the miracle suit I expect a great new year. I have some new lenses and some new video gear and I have spent the last few days getting to know them. That\'s my running shoe footprint in the snow. The implication here is that I am running and have restarted my exercise program. You\'d be partially correct. Since I started the christmas diet 3 weeks ago I have lost negative 1.5 lbs. NOT BAD! Now it\'s time to get back at it. I am actually going to rant a bit about video. HD video to be exact. HD video is complex and heaven above knows why people want to take this on with DSLR cameras (or m43 for that matter). HD videography is actually FAR MORE complex than hitting the Auto Record button. You can control for all the factors that are required in photography, and you need to be able to apply other filters during your shoot, and even alter frame rates and capture scans between interpolated and progressive. Which one to use for my daughter figure skating, which one at the waterfall or sunset. And once you have the image down, you have to be concerned with audio. You need a variety of external microphones and dead cats. You need to have some kind of image stabilizer which means you are now a videographer, foley and grip.... what else, electrician and computer tech.... Yeah, shooting HD video ( WELL ) is way more complicated than my old super 8. Now, some of you already know that I have a great HDV cam for the last 3 years. The SONY FX1000 is a great camera for the \"pro-sumer\" which I believe translates into Professional Consumer, as opposed to the Amateur Consumer.... riff raff. The Sony FX 1000 is a three sensor video camera that records to HDV tape. That\'s 3 EXMOR 1/3in CMOS sensors to you. The wide angle, 20 power Sony G lens is a miracle. About the only professional feature it lacks is a few manual controls for audio as well as XLR jacks. The quality of the HD video is absolutely spectacular. The problem with the FX 1000 is that it is huge. And like DSLR\'s the more you pay for it the less bells and whistles. It\'s a real camera. You get built in ND filters, IRIS controls, Shutter Speed Controls and a lot of other stuff specifically made for video. If you want filters, put them on the front, or do it all in post. With this camera you are buying quality. Smooth, clear HDV. I was tired of looking at SD video of my daughter skating, so after doing my homework and researching further on HD video cameras I decided on a Canon Vixia H FM 40. It has a few spiffy modes but the main feature is a one third inch CMOS Pro sensor. While there is a lot to learn about this little handy camera the first thing I can tell you is that learning the various shooting modes - in particular 30 P for web ready editing versus 60 I for smooth-moving nature among others - will create a steep learning curve. The one thing which I can say about video cameras is that the sensors are far more suited to shooting HD video. This 1/3 inch sensor in the HFM 40 produces an absolutely spectacular HDV image. What is your DSLR doing with the other 10-20 megapixels not needed for HDV??? It has a lot of bells and whistles however they are all accessed through a menu. The lack of manual controls in these consumer cameras makes them almost useless for professional video but way more useful than a DSLR. The small nature of the camera however results in the ability to get some excellent video capture in a very small form factor. To shoot the same HD video with an SLR camera would require a rig and $20,000. You look like an idiot walking around taking videos of your kids with a kit like that. My apologies in advance to those of you who may be doing this at present. Anyways, much more to come.
