Long Form Shooting with 7D...like weddings

[scenedirector]

I've been searching all over the internet, but feel like I haven't found anything solid...yet.

I'm an indie filmmaker that makes a living shooting weddings.
Of course, a lot of video houses have been shooting with HDSLRs, like StillMotion, and others I've seen on vimeo.com.

My question, towards working wedding videographers with HDSLRs, preferably, does the long shooting times overheat your cameras? Should I worry about excessive wear and tear on the camera? If so, how do you work around it? Do you bring 2+ cameras to your shoot, so if one is "down" you have at least one other rolling?

I'm always trying to push the image envelope with my company. We've been shooting in HD and 24p for over 2 years now, and seeing the surge of these HDSLRs with filmmaker friendly options and VERY ATTRACTIVE price tags, is making me think about an equipment transition with my company.

Any real world advice on workflow and working around the issues would greatly help me. The biggest ones being the 12 minute continuous rolling time and the overheating issues.

PS: With the 12 minute recording issue, the only time, in my 8 years of experience, that I'm rolling longer than 12 minutes, continuously, is at the ceremony. That's where I see a concern.

I'll wait eagerly for your experiences and wisdom!

 

[ydgmdlu]

If you get the GH1, then you won't have to worry about overheating and a 12-minute time limit.

If you'd rather get the 7D, then you could have two cameras covering the ceremony and stagger the times when they're recording it. The 7D seems to only overheat after an hour or so. Just let it cool for a few minutes, and you're good to go again.

From your signature, you already seem to have all the glass that you need. If you were to sell your XH-A1 and SGBlade, you would see a significant cost savings even if you got two 7Ds.

 

[visugeek]

the 7D definitely stops recording at 12 minutes, so you have to be prepared for it. Other than that, I think it would do well for you.

The GH1 is a great option too, beautiful picture.

 

[John Froton]

The whole approach to recording long form with the 7D would be to establish ahead of time with the client that planning would need to be done in a similar fashion as shooting on rolls of film where there would need to be breaks in between segmented sequences. It would mean that the shooting of the wedding would have to be incorporated into the wedding plan itself and possible adjustments made as if shooting for a film.

Some clients may like implementing the videography into the foreground like this where some clients may not and would prefer the video being continous in the background.

But with only one camera such as the 7D, I would try to approach it as the video needing to be broken into seperate sequences.

 

[devin wheeler]

i have been shooting weddings for a while now...and we use big hd cams, but i just bought the gh1 for personal use and can actually see how this is going to be a great little camera for weddings...

im excited to try it here soon..

i know you were looking for info on the 7d and i have no experience with it...but you can always use the xh-a1 as a safety angle and do close up work with the 7d during the ceremony.... after the ceremony you could shoot primarily on the 7d


just some thoughts

 

[PSA1]

If you are using external audio recording device then you don't have to worry about 12 minutes limit, audio is still continous, you just have to find a B roll and fill it in, you just have to worry about overheating.

 

[Barry_Green]

i have been shooting weddings for a while now...and we use big hd cams, but i just bought the gh1 for personal use and can actually see how this is going to be a great little camera for weddings...

im excited to try it here soon..

Be aware that the kit lens is very slow, f/4 on the widest angle. If you're going inside in low light situations, you're probably going to need a faster lens.

 

[devin wheeler]

Yea I'm planning on getting the cannon 50mm 1.4 here within the week along with an adaptor from eBay... Going to try and grab something a little widder also

 

[scenedirector]

i have been shooting weddings for a while now...and we use big hd cams, but i just bought the gh1 for personal use and can actually see how this is going to be a great little camera for weddings...

im excited to try it here soon..

i know you were looking for info on the 7d and i have no experience with it...but you can always use the xh-a1 as a safety angle and do close up work with the 7d during the ceremony.... after the ceremony you could shoot primarily on the 7d


just some thoughts

Yeah, I'm thinking of getting 2 7Ds and have the Xh-a1 for a back up. Yeah, the A1 could be the "foundation" audio track and shot angle, while having the 2 7Ds running around getting all the other angles.

Win-win for me and my brides. They get 3 cams capturing their day with some awesome cameras.
I'll probably go this route!

Still worried about the overheating and the long term effects of using these 7Ds as, primarily, video cameras, though.

 

[ydgmdlu]

Still worried about the overheating and the long term effects of using these 7Ds as, primarily, video cameras, though.

But you might not have the 7Ds in the long term. The 7D is so cheap for a video camera, and since wedding videography is your business, you should be able to make back your investment pretty quickly. Then next year, you might replace the cameras with even better video DSLRs.