DSLRs for Studio production work??

Chris Johnston

Chris Johnston

Veteran
I bought a Canon t2i for an experiment and like it.
I would like to possibly start doing some in studio production type work with some DSLRs vs a normal video cam. (30 minute cooking show)
Problem is..... I may occasionally run past the 12 minute recording limit of the Canon. This isn't a problem if I use the canon as the b (or c) camera, but the a cam that has the front wide shot of the host and her chef has to be a constant shot that MAY go longer than 12 min.

Are there any DSLRs that can record longer than 12 min?
I know the GH1 can but it is only 24 fps and I would like to shoot at 30 fps (for Broadcast)

Any other brands?
 
He probably isn't going to use a 12-minute shot, but the cameras need to roll "live" through the entire process without reloading?
 
ROCKMORE said:
I don't want to tell you how to cut your show, but a 12 minute plus clip seems long for a 30 minute show. Most shows like that cut between 2 or 3 cameras every few seconds.
You could probably shoot an excellent show with the T2 if you storyboard your shots and cut to different angles with the one camera.
I would say your longest shot should be more like 12 seconds to hold your viewers attention.
Have a look at some other shows on air to see what the competition is doing.
Click to expand...

Been doing the show for a few years with a long time client. (twice a week show)
Budget and time constraints will not allow.....

Just REread your responce......I probably didn't explain well.....

I need 27:30 total footage for the show, this allows for show intro , extro and commercials. (basically 3 "segments" of 8-10 minutes, depending on whats being cooked. (with commercials in between each segment)
Typical show goes....Showintro, 2-3 minutes welcoming the guest chef and description of the meals to be cooked,
The front wide shot I need to be a long continuous shot on sticks. (I use this shot as the "foundation" that I lay the close ups over.) There will never be a continuious 12 minute shot in the end product. but because of what is being cooked (not to mention the snotty, pompous chefs) once you start, you go till it's done. (no do overs)

Most times the food for the first segement is done in 8-10 minutes. Some times it goes a little longer than 12 minutes. I'm a 0ne man show on this and frequently do 2, 3 cams by myself.
 
Yikes, a 3 camera, one man shoot?

I suppose you could stop and start the camera at a time when you know you will be on a closeup from one of the other cams. That's assuming your master audio track is not being recorded to the camera. Or is the delay to restart the recording too long?

Is the HDMI output usable during recording so that you could record to something like a nanoFlash? Not cheap, but maybe an option.
 
Have you ever just let one roll to see how long a clip would be? I attached the bracket for my LCDVF and part of the instructions are to let the camera heat up by putting it in record mode for 12 minutes. I decided to let my 5DII roll until it shut off in the 1080 24P mode. The take was over 29 minutes.
 
f64manray said:
Have you ever just let one roll to see how long a clip would be? I attached the bracket for my LCDVF and part of the instructions are to let the camera heat up by putting it in record mode for 12 minutes. I decided to let my 5DII roll until it shut off in the 1080 24P mode. The take was over 29 minutes.
Click to expand...

You probably pointed it at something with little to no movement right? The 12 minute issue is not a function of the camera overheating, it is that the FAT32 file system cannot use files larger than 4gb and the camera usually hits the 4gb mark after around 12 minutes of recording, and Canon has implemented no way of having the camera bridge clips the way the GH1 does.

However, since the codec uses compression, it's possible if you just point the camera at say, a blank wall in good light, the camera can record significantly more since each frame doesn't need much data...I noticed this on the GH1 when my time remaining on card started going UP instead of down when I was doing a battery time test.
 
Ben_B said:
You probably pointed it at something with little to no movement right? The 12 minute issue is not a function of the camera overheating, it is that the FAT32 file system cannot use files larger than 4gb and the camera usually hits the 4gb mark after around 12 minutes of recording, and Canon has implemented no way of having the camera bridge clips the way the GH1 does.

However, since the codec uses compression, it's possible if you just point the camera at say, a blank wall in good light, the camera can record significantly more since each frame doesn't need much data...I noticed this on the GH1 when my time remaining on card started going UP instead of down when I was doing a battery time test.
Click to expand...

Correct, I thought about that. I haven't been interested enough just to point it at a busy street and just let it roll. For what I do, I won't even approach a 6 minute clip let alone 12.
 
I believe my gh1 shoots 720p30 and not in AVCHD for that matter. There is also not time constraints to the recording factor for single clips. I filmed my production meeting for a buddy with it.
 
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I think you just need to consider each cam on its merit record time is not a DSLR merit

you could use an EX1 and get your run time or use a DSLR and get shallow DOF footage

With a couple of cams going and external sound I doubt you would miss anything

sound is probably more important than vision which can always be hidden with a cutaway

S
 
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