Which is the better travel options...IS or shake?

Figuring I might have some off the cuff videos to capture on my next vacation where I don't feel like always having a tripod on hand and don't want to bring an external microphone..what is the best way to capture video with my DSLR?

1. IS - Obviously I'll have the sound of the IS picked up by the microphone. Not sure if there is a good way to filter this out.

2. No IS - I'll have camera shake but no IS noise. Perhaps I can use a video editing program to stabilize the image?

3. Use a P&S stupid - IS noise isn't picked up by mic but video quality suffers.

P&S HD video will look fine in good light. Anything less than good light and the video quality will suffer exponentially as it gets darker. IS shouldn't be entirely too noisy on your DSLR, but that will depend on the lens because some have noisy IS, some don't. Most vacation video usually has a music track so the camera mic isn't needed (aside from perhaps a few clips that involve talking, laughing, or something like that which is personal and adds to the feel or experience).
Your 7d and 17-55 should give you great video (wider FLs benefit from hand held IS than longer FLs). Your strap will help you as well. Hold the camera out, away from your body and use the tension of the camera strap to help steady the camera. If you can lock your elbows to the side of your body as well, it will give you more stabilization.
This is vacation, enjoy yourself first, then get the video second, worry about shake later

You'll need an external mic if you want decent video. Fact of DSLRs.

BrickR wrote in post #13258924
P&S HD video will look fine in good light. Anything less than good light and the video quality will suffer exponentially as it gets darker. IS shouldn't be entirely too noisy on your DSLR, but that will depend on the lens because some have noisy IS, some don't. Most vacation video usually has a music track so the camera mic isn't needed (aside from perhaps a few clips that involve talking, laughing, or something like that which is personal and adds to the feel or experience).
Your 7d and 17-55 should give you great video (wider FLs benefit from hand held IS than longer FLs). Your strap will help you as well. Hold the camera out, away from your body and use the tension of the camera strap to help steady the camera. If you can lock your elbows to the side of your body as well, it will give you more stabilization.
This is vacation, enjoy yourself first, then get the video second, worry about shake later

I was thinking specifically there might be some impromptu singing to capture in WDW...I know I can hear the 17-55mm IS on the internal speaker.

Again, I'm not looking for perfect audio as that's not my goal of going to WDW, but having a nice capture of some moments without hearing the whirring of IS would also be nice. Just don't know if I should turn it off or not...don't want to make the wrong choice.

If sound is going to be a consideration get yourself a Zoom or Tascam recorder. The base level options are very cheap. You could have a day playing getting ambient sounds then as well then.

If you don't use stabilisation of some sort (IS, a mono pod, a small tripod, a clamp) you will regret it once you come to the edit.

John Sims wrote in post #13260394
If sound is going to be a consideration get yourself a Zoom or Tascam recorder. The base level options are very cheap. You could have a day playing getting ambient sounds then as well then.

If you don't use stabilisation of some sort (IS, a mono pod, a small tripod, a clamp) you will regret it once you come to the edit.

Does the Tascam pick up the sound of IS or does it stay pretty directional to avoid this? What are the pros and cons of the Tascam vs. a rode mic?

The main advantage of the Tascam or Zoom is you can plug in some earphones and hear what is being recorded. After that, because it is small/portable/remote of the camera you have greater control of how it receives the sound - you can place it closer to the sound source, you can snuggle it down in its own little wind shielded environment, you can use it as you would a mic or plug in a separate mic. The remote recorder will give you a choice of recording quality for audio, the camera doesn't.

A Rode Videomic will give better sound than the in camera mic but is a bit of a blind alley IMHO. It is almost the worst of all worlds. It is an expense but doesn't gain you much. It is still camera mounted so doesn't address the most effective way of improving audio - get the mic closer to the source. While you can use it off the camera, on an extension lead, its configuration isn't well suited to that use. And you still can't hear what is being recorded real time.

A Rode shotgun mic (other manufacturers are available) will pick up better sound than the camera mic but you can't hear it until you play it back off the camera, so you can't monitor it real time.

The downside of a remote recorder is it is another piece of equipment to deal with (but so is a shotgun mic) and you will have to synchronise the sound in edit.

At the bottom of the remote recorder scale, The Tascam DR05 seems better made than the Zoom H1, and was cheaper in my case, but the mic alignment isn't as good so doesn't record with the on unit mics as well IMHO. After that I would probably jump all the intermediate options and go for a Zoom H4N or Tascam DR100 which have proper XLR mic ins with phantom power and would cover all you sound recording needs south of spending £1000 or more.

The DR05 or Zoom H1 are great first steps but you will ultimately want something more. They are cheap though so not a bad starting point if you are happy to consider them consumables. You would recover a good % of their meagre cost on eBay but, on the other hand when you upgrade, they would make fine secondary recording units . The down side of them is they only have baby stereo jack inputs (like on the camera). The DR05 does have plug in power for the mics (according to the instructions) but I haven't tested that, so may be able to accept hi end mics with a 1/4" to XLR adaptor.

There is an interesting piece of kit from Beachtech link here which addresses the Phantom power, monitoring and a number of other issues which would allow you to record the signal from a higher quality mic/mics direct to the camera. This may, or may not, be of interest. In my limited experience I see its only advantage (over a higher quality remote recorder) is it is synchronised on the camera. The down side is you are limited by the audio recording quality inherent with the camera.

John, that's an interesting bit you found there from Beachtech. I have had a little experience with some Beachtech devices in the past. Overall they are fairly decent quality wise. Sometimes they are a bit noisy for what I like to consider a reasonable signal to noise ratio, but in this case, it's probably a great little option depending on the price of the unit. It certainly answers a lot of issues with recording straight to camera. Next he'll need a decent shotgun mic and a wireless system and he's off.

But like other said above, keep it simple, you are on vacation. Maybe the easiest thing you could pack in your luggage is a simple monopod with a good ball-head. Forget the crazy audio stuff and have some fun! That would take care of a lot of your IS noise related issues. Turn the IS off and use the mono-pod. That and a good music bed and you are really off to enjoying your vacation and your edit later.

Have fun!

Found this set of videos which I thought was interesting.

http://vimeo.com/53708​80

Seemingly the Beachtech didn't fair that well. It was interesting that, using the same mics, the recording quality was very different from the different pieces of equipment. I didn't notice a reference to what file format they used for each test, whether this was equal or not though.

I'm not keen an the latter piece of kits seeming reliance on Magic Lantern.

Either way it seems you can't go wrong with a Zoom 4N.