Seven Stones of Hordron Edge forum 4 room
Image by thesweetcheat
close
more_vert

terrybnd wrote:
No problem

I use a firmware hacked Canon 550D and a Canon HV20. I switch between the two as and when it suits when out in the field.

Needless to say I use the 550D for stills ;)

Ah right, so you're using both camcorder and DSLR. How do you find playback on the 550D compared to the dedicated HV20? I'm a bit downmarket from you with a Panasonic HDC SD80 but get excellent results with it.
My mate Simon Werry is an aerial photographer so you can imagine the gear he uses. He's away at the Olympics at the moment in his whirly-bird bringing us many of the aerials we are seeing daily for the BBC the jammy bugger!
I've been trying to pursuade him to shoot a vid of stone circles from the air. He's up for it but needs to persuade the BBC to put their hands in their pockets first!

Well, I know DSLR video is all the rage at the moment and understandably so. Large sensor for fab video at a low cost etc. But it's not without it's faults.

The practicalities of using one isn't ideal when compared to a dedicated video camera. Monitoring sound levels, use in terms of handling and so on.

Plus, DSLR video suffers terribly from moire and aliasing artefacts when dedicated video cams don't. It's to do with the sensor and in-house processing you see.

So, I tend to take advantage of both devices. And of course, they're ideal for me and my work because they're relatively small and light for backpacking out on the hills and moors.

Funny you should mention your friend with aerial video - I'd love some of that! I gave it a go hanging out of a microlight not so long ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR72m6Z0w9Y

The problem I encountered and didn't anticipate was my dedicated video camera suffered terribly from "jello". Rolling shutter it's called. The video appears to wobble like jelly due to micro high frequency vibrations of the aircraft.

Pain in the rear to be honest. But in a few weeks I'll be giving it a go with a gyrocopter which can fly much slower than a microlight and consequently shouldn't give me too many problems with vibrations on my kit.

I'm hoping to capture aerial video for a couple of commissions you see. I'd like to get the likes of Arbor Low in the Peak District from above and what have you.

We'll see anyway....