Ever since Canon came out with their 5D mkII, a lot of photographers have joined the ranks of the Video Rangers. Many of them were encouraged to become Video Rangers after NY Times staff photographer, Vincent Laforet, released that short video on the internet. You know the one. It was pretty cool. It more than demonstrated the possibilities of shooting video with a dSLR, especially if you have a ton of other gear, an experienced production crew, a helicopter, editors and more.
Suddenly, photographers who toiled at shooting images one at a time with a dSLR realized they could multiply their output by many times simply by capturing video. In other words, they could now shoot motion pictures with the same sort of camera they were already accustomed to using for shooting static images. Talk about taking your skill sets to new levels with the flip of a camera mode and the push of a finger!
Photographers lined up to purchase a 5D mkII and, later, other iterations of video-capable dSLRs. For them, it was going to be a brave new world, one in which they might make their indelible marks as filmmakers via their new gear and new-found movie-making abilities.
But then, something happened. Something called reality. And the reality was this: In spite of their newly acquired video-capable dSLRs plus all kinds of accessory gear to complete their rigs, for most photographers-turned-videographers their opus videos didn't quite turn out as expected. Leastwise, they didn't turn out the way Laforet's videos did. Or as many other notable filmmakers did, for that matter. And you wanna know why? Actually, I think I'll let the guy in the video below tell you some of the reasons why.
An open letter to Canon from safetyhammer on Vimeo.
So as not to post a blog update sans some gratuitous eye-candy, something I rarely do, here's a random shot I snapped of Jenna some time back. By the way, I'm proud to call myself a Video Ranger even if I don't own a video-capable dSLR. Instead, I merely own a dSLR that (gulp!) only shoots photographs. But I do own a fairly decent Sony HD vidcam and other video production and post-production gear. I'm also proud to mention I've been a Video Ranger since the very early 80s... maybe even late 70s. I don't remember exactly when my enlistment in the Video Rangers began.
6 comments:
Lloyd Conway remembers that it was around 1980 or 1981 when he sprang for some of that new fangled video equipment for you and me.
Well there ya go, Steve. I was pretty darn close dating my induction date into the Video Rangers. Course, I was a Video Ranger, minus a video camera, long before that... along with Ed Norton and others.
http://youtu.be/GiWgKEFyY0A
Nothing bothers me more than having video on my DSLR. This is why I stick to the 5D and the 40D. Like you, I have a small Sony HD camcorder that does the trick for me. I'm a photographer not videographer.
@Jay: Actually, I'm both a photographer and a videographer and have been working as one or the other for many, many years. Like you, I shoot stills with a 5D. I see no reason to purchase a new camera body. (My backup is a 20D.) For video, I own a Sony HVR-Z1U which I purchased new when it was first released not too many years ago. I get hired along with my Sony HD cam or without it, depending on the client. I've been hired to shoot video with everything from vidcams less advanced than my Z1U to Sony's high-end CineAlta. I haven't yet shot with a RED but I probably will do so at some point.
As someone whom has not shot much video I think I will wait to buy a dedicated video camera until I feel that my cell phone is limiting my lack of artistic expectations....
@Anonymous: LOL!
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