Question
I have made a few short films and plan to get more serious about it, but professional digital video cameras are generally expensive and the recent line of beginner DSLRs which can take HD video like Canon 550D gets cheaper. I wonder what pros and cons of video DSLRs over traditional video cameras are and if I should buy a new DSLR for film-making if I have already had a DSLR (Nikon D50).
Answer
I tried to list the pros and cons in a vacuum (ie ignoring external factors). For example, handycams have much better mics than than dSLR's, however you have the option of using either a dedicated recording system, or a solid quality mic. So the mic is still a con, but it's easily mitigated.
Pros
- Access to awesome lens lineup
- Amazing low-light performance
- Use existing equipment, instead of separate video hardware
- Lighter travel
- Great performance for low cost compared to dedicated video cameras.
- AWESOME photo image quality
- Lens based image stabilization
- build format (this can be a con as well)
- Familiarity with camera body
- In the right hands, with the right accessories, produces professional results.
- Depth of Field
- Huge image sensor
Cons
- Dedicated video cameras are designed for video
- Auto focus
- Video Format Support
- Video File Size
- Only flash media
- Sensor overuse causing heating issues
- built-in audio sucks
- very few bells and whistles for video. Since camera bodies are first and foremost for photography, most features are geared towards still photos (bracketing, AEB, etc). Features that you expect from a dedicated video camera (stereo mic, video outputs galore, jog-scrolling, enhanced playback features, dub over, etc) may not be present
- "Jello/Jelly" Motion Effect caused by the CMOS Sensor when panned quickly. Not all dSLR bodies exhibit this.
- build format (this can be a pro as well)
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