HDSLR Improvements

[DNathan]

When I bought our Canon T2i we used it as a panic cam for filming wedding video. We use video cams instead. I haven't trusted HDSLRs because of:

1. Overheating shut down
2. 12 minute shut down
3. Lack of info per foot distance for follow focus
4. Lack of simultaneous manual zoom and focus manipulation
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5. For photography I would take a photo and have to wait several seconds for the BUSY message to disappear, losing priceless shots. Auto focus also slow. I'm sure that's just the cheap Rebel CPU.

So we're interested in buying a nicer HDSLR, but have any of the above been improved upon?

 

[TheDingo]

we're interested in buying a nicer HDSLR, but have any of the above been improved upon?

Panasonic GH2 / GH3

>>> 1. Overheating shut down

This was never a problem with GH2 / GH3 cameras.

>>> 2. 12 minute shut down

This was never a problem with GH2 / GH3 cameras, you can shoot as long as your camera has power and your memory card has room. A 12 hour single take is definitely possible.

>>> 3. Lack of info per foot distance for follow focus

I don't know if any DSLR cameras have this yet. ( it should be very do-able from a technical perspective )

>>> 4. Lack of simultaneous manual zoom and focus manipulation

Manual lenses take care of this, just as they do when shooting with a proper Cine camera.

>>> 5. For photography I would take a photo and have to wait several seconds for the BUSY message to disappear, losing priceless shots.

Depends on the camera's internal high-speed memory buffer. If you turn off LCD confirmation, you can bang out quite a number of shots before the buffer is full on the higher end cameras.

>>> 6.Auto focus also slow

Depends on the camera. The GH3 with the right lens has usable focus-tracking when shooting video in good light.

For high speed action photography ( i.e. Sports, Racing, etc... ) then you pretty much have to use high end pro Canon / Nikon cameras.


My Personal Plug for the Micro 4/3 Format : The best thing about the GH3 camera is that you can use almost any lens ever made with the right adapter, so low cost eBay lenses ( Canon FD, Contax Zeiss, Leica M, Minolta, Nikon AI-S, Olympus OM, PL mount cine lenses, etc... ) all work great in full manual mode. And there are a few super-speed 0.95 lenses made by Voightlander, that are just a joy to use.