The complexities of shooting DSLR video

I got my Canon 7D a while back hoping that it would replace the need for me to carry around both a DSLR and a dedicated video camera everywhere I go.  The 7D has indeed done that for most of the casual video that I shoot.  However, DSLR video is still in its infancy and the supporting structure for it (software, plug-ins, etc) has a long way to go before shooting and managing DSLR video is "easy" (or maybe I should say "easier") for the average photographer.

Here are some of the complexities that I've faced in my adventures so far with DSLR video on the 7D.  I'm sure this applies to other DSLR's that shoot video as well.

First, you need a powerful computer and video card to play back, edit, and manage DSLR high definition video.  This is something that I didn't have a true understanding of when I bought my 7D, so I learned the hard way.  Digital video is all about computer power and speed.  If you don't have it then you're going to be stuck with a bunch of video clips on your PC that you can't do anything with.  I can't even watch the clips from my 7D on my older Dell computer because it doesn't have enough CPU power to play them back without skips.  Bummer!   A computer upgrade is needed! 

Second, get ready for some lens issues.  As I questioned in this thread on the photo.net photography web site, using variable aperture zoom lenses when shooting DSLR video introduces some visible artifacts in your video as you zoom the lens and it moves past the points where it stops down.  There seems to be no way around it.  I even tried shooting in manual with a set aperture, and I (and others) have confirmed that it doesn't work.  This means that you'll have to put up with flicker in your videos if you zoom while shooting with variable aperture zooms, or, you need to buy expensive constant aperture zoom lenses to eliminate the problem.  Bummer! 

Third, you need special software to edit the video segments together.  And, depending on what you're trying to do with your video, you might need to first convert the video files coming out of the 7D into another video format.  Yikes!  Fortunately for me, any simple editing that I need to do can be done in the native file format that Canon uses, but others doing sophisticated editing are not so lucky and they first need to convert the files to a format more suitable for editing.  Software that I've been investigating to meet my simple needs of stitching together a bunch of clips to make a single video to burn to DVD include:  Pinnacle Studio Ultimate, Cineform Neoscene, and Adobe Premier Elements.  I haven't picked one yet but will post about it when I do.

Fourth, not being able to auto focus easily and quietly while shooting video is a pain in the butt.  You can work around it, but I would rather not and instead I hope that this "issue" is solved in future iterations of these cameras.  People are used to auto focusing with their video cameras so DSLR's are going to need to evolve more in this area.

Fifth, you're going to need a better source of information than the standard Canon user manual for the 7D.  I would imagine Nikon users are in the same boat.  Fortunately, Canon has posted many informative videos on their Canon Digital Learning Center web site and other web sites like Cinema5D.com have been created to fill the gap.  I've also mentioned some other links in this post from this blog.  There is a ton of good information out there and once you gather a few key tips for shooting DSLR video you'll always remember them and you'll be on your way to successful videos.  It's not hard to shoot the videos......the issues come afterward but fortunately they can all be resolved.

Some other issues that you might face if you're shooting on a more professional level can be found in this article on the Popular Photography web site. 

This might sound like a lot of complaining about an otherwise great technology, but it's really not.  I'm just trying to say that it's not as easy as it first seems when you consider the end-to-end process and I imagine that most other people shooting casual DSLR video on any Nikon, Canon, etc, camera are going through these same issues.  These are simply growing pains for this technology.

Clearly, from looking at the sample videos on Canon's DSLR video web sites and the fact that major TV shows and commercials have been filmed with the Canon 5D and 7D, spectacular results are possible with the current technology.  It just takes some doing... 

I still firmly believe that the benefits of shooting video and stills with the same camera outweigh all of the negative stuff that I mentioned above, especially when both the stills and video look so great.  It's very convenient to fulfill both needs with one camera and that will keep me at it until I figure out the best way to manage this stuff.  I just need to get a proper post-shooting setup in place.

As DSLR video and post-processing evolve, eventually it will be more sophisticated and easier to use.  For now it's a somewhat thorny topic that requires some effort on the part of the shooter to make it all work out right.