Foster Kane
Well-known member
I have seen a type of external hard drive that attaches to camcorders. I was wondering is that possible with a DSLR?
Is it possible to attach an external hard drive to a DSLR?
- Thread starter Foster Kane
- Start date
Samuel H
Major Contributor
there are two different concepts we could be talking about:
* record the HDMI-out of the camera, with something like the atomos ninja; quality will depend on that of the HDMI-out feed from the camera, which on some models means it will be worse than recording to a flash card; plus, not sure about other brands, but if you're using a canon, you'll need magic lantern in order to get an HDMI-out with no overlays, and not all models have that
* record with the camera, to an SSD: theoretically possible but never seen it
you may want to visit this thread:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?238780-Capture-direct-onto-a-Hard-Drive
* record the HDMI-out of the camera, with something like the atomos ninja; quality will depend on that of the HDMI-out feed from the camera, which on some models means it will be worse than recording to a flash card; plus, not sure about other brands, but if you're using a canon, you'll need magic lantern in order to get an HDMI-out with no overlays, and not all models have that
* record with the camera, to an SSD: theoretically possible but never seen it
you may want to visit this thread:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?238780-Capture-direct-onto-a-Hard-Drive
David Shapton
Well-known member
If I may I'd just like to clarify a couple of concepts here.
HDMI is only capable of carrying an uncompressed video signal. This does not guarantee that the uncompressed signal it carries has not been previously compressed. With DSLRs, what happens is that when you record something internally to the camera (ie, either it's internal storage or to memory cards inserted into the camera) it will be compressed. When you play it back, it is uncompressed by the camera before being output through the HDMI port. But all the compression artifacts will be there, because the damage was done when the video was compressed.
A better way to do things is to capture video via HDMI before it has been compressed by the camera, and this is what should happen when you put the camera into Record, or even into Standby.
What happens in practice often falls somewhat short of this.
Sometimes the cameras reduce the quality of the HDMI output while they're in record.
Sometimes there is a viewfinder overlay in the HDMI signal.
And sometimes, both things happen.
If you plug your camera's HDMI feed into a monitor and it looks completely normal, there's a very good chance that you will be able to record it with a device like the Ninja.
As I've said before on this forum and others, we are getting very good results with the vast majority of video cameras, and very patchy results with the majority of DSLRs. We suggest that potential customers politely lobby the manufacturers about this issue, and suggest that they remove what is increasingly looking like a completely artificial restriction on their cameras' use.
Dave Shapton
President
Atomos EMEA
HDMI is only capable of carrying an uncompressed video signal. This does not guarantee that the uncompressed signal it carries has not been previously compressed. With DSLRs, what happens is that when you record something internally to the camera (ie, either it's internal storage or to memory cards inserted into the camera) it will be compressed. When you play it back, it is uncompressed by the camera before being output through the HDMI port. But all the compression artifacts will be there, because the damage was done when the video was compressed.
A better way to do things is to capture video via HDMI before it has been compressed by the camera, and this is what should happen when you put the camera into Record, or even into Standby.
What happens in practice often falls somewhat short of this.
Sometimes the cameras reduce the quality of the HDMI output while they're in record.
Sometimes there is a viewfinder overlay in the HDMI signal.
And sometimes, both things happen.
If you plug your camera's HDMI feed into a monitor and it looks completely normal, there's a very good chance that you will be able to record it with a device like the Ninja.
As I've said before on this forum and others, we are getting very good results with the vast majority of video cameras, and very patchy results with the majority of DSLRs. We suggest that potential customers politely lobby the manufacturers about this issue, and suggest that they remove what is increasingly looking like a completely artificial restriction on their cameras' use.
Dave Shapton
President
Atomos EMEA