7D video and no continuous AF?

[RDKirk]

Originally Posted by apersson850

As far as I've understood, professional video cameramen don't move the camera while shooting as much as the amateurs do. They also have handles and grips which allow easy manual focus while shooting.

But I'm no big video movie maker, so somebody else may know this better?

They also don't do much automatic focusing, so professionals don't find the "shortcomings" of DSLR video as serious problems.

An entire cottage industry has sprung up suddenly of professional attachments to fit the 5D2 to niche uses in professional videography--at their level of economics, the 5D2 is practically an impulse purchase. If they use five minutes of 5D2 video in a professional production, it's been more than worth purchasing the camera.

[Skippy29]

Originally Posted by mikeassk

f/8

Well said.

[neurorog]

Another reason the videos from professionals look stunning is editing. If you take a 12min clip, realize that there may be 1-2 min of usable footage. If I take the family on a week vacation, I may take 90 min of video that is then edited into a 8-10 min movie.

As far as the issue of catching your daughter dancing, remember the resolution of the video is significantly less than your stills, creating the impression of more depth of focus than you are used to. If you want to catch every move on video at 1080p, step back, stop down, and you should be fine. Though with proper editing, capturing someone moving either in or out of focus is a wonderful technique -- something that the 5DII video professionals have used repeatedly.

[Tom W]

Originally Posted by BigBlueDodge

Now you know the dirty little secret all of the slr video proponents aren't speaking about. Now you understand why 99% of the video's floating around from 7D/5D MKII are from a camera setting on a tripod prefocused to specific spot. Video on my 5D MKII is great if I can convince my daughter to stand still and not move, but if she moves around, well then you can forget about it. I'll get great some incredible 1080p footage of an out of focus subject.

I'd say get used to manual focusing, and looking at the LCD hoping that you are in the ballpark.

I don't think it's much of a secret.

I don't do a lot of video yet, primarily because I'm almost clueless about video. But I did find that being able to use manual settings helped immensely when handholding and shooting video. I can set a small-enough aperture to get reasonable depth-of-field. I set the ISO to auto, and set a shutter speed that puts me in the middle of the ISO range - say, 400 or so. That way, the camera can automatically adjust exposure without messing with my aperture.

Focusing is difficult, especially handheld. I did get a helpful tool - the hoodman - so that I can hold the camera up to my face while shooting video. It does make it feasable to zoom and focus "on the fly" without a tripod.

I can forsee a future when, in video or live-view mode, the image is superimposed in the viewfinder so that the camera can be held more steadily against the face. I can also see a day when sensor-based autofocus is improved to a level where it will be able to keep up somewhat with a moving subject while shooting video.

[bsmotril]

If the Live view AF mode is set to "Live" or Face mode, you can AF in the middle of shooting video on the 7D. But, it acts like single shot focus mode. Every time you re-frame to something of a different distance, you must press the AF button again.

[ief]

manual focus only and one of these; http://store.zacuto.com/Z-Finder.html ?

[JCL]

OMG!!! For that price, I can almost get another videocamera!

[jwcdds]

You're not a pro-dslr videographer until you get one.

[bohdank]

Buy a steadycam.... I don't think one can shoot good video without one unless you limit yourself to a tripod. A chunk of cash, though.