Canon T2i dSLR

I love my Canon T2i dSLR. The quality of the photos are stunning. 18 megapixels. Focusing has 9 imaging points. It takes 3.7 frames/second with rapid shooting. The manual functions make taking pictures in all types of lighting a breeze and lets you get creative too.

I have a zoom lens attached to my camera in the picture in this post. I often use it to take action photos of my kids on the soccer field.

At today’s soccer game, I didn’t have my video camera and instead of going back to my office to pick it up, thought I’d try my dSLR to shoot fast-action video today.

Here’s what’s great about using the video capabilities on my dSLR:

• It shoots high-definition video that has incredible, stunning moving images.
• It can shoot video until the memory card is full; about 12 minutes of continuous video, which is huge. (I have a 16 Gigabyte, class 6 memory card.)
• It has a built-in microphone to pick up all the ambient sound a/k/a noise

Here’s why a great dSLR should NOT be used to shoot your kids at a soccer game:

• It does not have instant “On” like your regular dedicated video camera has.
• It does not autofocus as you move the camera from one image to another. Each time you want to move the camera to a different point, you must press the shutter half-way to re-focus.
• Since a dSLR has a mirror that normally must be lifted up and out of the way to take the photo, this creates a delay when you request a ‘live’ view from your digital viewfinder. The mirror must be lifted up, and you can view your live action in the digital viewfinder screen. Viewing through the optical viewfinder is not available with a live view.
• The live view image shuts off automatically after 15 seconds if the record button isn’t pressed. This is annoying especially since I do not tape the entire soccer game. Rather, I tape segments when my daughter is involved in the action. There are times when I’m watching other players with the ball, waiting for my daughter to get the ball. The camera kept shutting off the live view. Then I’d have to re-press the live function, have a delay to activate, and then we’d be good to go.
• The auto exposure function is not as good as on a normal video camera. Then you have to manually set the exposure. The problem with that is that the sun moves and clouds pass by, changing the exposure during play. That explains why sometimes you’ll have great exposure, then it’ll get dark, then it’ll get really light. With most good video cameras, this doesn’t happen since their auto exposure adjusts automatically to most lighting situations.

My daughter loves to watch and re-watch how she performed at the end of each game, and having these videos are perfect for her. It’s a great learning opportunity for her to see what she did well, and what needs to be improved. In addition, I get to create short clips of her performance during each game and often get creative with slow-motion, fast-motion and crazy color effects. She really likes that.

Want to shoot video of fast moving action events?

My recommendation is to stick with your regular video camera for now. In the near future I am sure that dSLR’s will be able to do everything that video cameras do, but even better.

Canon T2i dSLR camera

If you’ve been following my blog posts, you know I use a Canon Vixia HF S10 to shoot my own videos. Great camera, excellent quality and it does everything it’s supposed to do.

I recently sold my Sony digital camera to a great trial attorney in Virginia (thanks Sandra!) and needed to upgrade. I took the plunge and bought a Canon T2i dSLR. It takes 18 megapixel photos, has a 3″ viewing screen and also takes hi-definition video. I justified my purchase by convincing myself that I could use it to shoot my videos that I make to market my own practice. Oy, what a production.

You may have also seen a recent blog post I did while I was on vacation, testing out my new camera. Yes, I took 938 photos and 35 videos. It was awesome. (Just try color correcting and cropping 938 photos- it’s enough to make you bleary eyed for weeks). Anyway, I recently shot 2 videos about medical malpractice. The videos were about 4 minutes long.

I spent a really long time playing with the settings. Why? Because this is not a ‘point-and-shoot’ camera. It’s not a ‘press the red record button’ and start talking.

First, it has no flip out monitor. That means you can’t tell exactly whether you’re in the frame or not when shooting your own video. That means you have to repeatedly go back and forth to see if where you were standing is good. I could have hooked up a separate TV monitor, but didn’t want to go that route. I wanted to see how easy/difficult it would be without it. Also, the camera doesn’t come with a remote control to press record or stop. Aggh. That means I press record, then walk to where I’ll be taping.

Wait…there’s more. Remember how cool your autofocus function is on your video camera? No matter where you stand, your camera will automatically bring you into focus? Not so with my shiny new dSLR. Why not? Because it’s not a point and shoot camera. You must pre-focus, either manually or by autofocus and press the shutter down half-way.

“But wait!” you scream. “How can I focus on myself, if I have to pre-focus the camera and stand next to the camera to do that?” you ask. A great question! One that perplexed me for some time; especially since I was shooting the video on my own and there was nobody to stand behind the camera and press the shutter half-way. Needless to say, that required a creative solution that I’ll save for my video coaching group (which you are invited to join).

When I played back the videos I was stunned. Amazed. In awe. The quality was magnificent. The depth of field was wild to see on a consumer level video camera. Depth of field is where one object is in focus and everything behind it is blurred. You can often tell the difference between a soap opera, where everything is in focus compared to a feature film where people are often in focus but the background is blurred.

Stay tuned for the herculean effort needed to now get those videos off the camera and into my non-linear video editing software; also known as Final Cut Express.

Final point. If the technical stuff bores you, as I’m sure this will for some attorneys reading this, why trouble yourself figuring out how to do this stuff yourself? Stop wasting your time struggling with getting the video off your camera. Stop trying to get those edits and transitions just right. Don’t worry about how to do lower third graphics with fly-in effects. Have you really gotten those compression settings just right? Do your videos look anamorphic?

Take a breather and pick up the phone to schedule a phone conference with me. 516-487-8207. Go back to doing what you do best; practicing law. Let me take the burden off you. I make creating video fun, simple and easy. Stop struggling and wasting hours of your day. Give me a call. I guarantee it will be eye-opening and refreshing when you realize you don’t need to do this yourself.

Today’s blog post is about VIDEO equipment. Notice the double entendre in the title?

Most people think that in order to create good looking video, you must have a “professional” video camera that costs over $5,000 and looks like it came from a video production studio. That type of thinking is so wrong, on so many different levels. But it’s a typical expectation.

If you show up for a video shoot with little more than a rinky-dink handheld camcorder, people look at you like you’re an amateur. Guess what? They’re wrong.

Professional cameras cost anywhere from $2,500 up to $10,000. They weigh anywhere from 3 lbs to 10 lbs, which is really heavy when shooting without a tripod. B&H Photo in NYC has a great selection if you’re interested. They’ve also just built a neat little interview studio that showcases all of their pro cameras and equipment.

By contrast, most good consumer-level video cameras cameras cost anywhere from $500-$1,300, can be carried in the palm of your hand and typically weigh less than a pound.

So, does the minimal size of your equipment mean your quality suffers? The answer is no.

I use a top-of-the-line consumer-level camera made by Canon; the Vixia HF S10. It weighs nothing. My seven year old loves to play with it, thinking it’s so small and easy to use.

I used to own a professional grade Sony video camera that weighed a ton. It was a great standard digital (SD), miniDV camera and built like a rock. But I got tired of lugging it around. (It’s the camera at the top right of this page).

My Canon not only is tapeless and weighs next-to-nothing, but the quality of the HD video far surpasses what I used to own for a fraction of the price. Don’t worry about size. Instead, concern yourself with the quality.

Thanks for reading my blog and have a great day!

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“Gerry single handedly has changed the way attorneys are viewed by their website visitors. You see, Gerry “gets it.” He decided that instead of using online videos on his website to pitch his firms’ expertise and how he can handle your case, he decided it was better to educate his website visitors about the questions they have, prior to calling an attorney.”

Mike Acosta is a video production expert with www.HBProductionGroup.com.

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ABOUT GERRY

Gerry is a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer in practice for over 21 years. He has produced and created over 250 educational and informative videos to help consumers understand how lawsuits work in the State of New York. If you want to see how Gerry has used video to promote his own practice click here.

Gerry created the Lawyers’ Video Studio to help other lawyers get onto video. To get started with creating video to market your legal services, Gerry offers a simple and cost-effective turn-key video creation system where he does everything for you except appear on camera. To get onto video today, learn more in The Lawyers’ Video Studio.