Question: Experiences with using DSLR to record HD Video

[CogoSWSDS]

Years ago I used 35mm SLRs for still photography. Manual focus at that! But back in 2001 made the switch from film to digital. At the same time I went from SLR to P&S. The P&S cameras I've had haven't been bad, but really would like to go back to SLR, only this time DSLR.

My current P&S camera can also take video. It records at 640x480 where my camcorder records at 720x480. The P&S records it to the horrible to work with MOV format, but I do have a process to convert to DVD, and it doesn't look bad on my CRT SDTV. Someday I want to get a HDTV and would like to have some HD footage to play on my shiny HDTV when I finally get it.

I usually use my P&S camera for still pics and my Digital8 camcorder for video, however sometimes it's easier to just take the P&S rather than lug two cameras. So my question is, has anybody used a DSLR to take HD video, and if so, how did you like it? There are times when I'd rather not have to lug 2 cameras, so if I had one camera that could do both, and do them well, that would save me some money as well as only having to take one camera.

HDD space is cheap these days so for me backup is not really a problem. I figured a 2-disk 1TB RAID1 for main storage and another TB disk for offline backup. Software RAID is built into Linux so all I gotta do is get a linux box put together and get the 3 drives.

Thank-you for your opinions!
CogoSWSDS

[zoobie]

I'm buying a DSLR that shoots HD video in about 18 months. Although all cams seem to have their strengths and weaknesses, most of the things I've read about these cams shooting HD is good. Of course, a tripod is recommended when shooting HD. If you can't be bothered carrying around the proper equipment for HD, you may as well stick with low-grade video from a little shakey P & S with a plastic lens.

[jagabo]

http://filmmakermagazine.com/news/2010/03/zacutos-dslr-shootout/