4 Top Features of the Canon EOS 70d Camera

The Canon EOS 70d is a well-rounded camera intended for the enthusiast photographer. The feature-packed EOS 70d includes the most in demand specifications, along with several upgrades from earlier models (simple-to-use touch screen, WiFi and 20.2MP APS-C sensor) to create a camera that feels comfortable in the hand and well made. Here are four standard features seen on this popular Canon camera:

Touch screen

The touch screen on the EOS 70d makes light work of changing almost any setting using the Q menu. The touch screen menu is highly responsive and crystal clear to look at. It even includes an option to pinch-zoom pictures for better clarity when viewing the latest snapped images. Besides the onscreen controls, the menus are backed up with standard physical controls to take care of the basic shooting options if preferred. The touch screen is also design to flip out to one side to make easier viewing. This is especially helpful when working with video format.

Auto focus

A high-quality auto focus system is essential to take sharp pictures. The EOS 70d is installed with the latest Dual Pixel AF technology to make it easier to shot fast-moving objects. This DSLR auto focus system includes a total of 19 focal points. This increases the cameras capabilities to focus on the subject. Also, the 70d comes with a bigger 20.2MP sensor to help improve the contrast and clarity of the picture quality.

Video

A further aspect of the Dual Pixel AF technology is the ability to increase the quality of video recordings. Earlier models of the DSLR cameras had issues with loss of focus as objects moved around. This problem is solved with the 70d due to its ability to swiftly auto focus as the camera is moved from subject to subject. The camera supports standard HD (50 and 60p) and full HD video (24, 25 and 30p) capture.

WiFi

The Canon EOS 70d includes WiFi as standard and a welcome feature for a number of reasons. WiFi access offers complete ease in connecting the camera to a computer, tablet or smart phone. This makes it easy to download and view pictures using the Canon EOS app. Pictures can also be printed to a wireless printer or viewed on a DLNA equipped TV. Another benefit of using the app is the ability to remote control the camera. This is certain to help the photo shots taking place in a studio.

Get a lot more information on the impressive features of the Canon EOS 70d camera.

Article Source: Leo_Eigenberg

Pros and Cons of Shooting Video With a DSLR Camera

*DSLR stands for Dig­i­tal Sin­gle Lens Reflex. It's the cam­era that pho­tog­ra­phers use.

In 2008 Canon start­ing adding a video mode to their DSLR cam­eras. They had no idea the phe­nom­e­non that it would bring.

DSLRs have huge sen­sors (the mech­a­nism that con­verts light to video) and way more, cheaper, high qual­ity lenses (also referred to as "glass").

These fac­tors give DSLR cam­eras very sharp imagery as well as a very shal­low depth of field. Depth of field or Dof, refers to the focus of the image or video. A deep Dof is when the fore­ground and the back­ground of an image are both in focus. You see this com­monly in land­scape shots.

Shal­low Dof is when one part of the image is in focus while the rest is not. For exam­ple, imag­ine a romance movie. About 3/4 of the way through the film, the man and woman run to one another and kiss in the rain. On a close-up of them kiss­ing, you'd see them in focus, with the back­ground out of focus. You see it all the time in the movies, almost always used dur­ing back and forth dia­logue when 2 actors are talk­ing. This is a very sought after look by video pro­fes­sion­als and before DSLR video was extremely expen­sive to achieve. DSLR cam­eras achieve this look for a fifth of the price.

I started my videog­ra­phy career with a Sony VX-2000. It's an older lit­tle Sony pro­sumer standard-def cam­corder. After I mas­tered that I was ready to upgrade to a Hi-def cam­era, but I didn't have much money and good cam­eras are very expen­sive. I saw the qual­ity that DSLRs are capa­ble of and I became very inter­ested. The Canon 60D was in my price range and I bought it. It came with a 18-135mm EF-S lens. It shot 1080i and 720p at 24, 30 and 60fps (frames per sec­ond). It was a good cam­era and I really liked it. How­ever I got the oppor­tu­nity to upgrade to the Mer­cedes Benz of DSLRs.... The Canon 5D Mark II. I also got it with a 24-105mm canon L-series lens. It shoots beau­ti­ful, crys­tal clear, film­like video and I love it. Now here are the pros and cons

What's great about DSLRs for video, and the rea­son they are so pop­u­lar, is the film­like qual­ity with the shal­low depth of field you can obtain for a much, much lower price. For exam­ple, experts often com­pare the canon 5d mark II to the Red One cam­era, which costs $25k. Now of course the Red One is a nicer cam­era, it shoots at 2k res­o­lu­tion, but it's $25,000, the canon 5d mark II is $2,500 and the qual­ity is com­pa­ra­ble. For Inter­net and DVD pur­poses, the qual­ity is neg­li­gi­ble. In the­atre it would be obvi­ous, but what your video looks like in movie the­atres is not rel­e­vant to most. Any­way the point is the qual­ity for the price is incredible.

Now here's the cons. No mat­ter how awe­some the video qual­ity is, it doesn't change the fact that DSLRs are built for still pho­tog­ra­phy and only recently started offer­ing video. This means that they have crude audio capa­bil­i­ties. No man­ual audio gain con­trols with­out hacks or patches, no xlr (high qual­ity audio input), the built in mic is too low qual­ity to use, also it's small and with­out a han­dle so it's dif­fi­cult to oper­ate smoothly and it doesn't have a con­trolled zoom.

All these cons have workarounds but it's a more dif­fi­cult process than with a reg­u­lar video cam­era and it costs money. Even with these costly extras DSLR cam­eras are still worth the money but the ease of use and time it takes to bal­ance out the short­com­ings depend entirely on you. You absolutely have to get a sta­bi­liz­ing rig for smooth shoot­ing off the shoul­der, oth­er­wise your footage will be too shaky. These rigs aver­age around $500 with the higher qual­ity ones around $2,000. You can do what some peo­ple do and build your own rig or order the com­po­nents sep­a­rately and assem­ble it your­self. I'm going to do an entire post ded­i­cated to choos­ing or build­ing a rig and once it's com­plete I'll insert a link to it here.

Because the DSLR has poor audio capa­bil­i­ties, what most peo­ple do is buy a portable audio recorder to cap­ture audio sep­a­rately from the cam­era. You plug your mic in use that to dig­i­tally record your audio. Thats a great way to get high qual­ity audio, the prob­lem is, since the video and audio are not being recorded by the same device, you'll need to sync these in post. You can do this man­u­ally using the a clap­per or snap etc. but there is a much sim­pler solu­tion which is a pro­gram called plural eyes. Plural eyes will auto­mat­i­cally sync your video to your audio in your time­line. It does this by lin­ing up the sep­a­rately recorded audio wave­forms to the audio wave­forms recorded by your low qual­ity built in cam­era mic. It's not always per­fect but if you're get­ting decent audio from your cam­era then it works quickly and effec­tively. There's also a sis­ter pro­gram called dual eyes that will auto­mat­i­cally sync all the video files to all the audio files out­side of your edit­ing application.

In con­clu­sion, DSLRs give you excel­lent qual­ity for the price. How­ever, you'll need to decide for your­self whether or not the short­com­ings of shoot­ing with a pho­tog­ra­phy cam­era are accept­able to you as a video creator.

I hope this article outlining the pros and cons of shooting video with a DSLR has been helpful to you...

For more information regarding videography or editing, please visit The Video Genius.

Lowell Brillante
Videographer and Digital Editor
Charlotte NC
http://www.TheVideoGenius.com

Article Source: Lowell_Brillante

Canon XA10 HD Professional Camcorder Review

If you are looking for a camcorder that's compact and easily portable, but loaded for bear with memory capacity, HS video quality up to spec for the high-end studios, a ton of features only found in professional models, and priced at a consumer camcorder value, you cannot do better than the Canon XA10 HD Professional Camcorder.

With a 6-blade shutter, expandable memory slots, options for infrared shooting and subject tracking, as well as technology developed by Canon Labs specifically for the film industry, the XA10 Professional Camcorder is perfect for professional videographers and home users alike. The ease of use and high-compatability means you can use your camera in controlled environments and out in the wild, and then playback or edit your captured video on practically any device - from your home theater system to your computer (regardless of operating system).

Let's take a look at a few (out of nearly countless) of the features:

The AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) codec has become the industry standard for digital recording since it was first announced in 2006. As such, the Canon XA10 Professional Camcorder uses the AVCHD Codec to provide the highest quality video without using much memory. This translates to longer recording capabilities with lossless playback.

The Canon XA10 Camcorder has a built-in 64GB Flash Memory, enabling users to record up to 24 hours of video. The two expansion slots for additional Flash Memory cards gives you the ability to increase the amount you can record by 3 times that!

The built-in Canon 1920 x 1080 CMOS Image Sensor is another thing that sets the XA10 HD Professional Camcorder above all the rest. Using the LED touch screen, you can point to your subject matter and the XA10 will keep your target in focus - even if you are trying to follow your subject in a crowded area. The Canon Image Sensor also allows for enhanced lighting options, making sure that colors remain vivid and the clarity of your video is crystal clear. The lossless playback ensures that what you capture on video with the XA10 is exactly how your eyes saw it the first time, in all its brilliance.

The Canon XA10 also features Canon SmartAuto. This is usually found in high-end professional cameras because once you use it to stay focused on a shot, so long as your subject matter stays in frame, the SmartAuto feature will keep your subject in view with the clearest video capture you've ever experienced, without any noise in the video as the lens transitions to dial-in at various distances and angles.

Infrared Recording has become an invaluable device for security agencies, law enforcement, nature documentarians, and those whose video project require dark or night time environments. With the Canon XA10 HD Professional Camcorder, you can get those "shots in the dark" without disturbing your subject matter. The infrared sensor and emitter allow you to capture your video undetected with high definition and clarity.

The XA10 sports a 3.5-inch LED touch screen. This shows you 100% of what you are recording with the XA10 HD Professional Camcorder itself. If that weren't enough to set it apart from other camcorders in the same price range, the touch screen allows you to navigate the option menus, as well as taking advantage of the Canon "Touch and Record" technology. Simply touch the display screen and the Canon XA10 will focus on that particular point in the viewing field. If you want to take it one step beyond, touch your subject matter on the screen and the XA10 HD Professional will track your subject as it moves within the frame.

The Canon XA10 HD Professional Camcorder functions like a big studio camcorder, but is also compact for ease of use and storage. The removable handle not only makes storing and transporting the XA10 much easier, but it also allows for expansions such as external microphones, remote controls, and tripod mounting. The Canon XA10 can also make use to additional lenses for underwater recording, wide angle shots, and extra long distance and tight focusing.

When it comes time to transfer your video or to play it back, you will find that the Canon XA10 Professional Camcorder can be used with HDMI, component, and RCA equipment. The versatility of the AVCHD codec means that your captured video will play back on almost any device, as well as being compatible with practically any video editing software on the market today.

Whether you are making professional films, documentaries, shooting a formal event, capturing video of friends and loved ones during holiday gatherings, or posting a quick clip to your blog - the Canon XA10 HD Professional Camcorder is perfect for all of your needs and ideas.

For a quick breakdown of pros and cons from reviews taken from both professionals and personal users, just take a look at the following:

Pros:

1. Works like professional industry camcorders.

2. Subject tracking and green/red on-screen monitors ensure you get the highest quality video without noise.

3. Most features and highest quality for the price.

4. Amazing built-in features and expandability make the XA10 more diverse than any camera in its range.

Cons:

1. On-screen menus can sometimes seem too extensive.

2. Cinema mode may seem too amateurish compared to high-end production software.

3. Removable handle may cause rattling if not secured properly to the XA10 Professional Camcorder.

Armed with all of this information, you should take a look at the Canon XA10 HD Professional Camcorder for yourself. You can check out the specs and see what other have to say about using the XA10 by looking at the comprehensive Canon XA10 Review.

Article Source: Igor_Anatolyevich_Soyka