Oh, how times have changed. Just two short years ago, I was shooting on a Panasonic HVX200, previewing my footage on a Marshall monitor, and using a G35 lens adapter in order to achieve depth of field. These were wretched times in which one was forced to make a choice between quality and speed. On one hand, if I was trying to capture beautifully focused footage with a shallow depth of field, I would inevitably be running around like a chicken with his head cut off just trying to get my shots in the limited time my clients gave me. With all of the accessories hanging off my camera, it was not only awkward to carry, but difficult to manage as well. On the other hand, I could go out with just my HVX in hand and get some average shots with little hassle; with the caveat of never being able to know if I was truly in focus. It was a very difficult choice to make, but with my perfectionist tendencies, I found myself siding with the latter leading to numerous headaches and many near heart attack moments.

Fast forward just two years and we now have the dawn of a new age shining on us. The age of the DSLR, or digital single lens reflex camera. Instead of wild camcorder rigs like the one I was mentioned above, it is now possible to get the same depth of field with better resolution, frame rate options, and light sensitivity than even some HD camcorders have. Plus, all of this can be shot on a Compact Flash card which can easily be bought at your choice of any big box retail store. I say all of this as a result of having used a DSLR this past week to shoot some clips for a Videomaker Instructional DVD called Basic Editing. In the segment I’m working on, I wanted to make a mock commercial showing the benefits of small town life. What I came to find out was that shooting compelling and aesthetically pleasing shots with this camera was easier than I ever thought possible. Not only did I have a huge amount of frame rates, ISO’s, and f-stops to choose from, but I was also to easily focus my shots even with a high amount of depth of field. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a trend in camcorder design lately to eliminate the traditional viewfinder in favor of the LCD panel (such as the Canon HFS-100). And in my opinion it’s good riddance.

I’m going to probably break with most of my professional camera op brethren here, but I’ve become a complete convert to operating the camcorder using the LCD screen. I rarely bother to squint into the viewfinder anymore and these are the reasons:

I wear glasses. I know that all viewfinders have a diopter control that will compensate for my less than stellar vision, but it’s annoying to have to raise my glasses up and down constantly to check both the camera and the real life set.

Having one eye closed all the time is annoying, and takes a while to re-compensate to the real world environment. When seconds count, being able to take your head out from behind the camera and being aware of your surroundings makes it much more likely you will be able to capture what’s about to happen, rather than what’s in frame right now.

The resolutions of viewfinder screens are generally awful. In the SD days, you could still focus reliably using the viewfinder. But with today’s HD resolutions you still have to use all the focusing tools such as peaking and image magnification in order to get an acceptable focus. So what’s the point? Why not use the much larger, and (more likely higher resolution) LCD panel?

I haven’t seen a really good viewfinder since they were mini tube tv’s anyway. Film cameras are totally different, looking through the viewfinder to a nice piece of ground glass, is amazingly sharp and detailed. Looking through a plastic tube into a tiny LCD panel is just disappointing.

I know that the biggest obstacle is shooting outdoors in bright light, and that the LCD panel gets washed out very easy on a bright day. But they are getting better in this regard, some cameras such as Sony’s EX-1 actually use the sunlight, and optically direct it behind the screen to increase brightness.

That’s still the only drawback I can find, and one that’s easily worked around simply by shading the screen with your hand in most cases.

So what about you, so you still find viewfinders useful?