7D a couple of questions

EMA747

EMA747

Messages
2,070
Name
Andy
Edit My Images
Yes
I am still evaluating the 7D as an upgrade from my 400D. I am still mainly thinking 7D over 50D for the addition of video mode.

Question - Say I have a 4GB CF card in the camera. How many minutes of video can I shoot?

Another question - Does the 7D have time-lapse controls? Does the 50D as well? I like doing time-lapse but don't really want to have one of those remote time-lapse controllers as it's another thing to lug around and more wires etc to plug in.
 
Andy, I can't help with the video other than the info in the manual, which is as follows-all for 4 gig card.

1920x1080 and 1280x720=12 mins
640x480=24 mins.

Time lapse can as far as I'm aware only possible with the TC-80 N3 controller, which is quite expensive although there are alleged non OE ones available for around 20 quid or so.

I can vouch however for the TC-80, it's very versatile.

George
 
Personally i find video mode no problem ,ok its best to use manual focus but if you can be bothered ,it really isnt that hard,plus its a fantastic quality
 
Compared to an HD Camcorder it is much harder to get decent footage out of the 7D. Ultimately the 7D can produce better images than most non-professional camcorders (due to lens choice), but you must put a lot of effort in. I find it impossible to keep focus on moving objects such as in football and basketball. My HF100 camcorder nails AF all the time.

If you only intend to shoot stationary subjects the 7D is fine for a novice (like me). Otherwise, manual focus is extremely difficult given the small LCD screen you have to go by.

My advice is do not buy a 7D (or any other dslr) for video. Buy it for photos.
 
Orville said:
Compared to an HD Camcorder it is much harder to get decent footage out of the 7D. Ultimately the 7D can produce better images than most non-professional camcorders (due to lens choice), but you must put a lot of effort in. I find it impossible to keep focus on moving objects such as in football and basketball. My HF100 camcorder nails AF all the time.

If you only intend to shoot stationary subjects the 7D is fine for a novice (like me). Otherwise, manual focus is extremely difficult given the small LCD screen you have to go by.

My advice is do not buy a 7D (or any other dslr) for video. Buy it for photos.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree, I had the HF100 and the HF300 and I've found it much easier to get decent footage from the 7d than either of these cameras. Ok so these prosumer camcorders get AF right but I've never found the footage from them impressive in terms of HD quality. It doesn't even seem like HD to me at all.

I don't find the manual focussing a problem with the LCD screen, I've not filmed anything as fast as basketball or football but heres some footage I took a few weeks ago of animals moving around, didn't find it difficult to focus. You'll see it go out of focus but it doesn't take long to get back to focus and the quality of the video just knocks what a consumer handycam HD camcorder can do off the chart.

[YOUTUBE]<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tg5cy7rkyso&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tg5cy7rkyso&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]
 
You can auto focus before you start recording, it's when you are recording that you can't auto focus
 
And to the OP, you'll need more than 1 4gb CF card if you intend on recording video to any extent. I have 2 16gb cards. The quality of the video is so high it has a very high bittrate so make sure you get one of the fast cards, at least 400x write speed
 
joescrivens said:
You can auto focus before you start recording, it's when you are recording that you can't auto focus
Click to expand...

Not what i experienced today, sorry ! It autofocussed and followed a Fox fine ? all i had to do was touch the button on the back of the camera and it focussed ? it doesnt do seemless non interactive auto focus, and i wouldnt try and follow a formula 1 car with it, but saying it cant autofocus at all while filming video is not accurate !
 
I would use the video mode mainly to shoot aviation but as the AF seems to be an issue for fast moving things maybe it would not work as I expected.
 
EMA747 said:
I would use the video mode mainly to shoot aviation but as the AF seems to be an issue for fast moving things maybe it would not work as I expected.
Click to expand...

Under those circumstances it would be best to try it first and assure yourself if it was worth it or not, it may be better to use manual focus but without testing it its difficult to say.
 
Manual focusing on video mode will take some time to get used to, but once your got it sorted its not problem really :)
 
joescrivens said:
I have to disagree, I had the HF100 and the HF300 and I've found it much easier to get decent footage from the 7d than either of these cameras. Ok so these prosumer camcorders get AF right but I've never found the footage from them impressive in terms of HD quality. It doesn't even seem like HD to me at all.

I don't find the manual focussing a problem with the LCD screen, I've not filmed anything as fast as basketball or football but heres some footage I took a few weeks ago of animals moving around, didn't find it difficult to focus. You'll see it go out of focus but it doesn't take long to get back to focus and the quality of the video just knocks what a consumer handycam HD camcorder can do off the chart.
Click to expand...

video quality looks decent to me, it's the one aspect that is half tempting me to a 7D... btw was that a kingfisher shooting through at ~56 seconds?
 
IanC_UK said:
Not what i experienced today, sorry ! It autofocussed and followed a Fox fine ? all i had to do was touch the button on the back of the camera and it focussed ? it doesnt do seemless non interactive auto focus, and i wouldnt try and follow a formula 1 car with it, but saying it cant autofocus at all while filming video is not accurate !
Click to expand...

What button onthr back of the camera? There are quite a few of them
 
I have read to get the best out of the video side of the 7D (and the time) you need the latest UDMA Cards :thumbs:
 
As I mentioned above. At least 400x write speeds. I use the 60mbs cards
 
IanC_UK said:
The AF-ON or * (or even shutter button if you havent changed any settings) buttons depending on how you have the focus set on the camera.
Click to expand...

Ok I think you might have a different definition of what autofocus on video should be, in this method you have to press that button each time your subject goes out if focus, that's not really autofocus at all. On a videocamera the camera autofocusses as the subject moves without the need for you to manually press a button each time.
 
I do not deny that Video on the 7D can be superb. BUT, you do have to rely on a 300K pixel LCD Screen for manual focus and this is not a very accurate for 1080P/2MP shooting. "Start AF" is ok for stationary subjects, but at the end of the day true AF is sorely missing from all current DSLR's. I have attempted MF several times for footie games and the results have been awful. If I know I will be shooting video I take my much cheaper camcorder because it always gets the footage I want. With the 7D I have to bin or edit out huge chunks of it.

Recording via the 7D LCD screen is similar to using an SD television to judge how good the quality of a 1080P Blu-Ray DVD is.
 
Again, perhaps this is just a personal thing for you. I don't find focussing using the LCD screen difficult as shown by my video above. Maybe it just comes natural to me but I nail the focus every time no problems. Maybe you are using too wide an aperture.
 
joescrivens said:
Again, perhaps this is just a personal thing for you. I don't find focussing using the LCD screen difficult as shown by my video above. Maybe it just comes natural to me but I nail the focus every time no problems. Maybe you are using too wide an aperture.
Click to expand...
Do you have a 1080P link for the video, because much of it does not look in focus to me when up scaled on my 1080P monitor? Perhaps I am just over critical when comparing DSLR's to camcorders. I am sure that within the next couple of years DSLR's will implement decent full-time AF systems.
 
You can't put 1080p on YouTube but trust me it is well in focus at 1080p as I've watched it many times on my 50 inch full HD plasma
 
joescrivens said:
Ok I think you might have a different definition of what autofocus on video should be, in this method you have to press that button each time your subject goes out if focus, that's not really autofocus at all. On a videocamera the camera autofocusses as the subject moves without the need for you to manually press a button each time.
Click to expand...

We are talking about a DSLR "Stills"camera that can record Video, so im sticking with the DSLR method of AF, it isnt a video camera after all ? I did state above that it doesnt do non interactive constant af.
 
IanC_UK said:
We are talking about a DSLR "Stills"camera that can record Video, so im sticking with the DSLR method of AF, it isnt a video camera after all ? I did state above that it doesnt do non interactive constant af.
Click to expand...

If you can use the af in video mode through the method you describe then all credit to you. For me it's manual all the way, having to press that each time the subject moves then wait for it to focus is unusable in my opinion. I'll stick to my manual focussing
 
joescrivens said:
If you can use the af in video mode through the method you describe then all credit to you. For me it's manual all the way, having to press that each time the subject moves then wait for it to focus is unusable in my opinion. I'll stick to my manual focussing
Click to expand...

I just keep it pressed and the af works, admittedly its a pain keeping a button pressed, but i dont use the 7D as a video camera, i do take occasional video but i doubt it will be its main use.
 
IanC_UK said:
I just keep it pressed and the af works, admittedly its a pain keeping a button pressed, but i dont use the 7D as a video camera, i do take occasional video but i doubt it will be its main use.
Click to expand...

You keep it pressed and it auto focuses?

Do you have a video confirming this because I'm pretty sure this doesn't work. I just tried it, I focussed on a toy car, pressed record, held down the AF-ON button so it refocused, then pushed the car along, it definitely didn't keep it in focus and didn't refocus on the car till I pressed it again.
 
have you tried it just that once with the fox or can you do this everytime? Trying to work out what I am doing wrong, I assume you have it in Live mode and not quick or live face mode
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top