I haven’t had much of a chance to use yet. I haven’t shot on an HDSLR yet. In any fashion. Until this T2i. No 5D, no 7D, no Nikon, nothing. But I’m getting ready to film my first “official” gig, and I am going out this weekend with a friend to do some shooting of various kinds. My conclusion after *farting* around with it? I’m not sure if I’m going back to a “real” video camera anytime soon. I LOVE this thing. Here’s why:

1. Organic- there’s just something natural about shooting with this form factor. I was a bit concerned at first, but now have found it’s addicting. I’m drawn to it, it’s fresh, it feels natural, organic, down to earth and it just plain makes me feel good.

2. Easy – It’s light, it’s free, it’s low profile. I stuck in on a $30 monopod and just threw it around as you’ll see in the below clip.

3. Historically Accurate – if you’re into this sort of thing. Motion picture came from moving stills right? So this is the next evolution- not an engineer version of it. Why do new tapeless format cameras still have the same size of their tape counterparts? This probably plays into point number 1. (from a presentation by Shane Hurlbut).

4. ROI – yeah, we’ve all read Barry’s report on aliasing and all heard all about rolling shutter and you know what? It’s a legitimate issue but we don’t care. As Matt Jeppsen quoted on Twitter the other day: We’re willing to overlook it because 90% of the time we want to lick the screen. And it’s $800, double the sensor size and double the bit rate of my $6K Sony. The DOF is better, quality is better, medium is cheaper, lenses are not cheaper but easier to attain and I can swap ‘em out whenever I want.

5. Low Profile- For the indie doc guy? Easier to look like a tourist and with the amount of places I’ve been kicked out of because my camera is too “professional”- my Rebel won’t draw that kind of attention. Besides, who uses a Rebel in a professional capacity? *no comment*

6. Cost Effectiveness – For the non-profit crew? Cheap, high-quality web video.

*EDIT* 7. SDHC – I don’t have to pack around an FW800 cable and my 300x CF card reader. I can slip in a paper thin card into my E34 slot on my MBP.

So there you go. I’m hooked. I love it. Every bit of it. It’s addicting, makes me feel good, looks amazing, and most of all, it’s freakin’ cheap as hell. Get a T2i, record some video and have some fun.

…I don’t even have filters or a follow focus or proper rig yet…sheesh.

Tags: downtime, hdslr, Production, tech, tools, video

So my wife and I took Friday off to ski at Red Lodge Mountain just outside of town here. They’ve been hit hard with snow, something like 27″ in the last week, 15″ of which was Thursday night and then another 5″ last night so we’ve had some sweet conditions. We’re going to to pack in one more half day tomorrow after church. I took the 50mm up today so I’ll put up some shots whenever I find my USB cable.

We got back tonight and were having some post-hot tub discussion about our dogs as we were sitting in the family room next to the fire. We have two (but watching three more of the in-law’s canines)- one lab and one Boston Terrier. Somehow the discussion got around to what kind of car they’d drive if they could drive cars. (Admit it, we all would love to see dogs drive- great movie idea).

Anyway Callie, our Boston Terrier is rather um, high-strung, obsessive, and overall rather bitchy. Wife agreed when I figured her to drive the huge diesel truck with diesel stacks out the back. You may have never seen one, it’s the Fast and the Furious in cowboy land I think (FYI, never try to race one, if you have a fast car because they typically have wicked amounts of torque and very large turbos):

(image stolen from a forum via google)

Hanging off the back would be those nasty nut-sacks and a sticker on the back window that says, “I bit these off myself” License Plate: (BITE EM).

For our other dog Migo, our lumbering, laid-back, somewhat dim-witted black lab, my wife thought he would drive an old-style beetle, while I thought he’s more of the old Dodge van type (with bubble window):

We debated and disagreed but both agree that it would be the worlds first butter-powered vehicle (he loves butter- once ate an entire stick off the counter wrapper and all). And when he wanted to stop for a snack, he’d just pull over and lick out the gas tank. License plate: LIKBTTA (like butter or lick butter, either one works).

I think my wife was going to put up her thoughts on her blog over here so check it out in a day or so.

What would YOUR dog drive?

Tags: downtime

Here are a few shots from my trip to Portland last week to hang out with family- I have another batch still to edit. I picked up the Canon 17-55 f/2.8 while I was there for my DigiRebel so thought I’d snap a few. I need to get better at my shooting skills- not to mention my photo editing skills.

Tags: downtime, photography