. GH1, GH2, and other offerings now. Sony has a camcorder that uses interchangeable lenses now. Not that it records anything special frame rate or bitrate wise. Lots of options depending on what you want your minimum specs to be. But best the 5D mk II is still king low light wise. And 22MP images have their uses too. But still close to $3K afaik. Especially if you factor in the fast memory cards you need to use them. And any after market lenses. And still lacking a few auto (or manual) things in video mode.
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post #6 of 30
1/21/11 at 6:09am
For the money most would argue that the gh2 is hands the best bang for the buck as far as dslr video performance. If moire and aliasing are important skip the the low model canons. The d90 is terrible for video. Check out the low light comparisons between the gh2 and the 5d mk II on vimeo. With comparable f-stop and iso settings the gh2 is better. You can have a lot shallower dof on the mk II due to the larger sensor. If auto focus is important again the gh2 has the best of any dslr as close to a camcorder as you can get at this time while using the kit lens. If continuous record time is important it's the gh2 again, there is no time limit you can record until the card is full (30 mins pal version) only 12 min clips on the mk II.

These are some of the reasons why most people say the gh2 is better. In the right hands any piece of equipment can produce amazing results, that same equipment can also produce junk, but all things being equal the gh2 has several advantages.
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post #7 of 30
1/21/11 at 10:22am
Thread Starter 
Hey guys thanks for the input!!

I am looking into Canon 60D. Here is the amazon link.

Also Kent_man I couldn't find a proper link on Amazon for GH2. would you mind showing which exact model you are referring to? I don't want the body, I want the camera with a standard lense.

Also I will check out the comparison video.

And guys,

I was looking at the specs of Sony HDR-XR550V and it says that it has "back-illuminated "Exmor R" CMOS sensor." Are the sensors in DLSR better, same or worse than Exmor R" CMOS sensor like in this camcorder?

I'm still getting a DSLR but wanted to know if there was a match for that camcorder.

Thanks!
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post #8 of 30
1/21/11 at 10:38am
The GH2 with Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 will shoot in much lower light than any consumer camcorder and beats the Canon 5D MK2 with 50mm F1.2L in low light since the DOF is too shallow for many scenes @F1.2. The 4/3rds sensor is the sweet spot for 1080p video because it has just the right amount of DOF in low light IMHO. On a $1,000 budget you could get the GH1 with 14-42mm IS lens and 20mm F1.7 along with a fast 32GB SDHC card.

GH1 video:
http://vimeo.com/14839484
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post #9 of 30
1/21/11 at 2:54pm
Here is the link to the GH2 at amazon. But this one is with the 14-42 lens which isn't the greatest lens. If you are going to only have one lens the 14-140 lens is the best all around and has silent auto focus for use with video.

Here is the GH2 at provantage. I haven't used this place, but heard about it on dvxuser. This is the best price so far with the 14-140 lens.

Both of these options are pointless at this point because the GH2 is still backordered.
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post #10 of 30
1/21/11 at 9:00pm
The point is to get on some ones order list to secure a place in the queue. It looks like Provantage are calling it a 6-business day backlog. When you put the order in the cart a popup gives the expected back order wait.

I guess I'm lucky as I have to pay off the new Xmas computer first.

=D~~ Kilted
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post #11 of 30
1/21/11 at 10:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kilted View Post

The point is to get on some ones order list to secure a place in the queue. It looks like Provantage are calling it a 6-business day backlog. When you put the order in the cart a popup gives the expected back order wait.

I guess I'm lucky as I have to pay off the new Xmas computer first.

=D~~ Kilted

I hope the prices come down some once this thing stays in stock.
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post #12 of 30
1/21/11 at 11:07pm
Like the GH1, it's going to be a while until you see the price drop.


Panasonic really has very bad marketing. They won't give too many units especially to the US possibly because of the week dollar but people will look elsewhere.

If it's a stock issue, then they should have known well beforehand a lot of people were going to buy it the first few months and be more prepared.

It's not only the GH2 and GH1, this also happened to the LX3, GF1 and the 20mm lens when they first came out.

Canon, Sony and JVC for example does not usually have these issues. Sometimes I just can't understand Panasonic.
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post #13 of 30
1/22/11 at 12:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulo Teixeira View Post

Like the GH1, it's going to be a while until you see the price drop.

Panasonic really has very bad marketing. They won't give too many units especially to the US possibly because of the week dollar but people will look elsewhere.

If it's a stock issue, then they should have known well beforehand a lot of people were going to buy it the first few months and be more prepared.

It's not only the GH2 and GH1, this also happened to the LX3, GF1 and the 20mm lens when they first came out.

Canon, Sony and JVC for example does not usually have these issues. Sometimes I just can't understand Panasonic.

Yeah it really infuriates me. It really makes no sense for the company to repeatedly make the same mistake. Some potential customers may buy other brands instead. If I wasn't so impressed by the gh2 I would boycott it.
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post #14 of 30
1/22/11 at 12:36am
By the time this thing is in stock, something else will be superior for cheaper. I have had an order in for 1.5 months and nothing yet!
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post #15 of 30
1/24/11 at 9:21pm
I ordered my Pansonic GH2 on December 22 from Amazon. It shipped last Thursday and finally arrived today

Vincent
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post #16 of 30
1/25/11 at 5:04pm
I have had a CANON 60D for 3months now - no regrets.

I am so impressed with this CAMERA I have also bought >$3500+ worth of glass.

My only disappointment was a 20mm F1.8 Sigma lens (rubbish).

The 60D has better low light performance (much clearer @ ISO 3200) than the GH2.

In addition, there are over 150 different lenses specifically made for the CANON (not counting all the others that work with adapters). Lens choice is huuuge for the CANON, and with the massive CANON user base, lenses are critically reviewed - usually by two (ore more) different independent technical reviewers.

You will easily be able to find the lens you want for the CANON.

Also, lens adapters are available with built in ROM that will let most of the other lenses ever made work with, and talk to (in a basic way) the CANON camera.

So, given that the CANON has better low light performance, and has the greatest lens choice by far, and can record @ 1080P 25fps & 30 fps (the Nikon 7000 cannot do this) - then I think the choice is clear.

Example1: Last weekend I was smooth panning a 100KMH+ jetski from the river bank with a CANON 300mm USM IS lens + CANON 2x converter making a total of 600mm !! and I was able to keep the jetski smoothly centred in the frame (often filling the frame). I am totally impressed with CANON's 2mode Image stabilising - the auto motion detection allowed horizontal panning whilst eliminating vertical shake. Very, VERY impressive. CANON has catered to the pros for a very long time and has this technology - don't fight it, get on board and don't miss out by jumping on the wrong horse !!

Phill Bloom is right (read his blog), the CANONs have better image quality than the GH2.
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post #17 of 30
1/26/11 at 4:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jogiba View Post

The GH2 with Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 will shoot in much lower light than any consumer camcorder and beats the Canon 5D MK2 with 50mm F1.2L in low light since the DOF is too shallow for many scenes @F1.2. The 4/3rds sensor is the sweet spot for 1080p video because it has just the right amount of DOF in low light IMHO. On a $1,000 budget you could get the GH1 with 14-42mm IS lens and 20mm F1.7 along with a fast 32GB SDHC card.

GH1 video:
http://vimeo.com/14839484

One big problem with the GH2 though is that it's nearly impossible to shoot fast and wide angle with a that will match a 5D Mark II in low light or even the T2i. It's 2x crop vs full frame for the 5D Mark II and 1.6x crop for the T2i.

The Gh2 and hacked GH1 are great for fast telephoto, but fast wide angle for low light shooting is very difficult on the Gh2.
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post #18 of 30
1/26/11 at 4:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pepster returns View Post


My only disappointment was a 20mm F1.8 Sigma lens (rubbish).


This is sad news for me. I was wanting to get this lens for low light wide angle shooting using my T2i. What is wrong with it? It has a high rating and good reviews overall. Is is it possibly you just got a bad one from the batch? I've heard they aren't all equal.

I need something wide though in the F1.8 range for low light shooting, but if I can do much better at F2.8, maybe I could add light somehow instead.
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post #19 of 30
1/26/11 at 6:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTyson View Post

One big problem with the GH2 though is that it's nearly impossible to shoot fast and wide angle with a that will match a 5D Mark II in low light or even the T2i. It's 2x crop vs full frame for the 5D Mark II and 1.6x crop for the T2i.

The Gh2 and hacked GH1 are great for fast telephoto, but fast wide angle for low light shooting is very difficult on the Gh2.

The 14-35mm F2.0 4/3rds sensor zoom would work great with the Gh2 in low light IMHO.


I used F2.8 to shoot this low light video with my GH2 and Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 :


I shot the same video @ F0.95 and 3200 iso instead of F2.8 and 1600 iso just to see how it compared and I have not seen any 60D video that bright in low light. Go get a Canon 50mm F1.0 and put it on the 60D and shoot at 3200 iso and post it to Vimeo or youtube.


BTW with the larger sensor you get screwed using fast lenses in low light because your DOF is too shallow wide open for some scenes and you need to close the aperture to get the DOF but you loose light gathering ability so the 4/3rd sensor is the sweet spot for HD video IMHO.
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post #20 of 30
12/8/12 at 11:20pm
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post #21 of 30
12/9/12 at 2:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pepster returns View Post

I have had a CANON 60D for 3months now - no regrets.


I am so impressed with this CAMERA I have also bought >$3500+ worth of glass.


My only disappointment was a 20mm F1.8 Sigma lens (rubbish).


The 60D has better low light performance (much clearer @ ISO 3200) than the GH2.


In addition, there are over 150 different lenses specifically made for the CANON (not counting all the others that work with adapters). Lens choice is huuuge for the CANON, and with the massive CANON user base, lenses are critically reviewed - usually by two (ore more) different independent technical reviewers.


You will easily be able to find the lens you want for the CANON.


Also, lens adapters are available with built in ROM that will let most of the other lenses ever made work with, and talk to (in a basic way) the CANON camera.


So, given that the CANON has better low light performance, and has the greatest lens choice by far, and can record @ 1080P 25fps & 30 fps (the Nikon 7000 cannot do this) - then I think the choice is clear.


Example1: Last weekend I was smooth panning a 100KMH+ jetski from the river bank with a CANON 300mm USM IS lens + CANON 2x converter making a total of 600mm !! and I was able to keep the jetski smoothly centred in the frame (often filling the frame). I am totally impressed with CANON's 2mode Image stabilising - the auto motion detection allowed horizontal panning whilst eliminating vertical shake. Very, VERY impressive. CANON has catered to the pros for a very long time and has this technology - don't fight it, get on board and don't miss out by jumping on the wrong horse !!


Phill Bloom is right (read his blog), the CANONs have better image quality than the GH2.

It also has bad M & A and very low resolution video compared to the GH2.Having owned 550D/T2i the difference is staggering.

Regarding low light lenses the 20mm f1.7 is cheap and a good low light and overall sharp lens.
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post #22 of 30
12/9/12 at 6:25am
The GH2 and GH3 are still tops in their price range.


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post #23 of 30
12/9/12 at 9:19am
Easily
http://vimeo.com/42107369#at=0
http://vimeo.com/54076272#at=0
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post #24 of 30
12/14/12 at 5:51am
Nikon has lowered the price of the full frame D600 with 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Lens by $700 so this will be the first FF HDSLR with 24-85mm Kit lens under $2,000.
Quote:
Cinema-Quality HD Video Projects Shoot 1080p HD videos with selectable frame rates of 30p, 25p or 24p and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression. Bend time with 720p HD at 60p, 50p or 30p for ultra-smooth video playback of fast moving subjects, or create slow-motion footage during post processing. Maintain your creative vision with full-time AF with face-priority and subject tracking, dedicated inputs for a stereo mic and headphones, still image exporting, and much more. Enhance all that with the dramatic perspectives and depth-of-field control of NIKKOR interchangeable lenses. Note that while shooting in D-movie mode, aperture cannot be controlled manually.


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post #25 of 30
12/14/12 at 6:33am
Hi jogiba - the D600 is a fine still camera, $1997 is a great price for a full frame camera with lens, and it shoots impressive video in short bursts, but...

Be careful when recording images with brickwork, shingled roofs or patterned fabrics, or, sadly, you'll get moire like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMLkdrAw24U

or this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUNefqHGVFA

And use caution when shooting events, because it will quit recording after 29 minutes and 59 seconds.

And, of course, its viewfinder stops working in video mode.

With those minor exceptions, it's a great camera for stills and video.

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution
Edited by brunerww - 12/14/12 at 6:41am
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post #26 of 30
12/14/12 at 7:16am
I have the Panasonic TM700, GH2 and full frame Sony NEX-VG900 as my main cameras for shooting video.





Edited by jogiba - 12/14/12 at 7:36am
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post #27 of 30
12/14/12 at 10:59am
I believe that price is only good until tomorrow. Hmm how to convince the wife? Beg for forgiveness I suppose
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post #28 of 30
12/14/12 at 4:12pm
Adorama has refurbished D800s for $2,299.99.
http://www.adorama.com/INKD800R.html?utm_term=Other&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=rflaid65093
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post #29 of 30
12/14/12 at 4:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chevypower View Post

I believe that price is only good until tomorrow. Hmm how to convince the wife? Beg for forgiveness I suppose

Costco has a D600 twin lens kit :
http://www.costco.com/Nikon-D600-Full-Frame-DSLR-Camera-2-Lens-Bundle.product.100012382.html
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post #30 of 30
12/15/12 at 10:22pm
That's a really good deal too. I have a 28-300 ready for the D600 so I would sell the 24-85 if I get that deal, which should bring my cost down to about $1500.
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