I’ve been using the the Canon 7D for the better part of 3 months now in varying conditions mostly in my work for Alberta Parks. First off let me say that this camera has open up new opportunities for creative control that didn’t exist even just 6 months ago. The inclusion of 24p, 60p and interchangeable lenses at the $2000 price point is revolutionary. But there are drawbacks to shooting video with a DSLR, frankly is much harder to do than with a dedicated video camera. And thus the $2000 price point suddenly balloons to around $3500 with the inclusion of special apparatus and attachments to make this camera much more usable for video. This price doesn’t include all the regular accessories like memory cards, extra batteries and tripods, etc. I our case we spent over $6000 to make this a usable set up for what we needed, which really isn’t bad at all for pro video.

I know there are many other reviews of this camera out there that give you a great deal of technical detail on how the camera operates, image quality and features. My focus is a little different. I’m taking a simpler approach, I want to give an account of how the camera has performed in various conditions for me.

Adventures in -30 C with the Canon 7D: Winters are cold in Canada, what better venue for testing the 7D in cold weather. I found the 7D did well in around -10 C for a period of 2 hours. Battery life was shorter but lasted longer than I expected. We ran into problems around -30 C, I personally never had the camera out in these conditions but an associate of mine did and he reported that the camera refused to operate after several minutes. I’m going to test the camera myself in -30 C to confirm this, I will post the results. Normally this isn’t going to be an issue for most people but it is good to know if you do a lot of cold weather shooting. Keep in mind most camera’s won’t do very well in -30 C and most people aren’t crazy enough to shoot in -30 either.

To hot to handle: The camera is very sensitive to warm temperatures as well. We were shooting indoors at a location that was very warm, I would say around 25 – 27 C. We were very disappointed that the camera gave us the over heating warning, we had to shut it down several times. At the time we were shooting an Blackfoot elder giving us a story for a documentary and they don’t like to be interrupted so we had no second take, luckily we had a secondary camera which wasn’t prone to over heating. It is important to note that heat issues plague much more expensive cameras like the Phantom HD.

Aliasing: By now you may be aware of moire and aliasing problems DSLR video. I’ve noticed it some of my wide shots with a detailed background. The only way around this huge problem currently is a Caprock filter. I’m hearing a Caprock 2.0 filter is good for the 7D, while the 5D may require a 1.0. I have my Caprock filter on the way and I eagerly await it’s arrival. Read more at Stu Maschwitz’s blog for more information on this issue.

Audio: With only a single track of audio, your options here are limited. For truly pro audio you’ll need to go “old school” and record to a separate device like the superb Zoom H4n Handy recorder. At very least you should have an external mic since the internal mic isn’t that great. Consider the Rode Video Mic or the Sennheiser MKE 400. We use either the Rode or the Zoom H4n depending on the situation.

If you really want to shoot DSLR video and love the creative advantages it gives (like I do) you should be aware of these problems. Despite these issues I still love to shoot with the 7D. Am I disappointed? Somewhat but, we have to remember this is a brand new way of shooting video by that I mean shooting HD video on a large sensor made to shoot stills originally. There are bugs to be worked out. You need to be aware of these issues and decide if this camera fits your situation. Even with the aliasing issues this camera is hard to beat at the $2000 price point.

Photo credit: Check out Ole Jorgen Liodden’s 7D cold weather review.

I Recently shot a promotional video for the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park for Alberta Parks over night school group program. The outdoor video is was shot over 2 days and I got some spectacular scenery. The park has some unique geological formations different even from other badlands areas. We later followed up with an excursion to catch up with the students of Nellie McClung Elementary School in Calgary, Alberta and recorded the shots for the second half of the video. I used a Canon 7D and a Rode shotgun mic and it work out really well, I mainly used the Canon 35mm f/2 lens. On some shots I used the 28mm-135mm Canon zoom lens f/3.5 – 5.6. This was the first serious tryout of the 7D and it’s not an easy camera to shoot video with but I had a Zacuto Gorrilla Kit and a Z-Finder to smooth things out. I can’t recommend the Zacuto gear enough, makes shooting DSLR video much easier.

I’ll be posting my review of the Canon 7D soon, I’ve been using it for 3 months now in the harsh conditions of a Canadian winter and I’ll give you my take on its strengths and weaknesses.

more about "Written in Stone", posted with vodpod

Since my first time lapse test I’ve been wanting to do something more so over the last couple of weeks I’ve been shooting when conditions seemed ripe. The first 1:40 is shot with the Canon 7D and mostly photo time lapse with a few exceptions. The rest is mostly shot on the little technological miracle called the Canon HFs100 and are comprised of video time lapses I shot earlier in September.

In the original photo time lapses there was a significant amount of flicker caused by fluctuations in exposure when the camera is set to an auto mode. Day to night time lapses are difficult and I’ve since learned that shooting in Aperture Priority mode is the way to go. Click here for more details. To get rid of the flicker I used a free deflicker available for VirtualDub.

The verdict: Well as much as I like the Canon HFs100 it can’t stand up to the 7D. Simply put the 7D enormous sensor (APS-C) in comparison to the 1/2″ sensor on the HFs100 is like comparing 35mm film to 8mm film. I won’t be mixing footage from the cameras unless I have to. Although the 7D is well short of Canon’s 5D Mark II, it’s still well ahead of any video camera within $15K, as far as image is concerned.

I used an intervalometer for the photo time lapses and compiled them in a handy freeware package called VirtualDub, which I think is the better than After Effects in many ways for assembling a photo time lapse. For a good tutorial on VirtualDub go to the timescapes site for more info.

~John Novotny

more about "Surreal Sky on Vimeo", posted with vodpod

It requires patience and some trial and error, my first attempt at photo time lapse was a day to night sequence. I love photo time lapse in beats video time lapse hands down for quality but on shorter sequences video may be better and it gives you the option of speeding it up incrementally. Night time lapse is where DSLR’s like the 7D really shine, you just can’t get this kind of result with a video camera in low light.

more about "Skies of Magrath on Vimeo", posted with vodpod

Nikon D3s

Nikon has released what appears to be a strong camera for still photograhers but with video capability unchanged from previous versions. This leaves a lot of video people disappointed hoping for some competition with the recent revolutionary HD video developments introduced by Canon in their DSLR line.

A few things to note. Nikon is not a video company and it seems they could care less about video.

Canon is both a video and still camera company and is well poised cash in on a great opportunity. A great opportunity to stick it to Sony as well, I believe the one to watch will be Sony and their line of DSLR’s, they are most likely to turn up the heat on Canon with HD video.

In fact Sony’s Alpha 850 is a full frame camera that retails for US$2000, it would be a game changer if they came out with HD video capability like the 7D. Rumors have it that the Alpha 950′s replacement will have HD video and you can bet Sony is watching the Canon 7D very closely.

So all you Sony fans may end up in the arms of your former lover again.

Remember before deciding on a DSLR, you’re buying into the lens accessory system as well, so choose carefully. Panasonic is another player to watch but it remains to be seen what they’ll bring out to compete with Canon’s HDSLR line up.

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I was excited to test the Canon 7D last week, I was able to put the camera through it’s paces. My primary interest is the Camera’s video capabilities and as reported elsewhere the camera destroys the competition with $15,000. It’s true, the RED ONE is the only video camera that can beat the image quality out of the 7D. Still, the camera has some short comings and it’s somewhat more difficult to shoot with than a dedicated video camera. With quality like this I’m willing to suffer for my art. Come to think of it there is another camera that can beat this one and it’s the Canon 5D but it only shoots in 30p and a strange version of 30p which isn’t compatible with standard 30p. The 7D’s ability to shoot in multiple frame rates gives this camera the edge. We’ll see if a firmware update for the 5D will change this.

I’ll be posting more on the 7D as I gain more experience with it. I shot a short video with it recently.

more about "A Thanksgiving Get Together on Vimeo", posted with vodpod

An educational project on invasive plants and biodiversity I shot and edited. The original has a narrative element which I didn’t include.

more about "Journals on Vimeo", posted with vodpod

The Valley of the Moon is in the preserve of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. The preserve is restricted to public access; except by guided tour, because it has the richest deposit of Dinosaur bones in the world and is a major reason the park has attained UNESCO World Heritage status. The Valley of the Moon is off the guided trail so it has been closed to public access. I was offered a rare glimpse at this breathtaking area and brought my camera of course.

Valley of the Moon from John Novotny on Vimeo.

A short video shot near Magrath, Alberta using time lapse.