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Informed Purchase of HDLSR
  • divineworlddivineworld

    I've been following the HDSLR scene for a year now, and now I am puzzled more today than I was when I started out. My primary occupation is a director/editor at a news tv station in Malta,Europe but I started venturing in documentaries and productions as a side job for more than a year, at first I was eying the GH2. The footage I saw amazed me, but than moved to canon , for more practical options basically, I can't rely solely on hacked hardware. At first I was going to get a 600d but ended up getting a 60d, now I need another camera the third camera and was very interested in getting the 5D Mark II , but then the Mark III emerged!

    The many blogs I've been following, practically I browse trough all! Are saying something about the sharpness on the latest 5D, I wish to ask what does this mean is the footage to soft? , lacking detail or it's just a question of lack of detail in a pixel contest, by that I Mean it's at magnification that one can notice this lack of sharpness or it's all over the image!

    Also any idea about what starter lenses should I consider, what about primes does old glass resolve in better quality, or stick to modern primes, also what's a good starter light kit for a starter budget.

    Maybe if you get chance, I get some feedback

  • 2 Replies sorted by
  • peternappeternap

    @divineworld I'm fairly new to the GH2's so I'll let others talk about them. I came from Canon's and still use Canon Camcorders but have sold my MKII and 7 D. The soft you mentioned is just a lack of sharpness and it is a trait of the MKII's and it's inherent in the camera, not the lens.

    Doing Doc's your biggest enemy with Canon's is the time limit and sensor heating. The audio sucks too but that's true with all DSLR's IMO.

    I I advise you to get a camcorder for long interviews,etc and leave the DSLR's for the more creative shots.

    Just my opinion.

  • ZekoZeko

    If you follow @peternap 's opinion, which i think is rather accurate, i would recommend to read about the Canon XA10 (and it's higher end brethren) which features XLR inputs, or maybe the Sony VG20 (if you can handle your frustration at an irresponsive touch screen) :D

    Canon's and Sony's DSLR have indeed this sensor heating problem, and the time limit, which pushed a lot of people to convert to GH2.

    Otherwise look at the Nikon D800 (check the ability to crop the image, which can sharply reduce the lenses-budget, should the D800 have a better cropping than the GH2's Ex Tele Conv (which is good only at low ISO)).

    I read somewhere that Samsung was entering the game too... may be worth checking this out.

    (Unfortunately, Fujifilm is not, their X Pro 1 is average video, despite having the best photo image quality of all in its price category).

    And if you're doing studio work (with chromakeying), wait for the Black Magic Cinema Camera.

    IMO, the Canon 5D Mk3 is overpriced, and in fact, i'd call it "butt-between-two-chairs" (typical french expression : le cul entre deux chaises). Canon made a marketing miracle with their Mark2 + 7D, but failed a bit with the Mark3 because they had to downgrade it compared to the C300, yet keep the price high so as to continue selling Mark2's and 7D's. The Mark3 should be sold at 2500 euros, not 3300.

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