"Which camera should I buy?" has never been a harder question to answer as new shooting trends and HD formats seem to be emerging fast and furiously. No one wants to be an early adopter of a camera or format that could be a pricey boat anchor by next year. Mention Laserdisc, Red Ray, DVD camcorders or the price of those original P2 cards and you'll hear feral growls all around.
Summer 2010, we saw the hottest trend and biggest growth market was DSLR video while traditional video cameras gathered dust on the shelf. Price and image quality were two key factors. The Season Finale of House sealed the deal and provided the validation DSLR video shooters had been clamoring for. Professional, broadcast quality video could be shot on a DSLR. Period. The only question that remained was how would the traditional video camera designers respond to the challenge to their market share?
While these video wars play out on the R&D battlefield of Sony, Canon and Panasonic, the rest of us are left to muddle along or watch and wait. But back to the here and now and the choices currently on offer.
Shooting video on a DSLR is often described as "Wild West Fun" but it's not for everyone. One interesting way we've heard it described is to think of DSLR shooting versus a regular camcorder like the difference between driving with a stick shift versus automatic. If you've never learned how to drive a standard and you're suddenly thrown into a sports car and told to drive stick, the results could be mixed. The footage looks awesome, if you know how to get it. Most people adapt fairly quickly with practice and perseverance but others just want to get back to driving auto so they can enjoy the ride without struggle and distractions.
The view from here is that DSLR filmmaking is not going to disappear any time soon. If it's something you want to try and it suits your workflow, it's a great option. If you'd rather stick with a more traditional camera but you want the DSLR look, options are emerging that look promising. Another trend on the video horizon is 3D with Panasonic announcing a consumer 3D camcorder to debut in October. So it appears future-proofing is a thing of the past. What the future holds nobody knows.
Whatever your camera of choice, the main thing is to just get back on the road and enjoy the ride.
