Anyone given up on the DSLR for event?

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by David Schmaus

I have not read all the threads but would like to gibe my experience. I am a newer shooter I have been shooting photographer (weddings) for 5 years. I started filming weddings this year because there was a need for a cinematic style edit in my market.

I would say except for the ceremony the 5dII really fits my needs. Now the ceremony is a whole different issue. It is extremely hard to cover the ceremony for me with DLSRs only. Mainly because of the 12 minute recording time. Partly because I am shooting with primes only. I am going to have to make a decision soon about what I want to do going forward.

A. Going have a trade in some primes for 70-200's and pickup a couple t3is for the sides. (The t3i's will restart the recording after the 12 minute mark with firmware hack).

B. Not sure yet. I think things are going to change a lot in the next 12 months

Just curious why you are/were shooting with all primes?

[David Schmaus]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

Just curious why you are/were shooting with all primes?

Wanted to update this thread also


I shouldn't be using all primes. I am a photographer and have been doing video for businesses for the last year. The primes are not a issue when producing a short business video.

I do need to let them go though... I am actually thinking about selling the 5dii + primes and buying 3 t3is with 24-70's. It pains me in a way but I have looked at Joel's stuff (weddingfilms.com) and it looks nice. He uses 3 or 4 t2is . The fact that I can hack the firmware and the t3i will automatically restart after it hits the 4 gig mark makes me happy. + 24-70 using x3 digital zoom gives me all the range I need.

[Scott Hayes]

dude, I have to jump in here. you are going to lose stops of light selling primes!! the zooms
are not fast enough indoors under low lights. You need at least a 50f1.4 in your bag. Definitely
have a 70-200, its flat out awesome for outdoor stuff and churches. the 24-70, I have it, it rarely
comes out of my bag. 24, 50 and 85 are my go tos, along with a tamron 11-16 on my 7D.

[David Schmaus]

Originally Posted by Scott Hayes

dude, I have to jump in here. you are going to lose stops of light selling primes!! the zooms
are not fast enough indoors under low lights. You need at least a 50f1.4 in your bag. Definitely
have a 70-200, its flat out awesome for outdoor stuff and churches. the 24-70, I have it, it rarely
comes out of my bag. 24, 50 and 85 are my go tos, along with a tamron 11-16 on my 7D.

My thoughts too and that why I have the 35 1.4 50 1.4 85 1.8 135 f2 BUT ever try filming @ less that f2 on a full frame camera at a wedding. It challenging to say the least.

Trust me I see your point. I am borrowing a friends t3i +24-70 next weekend and see how it works for me. I am thinking I can push iso 1250 30-50th 2.8.

We will see..

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by David Schmaus

I do need to let them go though... I am actually thinking about selling the 5dii + primes and buying 3 t3is with 24-70's. It pains me in a way but I have looked at Joel's stuff (weddingfilms.com) and it looks nice. He uses 3 or 4 t2is . The fact that I can hack the firmware and the t3i will automatically restart after it hits the 4 gig mark makes me happy. + 24-70 using x3 digital zoom gives me all the range I need.

It would be more useful & a little cheaper to get the EF-S 17-55mm IS lens which gives an approx 27-88mm full frame equivalent on the T3i/600D. The 24-70mm EF lens is the equivalent of about 38-112mm on an APS-C sensor.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Scott Hayes

dude, I have to jump in here. you are going to lose stops of light selling primes!! the zooms
are not fast enough indoors under low lights. You need at least a 50f1.4 in your bag.

You don't 'need' a 50 1.4 in your bag. I don't have one in mine. d;-)

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

You don't 'need' a 50 1.4 in your bag. I don't have one in mine. d;-)

Neither do I as I have a 50mm F/1.2:-)

[David Schmaus]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

Neither do I as I have a 50mm F/1.2:-)

Touche........

[Tariq Peter]

Hi Guys,

If there were a camcorder that produced the same quality as the 7D what would it be and how much would it cost?

[Scott Hayes]

look to the Sony FS100, F3 and Panny AF100. 4-13K plus lenses and adapters.

[Denny Kyser]

Too tired tonight to read all these responses, but will chime in.

I tried twice to go dslr, I loved the look and had 4 dslr's capable of doing video.

Not only was it so much more work and pressure during a wedding, the post production was a killer.
We went with 2 canon XF305's and not looking back.

If I want a special look, can grab a 1DIV and shoot something but so far, just do not find its that important.

Post production is so much easier now days.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Denny

I'm with you too!!! I do like the look and the DOF capabilities but on an "anything can happen next" event like a wedding there are plenty of times where I only have seconds to spring into action.

I do like the idea of using something like a 5DII where the scenes are staged and you have no time restraints. I was considering using a DSLR during the photoshoot but I do 99% on steadicam so I couldn't see any advantage with investing in complicated follow focus gear!!

Seriously during the more hectic moments you just don't have any time to play with focussing and being able to grab the camera that's on auto focus and just shoot is a huge advantage and far less stress!!

Chris

[Keith Betters]

I am stuck with a big decision to make at the current moment. I am about to invest into another camera, and I can't decide between the 5dii or the canon xf100. I shot a conference this week that was 3 hours long with 2 t2i's & 1 t3i. I am currently editing it right now and it is a monster with all the little 12 minute clips from 3 different camera angles. It took me 5 hours just to line up all the clips!

So now I'm really looking to invest into a camera that can record longer clips like a xa 10 or xf 100 but I really like the clarity and full frame of the 5d. I've seen alot of the really good wedding videographers using the 5d with awesome results. It's definitely a step up from the t3i, but dslr in general are tougher to shoot events with. However I should mention that majority of my business right now is weddings, so I tend to cater my equip more so around that.

So I guess I'm asking everybody which one I should get? Also, I post it here because i think that I want to really stop using dslr for events, its stressful not only to shoot with them, but post production is a beast and not fun at all!

[Michael Johnston]

I had the "luxury" of attending a wedding recently that I was not shooting. Refreshing to say the least. They did hire a videographer and sat there and watched 4 guys running around shooting with DSLR's and was just very thankful I never made that switch. One thing I noticed was how they were all scrambling around during the ceremony for different shots. Not a single camera stayed in place and rolled for the duration. That told me this couple was not going to have their complete ceremony as part of their video. Very sad. I consider that the most important part of any wedding video.

Funny thing was watching how frustrated these guys were getting at missing unexpected moments during the reception. Bride was getting frustrated at them because they kept asking the couple to re-enact what they should have caught in the first place. My wife at one point asked "why aren't they just shooting it when it happens?". My response was "because those cameras are a POS and not meant for this face paced shooting".

The bride was my wife's cousin and she came over to talk to us later that evening and said she was getting fed up with them. She said as long as they got the ceremony she'd let it go. When I told her they were all moving around and no way they shot the full ceremony she was pissed to say the least. I think it really ruined her night. I just had to sit back and laugh.

By the way, if you're wondering why I wasn't shooting it, it's because I had a corporate shoot earlier in the day and couldn't get there until the start of the ceremony and she wanted full coverage.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Denny Kyser

the post production was a killer.

Do you mean with the extra work when syncing separate audio recordings afterwards? Editing dslr footage is as easy as dealing with sd footage since I convert them to the edius hq avi codec and eventhough I often use up to 4 seperate audio recorders which I have to sync in post it would cost me the same amount of time if I would be using a real videocamera. For me at least post production has not been more difficult or demanding then back in the days where I used a dvx100. Only like Keith mentions when you do long multicam recordings the 12minute limit can cause a lot of extra work but to be honest, a dslr is the last tool I would use to do a long multicam shoot.