HD-DSLRs: Is There One For Me?

I mentioned before that I was interested in a High-Definition camera. I still haven't acquired one. I'm known to do a lot of research before buying something expensive. After having looked at the Panasonic GH1 for a while I was then made aware of the 5D MKII. It looks like a fantastic camera albeit the price is enough for me to think twice about committing. Keep in mind I have never owned a DSLR - ever!

So I hesitated, it's what I do.

Then the 7D came out and started smashing stuff, mostly fine china plates. But seriously, It looked like the winner. It was a DSLR with strong video performance.

Good low-light capabilities are on the top of my list when it comes to cameras, and this was why I found myself still glancing upward at the 5D. You see, the 7D doesn't have a full-frame sensor. This means the low-light performance can't match that of the 5D. It just can't OK. "You think you can do these things, but you just can't, Nemo!"

So I was thinking about that for a while and then the 1D MKIV came out - what a beast! It's low-light is unrivaled in the realm of video capable DSLRs and the price way too high for a noob like me. So, I went back to looking at the 7D.

Over the past few weeks me and my friend Richard have been travelling to a camera shop to check out what a 7D can do. Turns out it can't build card-houses!... My initial reaction to the 7D was my amazement at how big it was. I thought all DSLRs were roughly the same size. Turns out that the bigger the camera the better it is. Surprisingly, it was extremely comfortable to hold. However, it didn't matter how long I held that 7D in my hand the price was not going down. So I left the shop still heavily in thought about what I should do.

A few days later and Canon releases the 550D, boasting the same video capabilities as the 7D! The main difference being the 550D has only one Digic 4 processor, whereas the 7D includes two.

The body of the 550D is around the same size as the previously released 500D and is classified as an entry level DSLR, you know for people like me!

I'm still hanging out for some in-depth reviews of this camera. If the reviews come back clean I will most definitely purchase it without to much thinking.

It's available for purchase on the 24th of February. That's only a couple of weeks away!

Image courtesy of dpreview.com

Progression - the act of progressing; forward or onward movement.

This is what's important to me - progression. That is why, when I notice spelling and grammatical errors in my posts I try not to correct them. For at the time of writing, these errors occurred and were left uncorrected by myself at that point of my life and who I was then. In essence, the person who wrote and overlooked those errors is no longer the same person who writes this post. I am not becoming a new person every time I write, more so, I am taking my current level of progression and appending and re-molding as necessary - the human condition if you like.

I also find accepting and expecting errors in anything I create is powerfully liberating and allows my natural progression of skill to continue unhindered.

p.s. A lot of my previous(and possibly future) posts are a little hard to decipher. I was writing my mind when I wrote them and did not intend for them to be universally understood.

Me and Writing.

So at the moment I'm a writer. I have always written my thoughts and experiences down in an attempt to capture them. It's quite hard to capture an idea, story or atmosphere and replicate it in written form so somebody else can understand it.

In High school I had trouble seeing the value or future necessity of quite a few of my subjects. Being caught up with the wrong people did not help me see otherwise. And now, here I am; the byproduct of my past decisions. I know it's not helpful to dwell on the negatives, but one can't help feeling their life would have been different were it not for some of those naive decisions.

Obviously nothing can effect the past and it would be destructive to keep my thoughts in that place while I try to move forward.

Band of Brothers

A 10 part mini-series that takes place during WWII, following Easy Company of the 101st US Airborne division. Each episode feels like a short feature film and has the production quality to match. Some of the episodes were directed by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. 

The creators of Band of Brothers are currently working on another 10 part mini-series titled, The Pacific. Following three Marines during America's battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during WWII. Expected release date is this year (2009).

A Camera for Me?

I have been in the market for a good High-Definition camera for a long while. I regularly visit Vimeo to check out the latest amazing short films. The forums are packed with reviews about various cameras. The Canon HF-10 had caught my eye as being an extremely good camera. And many people could confirm that they too were impressed with this camera. And then I found a post about the soon to be released Panasonic Lumix GH1. Exclaiming at how great this camera is going to be. I read on and found out that it's a D-SLR with full HD video recording. It also allows users to incorporate manual aperture and shutter settings while filming. The standard lens has a built in image stabiliser and a 10x optical zoom.

It will be released in June of this year and has a RRP of A$3,299.00

Here it is:

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Not a movie many people have heard about. I found out about it a few months back while watching an oldish Letterman interview with Michael Cera. Michael is an excellent actor. If his style of acting could be cooked into something edible, it would be the foreign dish that someone brings to a potluck dinner, different, yet surprisingly delicious.

The film has an excellent soundtrack (listening to it now) and goes well with the main themes of the movie, love and friendship.

I may have located the reason for it not being well known in Australia...it was released in the U.S. 3rd of October 2008, but not here!?

Anyway, check it out...somehow.

Freaks & Geeks

Really enjoying it so far. Nice strong characters, good writing and a feel good vibe at the end of every ep. Martin Starr has extracted the majority of the laughs from my lol-chamber, he's a great actor and I'm surprised I haven't seen him in more features. Hang on...I have seen him in numerous features, I just didn't recognise him! Just checked IMDb and he has been in, Knocked Up, Superbad, Adventureland...full list here.

Freaks & Geeks

Knocked Up