[SOLVED] [Canon EOS 550D] Tips to use video mode to record conferences?

[yetanotherlogin]

Hello

A friend owns a Canon EOS 550D digital camera and would like to use it as poor man's camcorder to record conferences.

I don't have a reflex digital camera, so would like any newbie-accessible tips/tutorials to learn how to configure that hardware for best results.

Thank you.

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Edit: More Googling reveals that the EOS 550D, even in VGA mode, can only record up to 29'59" or 4GB, whichever happens first: Does it mean that recording a 2h conference is out of the question? If that's the case, it's a show-stopper

OTOH, provided the camera will simply create new files as it keeps recording, I have a few more questions:

1. Since the video is meant to be uploaded to YouTube/Vimeo/DailyMotion, I guess recording in STD mode (640x480) is good enough to keep the files small. Does it sound like a good idea? Will sound be degraded as well, or remain constant in quality?

2. How big should the SD card be to record a 2h conference? Which should I use: SD, SDHC, and SDXC?

4. Will Sony Vegas Studio be able to handle the H264/PCM MOV file on a regular computer, or should I look at another editing application?

5. How long can the camera shoot a video using the standard battery?

Thank you.

[hech54]

Edit: More Googling reveals that the EOS 550D, even in VGA mode, can only record up to 29'59" or 4GB, whichever happens first: Does it mean that recording a 2h conference is out of the question?

Yes.

[yetanotherlogin]

Arg

Thanks for the info.

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Edit: Here's some infos about why the camera won't record longer videos:

http://www.t2iforum.com/video-specific-general-discussion/eos-550d-maximum-video-recor...time-per-clip/

[yetanotherlogin]

BTW, does it mean that I can just stop recording after 30mn, start again, and just combine the files with eg. Ffmpeg?

[aedipuss]

if you shoot 1080p it will record about 9 minutes, in 720p maybe 12 minutes and then stop. you have to press record again to restart. there will be missing time while you restart.

how long in total depends on the size of your sd card. at 1080p it needs about 26GB/hr. also the sensor tends to overheat if used continuously.

[yetanotherlogin]

Thanks for the infos.