HD DSLR Video Revolution

HD DLSR Revolution is here, and has been for a few years already.

If this is news for you then this will get you up to speed on what's happening.

The evolution of hand-held digital SLR cameras has been crucial to low-budget film making, but now the industry at large is catching on to this technology with HD DSLR being widely used on big-budget productions.

Many people are hailing the use of the new breed of Canon DSLRs to shoot beautiful ‘filmic’ looking video as something akin to the second coming, due to their incredibly large sensors, amazing low-light sensitivity and affordability. But what does it mean in the grand scheme of things?

This affordability is key to this revolution, as that is exactly what it is; a revolution. We now have cameras from Canon on the market that shoot full HD 24p and 25p video, with one as cheap as sub £1,000 to the most being around £5,000-although the key players (the 7D and the 5D MKII) are available for less than £2,000.

The new 5D mkIII is available at around £3,000 with greater ISO capabilities, new headphone mic and other noteable improvements

Of course good lenses are a necessity, as are accessories, which essentially turn the terrible ergonomics of the stills camera body into something totally usable. These do add to the cost, but we are talking under £10,000 for a very capable filmmaking package using 35mm optics and depth of field similar-and in a couple of the cameras even shallower-to what 35mm digital and film cameras can currently offer. 

The price revolution has given budget filmmakers, event videographers and weekend warriors tools which can, with the necessary skill, let you create images more cinematic than we could dream of.

But now these cameras are finding their way onto big-budget TV shows and even movies. True, most of the time they are being used for B, C or even D cameras. Not the main cameras, which are still generally 35mm, F35, RED etc, but now the ability to get that extra angle without the high cost of renting a whole camera is available. And, sometimes, it’s hard to tell in an edit which camera was used for which shot.