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

I did pre-order the new T2i though. At the price point, it’s a bad decision NOT TO- especially since the 5D just doesn’t quite have what I’m looking for yet. Am I going to shoot a feature film? Maybe one day. Do want the absolute best quality money can buy? No doubt! IMO, that’s the T2i right now, but we’ll see how it shakes out compared to the 7D footage.

But the tech is really, really close to epic status as attested to in this video of the driving plate shots for this season’s “24″:

Shooting Driving Plates for 24 from Stargate Studios on Vimeo.

EDiT: Non-Profits…BUY The T2i Camera! You will not get the quality of footage at such a low price, for those in-office interviews, location shots, promo videos, it does not get better than this. I will be trying to push through 1 of these cameras with a good lens for our non-profit this year. You can pre-order from both Amazon and Adorama for $799 (body only) right now.

Tags: hdslr, Production, tech, tools, video

I called Apple yesterday and explained that I have a functional case issue preventing me from properly using my power supply on my Macbook Pro. I talked to five people, two of them in management. Today, they denied my request.

Let’s do that math: 1 Macbook Pro @we’re not going to go there, 1 Apple Care Protection @$300 (or therabouts), 1 separate insurance policy to cover damages incurred during normal use in the field around the world @I’m not sure, but something (through work).

Total cost for repair through Apple: $629. Total out of pocket w/ insurance- $500 deductible.

Now let’s just say this was a PC- HP (my preferred vendor) and Dell both offer “Accidental Protection Policies.” I checked today and you can get up to 3,4 years for about $250. I’ve used my Dell one before. They replaced my machine when I spilled coffee on it while computing in bed. No questions. Bam, here’s a new machine- policy still in place.

This is why for my next international trip, I’m going to bring a PC. It’ll cost me less and if it breaks, dies, or otherwise has issues, I can get it insured and replaced for WAY less money. I’m not an Apple fan boy. I think both systems are strong. I prefer the issue-free and smoothness of OSX- but not at this kind of price.

Tags: Production, travel