Canon 7D, 60D and t2i Video Zoom recommendation list


Going back to October 2009, I released a recommended zoom list for the Canon 7D. Here is the 2010 Update for all of the Canon crop cameras

Wide:
Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX
Tokina
Why: Still the best wide-angle constant aperture zoom lens
Why not: Hard to find in EOS Mount


Normal:
Tamron 17-50 VC f/2.8 XR Di-II VC LD Aspherical (IF)
Tamron
Why: Great Price with rebate right now, not limited by EF-S mount for future camera use (reason why Canon 17-55 is not recommended, though it is a better lens)
Why not: Varying build quality from lens to lens
Alternate: Purchase without VC to save a few dollars



Telephoto:
Budget
Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 II EX DC HSM Lens
Sigma 50-150
Why: Lens is just as sharp as 70-200 for video, great price for a 2.8 constant aperture telephoto zoom lens
Why not: No Image stabilization

Better
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Canon
Why: Classic lens that has been superseded by the newest version of the 70-200. IS works very well. EOS mount means that you wont be limited by camera body choice in the future
Why not: Expensive for just video purposes



Maybe we will have a few more choices next year, but for this year, the picks remain the same. When the next next 5D has a crop mode, you will be thanking me that you didn’t purchase any Canon native EF-S lenses, as the lenses above will all work perfectly on a cropped full frame sensor.

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Resolving Power of the Hacked GH1 – Buy one now

With the influx of new cameras coming out, many people are in a rush to sell off their hacked and un-hacked GH1 cameras.

Every time a new gadget, gizmo or toy comes along, it’s natural to assume that the second generation is better than the first. This has left quite a few GH1 cameras on ebay for less than $900. Now is the time to buy. Outside of the ugly FPN, crashing in 24p, and the lack of live preview – the hacked GH1 is still the best resolving video capable still camera to date. Go ahead, click and download the PNG file attached to this post. Any Canon DSLR would be full of Moire, a new Nikon DSLR would be the same story. How about the GH2? Well it would look the same, possibly sharper, until it was put into motion. The only fix is a codec hack.

Where’s the hack? Well if you put faith in this amazing website then you have no reason to fear, the GH2 is already hacked and the GH1 can be left for eBay fodder.


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$6.44 for two mini-HDMI cables – Perfect for 7D, 5D or GH2

Target is clearing out Flip Cam HDMI cables for extreme discounts right now.

For $6.44 you get two perfect DSLR HDMI cables. One is 2ft long, perfect for onboard monitoring, and the second is 6.5 feet long, which is great for a close client monitor or steadicam sled.

Both cables terminate in both Type A and Type C HDMI connectors.

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GH2 Native .MTS file – Disappointing Codec Confirmed

gh2 codec failure

One of the first GH2 24PN sample videos is now available here: optyczne.pl GH2 review

Unfortunately this confirms that the GH2 has the same poor codec performance symptoms of the un-hacked GH1. Certainly the bump to 24mb has increased the amount of detail the encoder can handle, which is on par or greater than the hacked GH1. This only seems to hold true as long as the camera is not moving. For instance, take the passing cars. As soon as they pass in the frame, the resulting pavement looks like a bath of muddy pixels akin to DV era camcorder resolution.

Will there be a fix for this? Probably not from Panasonic, but if the firmware is able to be hacked by resident GH1 DVXuser hacker, Vitality – then an increase to the overall variable bitrate might fix this problem. Just as it helps the GH1…

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First AF100 Footage on Vimeo

Here’s the first streaming footage of the Panasonic AF100. Footage looks exactly as I expected it to. It is a DSLR sensor with a proper OLPF, so things that DSLR shooters are used to, like false detail, appear to be gone. As soon as the production model is ready, we should see native files from the camera available.

We shot at an ISO of 200. Shutter off (shutter wasnt engaging to 180 so we left it)

We rolled internally to SDHC cards and then externally to a AG HPG20 recording AVC Intra 100.

Gamma was the 709 standard, Matrix HD Norm.. everything else set of 0.

We used a 24mm, 50mm and & 85mm for almost everything, Sitting at about t4 for most of it,, and wide open t1.9 on a couple of those shots. All Carl Zeiss Ultra Primes.

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