Use of DSLRs for commercial videography: I was watching a TV show documenting how IFC's hit "Portlandia" came to be and how it's made. Apparently, it is mostly, if not entirely, shot...

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

I was watching a TV show documenting how IFC's hit "Portlandia" came to be and how it's made. Apparently, it is mostly, if not entirely, shot with DSLR cameras. The ones I saw appeared to be Canon 5D's, probably Mark II's based on the dates they were shooting. The cameras were mounted on some sort of stabilizing device, and were equipped with compendium hoods.

The show did not go into any detail about the cameras, but it was interesting in any event.

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Handheld seems to be the wave for film projects these days; Canon's video has jumped out in the forefront of most other makers of DSLRs, including Nikon.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Jackm, shortly after the 5dll came out, I know that the entire final episode of "House" was shot using them.
DSLRs are way cheaper than commercial cams and apparently have larger sensors.
One of the reasons that Canon is bringing out new DSLRs and the new mkll lenses is with movie making in mind. I don't know anything about video except what I have read. I have the 5dmkll and don't even know how to turn the video on.
I think it's the wave of the future for indy stuff though.

dirty dave

jackm1943 wrote:

I was watching a TV show documenting how IFC's hit "Portlandia" came to be and how it's made. Apparently, it is mostly, if not entirely, shot with DSLR cameras. The ones I saw appeared to be Canon 5D's, probably Mark II's based on the dates they were shooting. The cameras were mounted on some sort of stabilizing device, and were equipped with compendium hoods.

The show did not go into any detail about the cameras, but it was interesting in any event.

I shoot wedding and legal videos. I use panasonic pro video cameras, I also latley started using my 60D canon to shoot extra videos. To my surprise the 60D picture quality was as good as the pro video cameras the only draw back is sound. If you have a secoundary sound recording it would be perfect. The sound on the 60D was not bad it just wasn't as rich as the pro video camera. (panasonic HMC70 and 150) And someone else may have fiqured out an add on for the sound but as long as I have the other equipment I never looked into it.

davidcaley Loc: Utah

The 5D MII has jack for external mike that really improves audio quality. I am not sure 60D has the jack.
For the writer who does not use Video/Movie, I urge you to learn "Live View" and settings in menu for movie making. Whole new world especially using iMovie on Mac for editing.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

jackm1943 wrote:

I was watching a TV show documenting how IFC's hit "Portlandia" came to be and how it's made. Apparently, it is mostly, if not entirely, shot with DSLR cameras. The ones I saw appeared to be Canon 5D's, probably Mark II's based on the dates they were shooting. The cameras were mounted on some sort of stabilizing device, and were equipped with compendium hoods.

The show did not go into any detail about the cameras, but it was interesting in any event.

Olympus was proud of themselves for making TV commercials with their still cameras about 6 months ago. It was pretty impressive actually. I see no point of it personally. I have a little shirt-pocket Sanyo video cam that has a huge zoom, stereo sound, and shoots in 1080p 60-frame to SDHC cards and cost $189 on Amazon. Why would I drag a big dSLR around for that?