Help, please BEFORE I Buy

[Phil Hanna]

I am about three days out from purchasing the Canon 7D. I looked hard at the 5D and could not justify the difference between the two cameras especially since I will use it to shoot mainly video. So, here are my questions. Having the 7D, what would you guys say are must haves and knowing now what you do since having your 7D, what would you do differently? Also, what lenses would you buy and why ( I shoot a variety of videos some real estate that features interiors.) and also, I am concerned about audio, so what have you all discovered since the 7D audio is not all that great for pro video work, from what I hear? I have a nice smallHD monitor that I use on the EX-1 that I will use on this camera. No rail system but I have a GlideTrack and a nice Manfrotto HD tripod. Anything else or advice you can offer is greatly appreciated. Also, if you have a dealer recommendation I would like that as well. I have priced B&H and they are very professional and helpful, but price savings is important but not at the cost of paying the difference in the long run when I need service.

Regards,

Phil Hanna

[A.J. Aguirre]

here is what i have learned in my ventures

dont skimp on lenses, I got a tamron and other cheapos when i first started but your robbing yourself if you go that way, i personally think lenses is where all the money should go if you have the nice camera to feed them too. I only get L series lenses now for zooms, and for most primes if you can afford it, i have the 50 1.4 and its a beast even though its not an L, love it

and thats about it, looks like your all set with a monitor and everything

[Sigmund Reboquio]

youre pretty much set!
For the lens, since you are shooting interiors or landscapes, get a wide angle lens maybe 24mm canon. Or get the tokina 11-15mm.

If you want to go fancy, then jet a jib/crane.

[Mike Peterson]

I must disagree a bit with Mr. Aguirre. You need decent lenses but the resolution on these cameras in video mode make something like an L series moot. Also if your lenses are too sharp you will get MORE moire. You need FAST lenses, not necessarily sharp lenses.

[Mohammed Zaheer]

Did you say you shoot indoor real estate???

Please get the 5D, reason being its a FullFrame Camera and will give you the correct picture ratio, if you ge the 7D there is the crop factor of 1.6 so if you try to use a wide angle lense lets say 14mm to get a tight shot of the room, the crop on the 7d will actually make that 14mm lens a 22.4mm in reality.

7D is a great camera for the price just for what you are doing I recomend you look consider the above.

M. T. Zaheer

[Jon Braeley]

If you are on a budget trying to get into the 7D for the first time, it's important to get shooting asap - so buy the camera body only and then for $100 order the Canon 50mm 1.8 - it's a bargain and great for interviews, face shots.
Don't worry about Canon's L series lenses, unless you have a paying client and your final output will be in HD or cinema screen, which I doubt just yet. Do try and stay with fixed apertures at 2.8, even on zooms if you can afford this. The Canon or Tokina wide angles are good, the 50mm 1.8 and then a med. telephoto zoom 2.8 and you are all set with a basic lens kit. For real estate the Tokina 11-16mm is great and is a lens I also have.
I use the Zoom H4 for recording audio with xlr mics - then you can use the mics from your Ex-1 kit.
You don't need a viewfinder if you are using your small HD I guess.... so that's it.

[Mike Peterson]

One more thing, I got the Beachtek DXA-5D and a Rode VideoMic and love it. Juicedlink sells a AGC "disable" unit too which has been highly rated. Ether choice is a must in my book unless you want to deal with dual audio.

[Norman Pogson]

I like the Cineform Neoscene to transcode my raw footage to an .avi I also have the Canon 50 f1.4 and love it. I think the Zoom H4 recorder is a good fit with the 7D, lots of fellow shooters using it.

If low light performance is important to you, the 5D does better than the 7D, other than that I like the 60fps on the 7D.

[Khoi Pham]

Mohammed is right, if you do real estate, you want the 5D for full frame, if you get the 7D, the only good wide lens you can get is the Tokina 11-16 F2.8, and if you do indoor low light, the 5D is a little more than half a stop faster than the 7D and there are not much report of overheating with the 5D as 7D, those are some good reason to get the 5D over the 7D, I have 7D, T2i and if there are not any new cam coming out after NAB I will get the 5D for wide angle and as main camera, 7D and T2i will be for telephoto.(-:

[Bill Pryor]

I would go with the 7D if you're shooting primarily video. I've never experienced any problem with overheating. The 11-16mm Tokina is nice if you want really wide, but for most interiors I've shot, including in houses, the 16-50 Tokina does quite well. Both lenses are f2.8 all the way. There's also the Canon 17-55, f2.8, which is a more expensive but very nice lens. Tamron also has a good 17-50 f2.8. So there are lots of lens options to give you a wide enough lens for most of what you'll be doing in terms of video. If you're doing still photos where you don't pan or tilt, that would be a different story and the 5D would be more desirable. Another advantage of the 7D for your purpose is that the depth of field is not going to be so shallow that you'll have as much difficulty in overcoming it. I'd think for your application you would want more, not less, DOF.

As far as audio is concerned, if you're shooting dialog or interviews, do it double system with something like the Zoom H4N. I don't know anybody shooting professionally with either camera who uses in-camera audio for anything other than ambient background, although with the new 5D firmware upgrade you can actually control the gain. Still, you're stuck with a mini-plug for input. Much better to keep your audio professional, use XLRs and a decent recorder and mics.

You can't go wrong with B&H or Adorama. Both are excellent places, and both make returning items easy. For example, say you buy a lens and decide you should have bought a different one, put it all back in original packaging and follow the return directions and there's no problem. Both have good pricing as well. There are always cheaper places, but I wouldn't buy from them.

[Michael Murie]

My one suggestion would be to buy full frame lenses (whether or not it's L) rather than the APS-C lenses. You can take them on to a 5D - or whatever - if you upgrade at a later date.

[Phil Hanna]

Well, I am getting much closer and all of your information has been well received and most appreciated. Coming from video to stills again with a video component will be kind of a re-learning curve for me. Do you know of any video-based DVDs that can get me up and running fast? Doug Jensen's video on the EX-1 made getting up to speed easy.

Phil

[Jimmy Toha]

Hi Phil,

I'm in a similar boat as you, starting out with DSLR video shooting. Much much to learn.

One recommendation for the learning DVD is 'Philip Bloom's Learn to shoot great video on your 7D'. Very clear, informative and enjoyable to watch. The price can be a tad steep, but it's potentially a long-term investment.

Have fun :)

[Paul Joy]

Hi Phil.

You sound pretty sorted kit wise, you might need an on camera mic for the 7D and you'll obviously need things like spare batteries etc.

If interested i recently posted a huge writeup about my DSLR workflow which might help.

Canon DSLR interview workflow | Paul Joy

Have fun with your new kit

regards

paul.

[John C. Plunkett]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

I must disagree a bit with Mr. Aguirre. You need decent lenses but the resolution on these cameras in video mode make something like an L series moot. Also if your lenses are too sharp you will get MORE moire. You need FAST lenses, not necessarily sharp lenses.

I wholeheartedly agree. The faster the better.