You will be spending more money. Oh yeah, sounds great, right?
As still cameras gain acceptance as HD video cameras, you really have to look at the whole picture (sorry) and what that means to you in gear purchases, coming your way.
This collision or convergence of mediums, will affect you shooters out there.

HO, HO, HO! Santa may have come down the chimney for the manufacturers, but what do you REALLY need ?

Let’s see:
Sound (mics,mixers,cables, transmitters,off-camera recorders booms) light (hot lights, softboxes for hot lights, LED panels), editing software ( Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere or iMovie), licensed music tracks ( you must be able to use the track if you are posting online), monitors (you want to trust your focus to that tiny screen? Why? no one else does), brackets, braces, heads, and many, many more things.

On the half-full version of that, you will be learning a whole new set of skills to help carry you into the future. Or 2008 at least.

We have been diving in, doing the research and testing out the gear. This weekend in LA, there is a Collision Conference, with 2 days of seminars and retailers showing you what they have.

And today we just found out that the Cinematographer and Still Photog Union Local will be doing a day of seminars and training on that very subject this weekend, also. We can’t attend because of that Union deal, but we have friends and will get you some 441 on the day.

For you, we’ve got the hot DSLR HD cams to check out, some mics we like, a range of rigs for your mixing pleasure and budget, and one of the sweetest monitors we’ve seen for this purpose has already made it to our rig: the SmallHD.

True HD, 720P, 1280×768 Native Resolution, HDMI, component, VGA, S-Vid, Composite inputs.
What does that all mean?
You paid for the HD, so you better see what it really looks like. Love that large LCD screen on my camera but this is the real deal.
Right now, this is the choice for us. Full review and video on the unit is forthcoming. Give us a chance to work it hard. Now, we use it for video cams as well, so it’s dual purpose for our need.
Our accountant will vouch for that.
Another option for you is the Hoodman Loupe.
They make a set of rubber loupe connectors
to let you attach the loupe to your LCD on the camera, and use it as a magnifying viewfinder.
(You did know that these cameras shoot video only in the “live view”, right?)

You have seen Vince Laforet’s video Reverie, correct?
How about that crisp dialogue?
Oh right, there was no dialogue. Although the 5D has a ext. mic jack, no one really wants to talk about it.
So add in mic(s), a mixer, pre amp and headphones (earbuds in a pinch)

How to attach them all for use? We just tried one of our Stroboframe brackets and although not ideal, will do in a pinch. This weekend we’ll see what else is in the marketplace.

And then you will have to pack this stuff around with you. ThinkTankPhoto has the edge right now.
Check out their vid on the site.

Ok. We don’t mean to pile on. We truly feel that this is an incredible new category.
But which is the best way to approach it ?
Video camera shooting at 30FPS and pulling stills from that? Vince showed a print doing exactly that. Pretty amazing, actually. You know the main advantage on the DSLR for video, is using the lenses. So much better than standard vid cam lenses.
Or just using a video camera for video.
We use stills and vid on our site all of the time,and have for years, so if there is something that can improve what we do, in a smaller, dual purpose package, we want to know.

The camera manufacturers themselves know this is all first generation stuff. They are waiting for everyone to give feedback so the next unit is better.
Call us crazy, but their main concern is that these are phenomenal STILL cameras.

So, we’ll go to this conference and stay up late reading and researching.
But YOU know the best way to find out the info: see and hear the results of using the gear.

We do want to remind you that the manufacturers of all of that other cool new gear you’ll be looking at, are waiting for you. This will become their stimulus package also.

And in the fall, as we start to see new gear in the photo world get released, so it goes in the other gear worlds too.
For instance, in the sound area, after extensive research, we know what portable recorder we are getting for the field and the portable recorder for carrying around always. ( for interviews and recording on the fly, not sync with vid)
Just like photographers, sound folks carry a recorder with them, because you just never know what you may hear.
We know a ton of them and we’ve been speaking with them. And trying out their gear.
As we were about to walk into the shop to buy, after research, we heard about the new, better, sleeker, smarter, cooler, sound recorder from Sony, the PCM-M10, coming in October.
Aaaarrrrggghh! It’s the same story all the time.

There was a certain solace today, walking around with just my Nikon D700, taking pictures of life before me.
But if I added a sound track…….hmmmmmm.

Stay with us. We are just getting started.

By the way, did we tell you we saw one of the first national commercials shot with a 5D. More on that coming.

Please post questions here in the comments section. We are still working out a bug in there and even when it says your post didn’t work, don’t worry, it did.