advice needed on buying camera for video

[momtso]

Greetings everyone! I, too, need some enlightenment by the experts on which camera to buy. I am new to the field, so please bear with me and use layman’s terms as much as possible!
Here’s the thing: I am not that much interested in photography as in video. I am actually a musician, and I intend to record “videosongs” (if you are not familiar with the term, you can check one right here )
So basically what I want to do is record myself playing various instruments in a room. Now the effect I am interested in achieving is shallow depth of field. Does this mean DSLR -end-of-story? Or can we achieve the effect with different models, like camcorders or those “bridge” cameras? I am told the sdof effect can also be achieved thru zoom and not necessarily by the aperture. Is this true? How convenient can this be in a 3x5 room, however? I wouldn’t want to have to place the camera in my neighbor’s balcony!
The budget is limited. My optimal price range could be 400-600 euro, but I could go as far as 800 to 900 tops. So, money is an issue. On the other hand, I will not compromise on my prerequisites. I’ll just live on spaghetti for 3 months!
So, the 1st and most important factor is sdof. The second is video quality, which I suppose should be 720 30p minimum.
I am not so sure how many megapixels would suffice, i am open to suggestions. Bear in mind though that I would like to record dimly lit and atmospheric footage (if that’s not much to ask on this budget). That’s the 3rd prerequisite.

Someone proposed this canon (I am quite fond of canon, actually)
Canon Digital Rebel T1i (EOS 500D)
Pretty cool, but the kit lens leaves a lot to be desired.
Canon 18-55mm IS
So do I have to buy an extra lens, something like that perhaps?
Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 Lens Review
Would something like that achieve sdof in a dimly lit room with any decency and without, say, ghosting or blurring? Sadly, the Ti1 has no continuous autofocus. Would the Nicon d3100 be preferable in that respect? Is it really necessary though? The camera will be on a tripod the whole time, shooting a fellow on a chair playing an instrument, not a pet running around.

Of course, I will be using the device for photography as well, but that is really secondary.

Thank you all in advance and I am looking forward to your suggestion, be it a dslr-lens combination, a camcorder, a bridge camera, or whatever.

Bye for now.

 

[iresq]

Your asking a lot for your budget. Were you going to record the audio through the camera or dub back the audio tract. A model you may want to consider is the T2i. Very popular for it's video capability and with a little software add-on, you can get manual audio gain. Depth of field is the biggest benefit to using dslr over a consumer camcorder because of sensor size. You might want to try video specific forums such as dvinfo.net/forum

 

[TheKenTurner]

DO NOT GET T1i!!! IT ONLY RECORDS 1080p AT 20FPS!!! now that I'm done with the yelling, you should get a T2i and an external mic. You should also get magic lantern if you want more video options. I have the T3i also wanting it more for video than photo, but now I love taking photos with the camera as well

 

[Robin Usagani]

^^^^ what he said although I dont think external mic is necessarily that important. I think you should record the sound separately anyway with other method (USB mic to puter or digital sound recorder etc.) and combine. Kit lenses will do the job BUT you want to stay away from keep changing focal point in one continuous shooting. Kit lens is hard to control. So I say the typical kit lenses will do its job: 18-55 and 55-250. You should collaborate with an inspiring videographer though.

 

[TheKenTurner]

^^^^ what he said although I dont think external mic is necessarily that important. I think you should record the sound separately anyway and combine.

What I meant was pretty much to not use the on board mic, because they're SO bad. External mic is probably less expensive then getting all the audio equipment, but if he can afford it, it's Definatly the better option!

 

[Robin Usagani]

USB mic connected to a computer shouldn't be too expensive. But you are correct.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Sorry I wasn't being clear. What I meant was, the OP will probably have several audio takes (if he messes up somewhere). So it is better to take separate audio and not worry too much about what it looks like on video.

 

[Jenschilner]

I made a behind the scens video with the camera Canon D7 we shoot it in 720 you could view the video here if you whant to se the cuality in action.



the video is when I do a fashion shoot enjoy

 

[momtso]

Thank you all for the quick replies. I'm sorry I wasn't clear from the start, yes, audio will be recorded on an entirely different setup, no need to worry about the camera's mic.

Please keep the comments coming, they r extremely helpful!

 

[TheKenTurner]

Here's my video, and an idea of what you could expect from a T3i...

 

[momtso]

@schwettylens, are you saying that the kit lens 18-55 will do the job with sdof?

 

[momtso]

thank you all for your input, it's been extremely helpful. I'm almost decided on the t2i along with the kit lens (for zooming) and the 35 mm f2, for a total of around 900 euro and a lot of spaghetti! If anyone has any objections, please speak now, or forever hold your peace!
I just have one more question. it's been mentioned to me that the canon's drawback is its lack of continuous autofocus, and nicon 5100 was proposed. For the specific purposes of the videosong, this is not a problem, however it may be on other occasions. I suspect, however, that the nicon's autofocus is quite slow, anyway. Can one compensate for this lack in canon by, say, pressing the focus button (you know, halfway) during filming and thus make corrections in the focus as the camera moves? Or is it impossible or inconvenient for some reason I cannot imagine? Should it be made manually by turning the lens? That can't be accurate, especially by a newbie like me!
Thank you again for your time.

 

[Robin Usagani]

It will autofocus if you press the a certain button during filming BUT it wont look good. It will go blurry first and then readjust to sharp. I only use it to get the focus first then start filming. The 35 is a good choice. If you jsut put this camera on a tripod and record you play (focusing distance is somewhat constant), you should have no problem.

 

[Omofo]

thank you all for your input, it's been extremely helpful. I'm almost decided on the t2i along with the kit lens (for zooming) and the 35 mm f2, for a total of around 900 euro and a lot of spaghetti! If anyone has any objections, please speak now, or forever hold your peace!
I just have one more question. it's been mentioned to me that the canon's drawback is its lack of continuous autofocus, and nicon 5100 was proposed. For the specific purposes of the videosong, this is not a problem, however it may be on other occasions. I suspect, however, that the nicon's autofocus is quite slow, anyway. Can one compensate for this lack in canon by, say, pressing the focus button (you know, halfway) during filming and thus make corrections in the focus as the camera moves? Or is it impossible or inconvenient for some reason I cannot imagine? Should it be made manually by turning the lens? That can't be accurate, especially by a newbie like me!
Thank you again for your time.

I would recommend a sony slt for the reason of continuous auto focus and the recording format. The a65 will record 1080p at up to 60fps in avchd format(better then mpeg 4)

 

[iresq]

My understanding, which is limited, is that most (many, a few, some, maybe just me?) manual focus when shooting video. This can be problematic because many of today's cheaper lenses mechanically don't really manual focus all that well. There are some tricks such as figuring out your focal points prior to the shot and marking the lens ahead of time. There are both commercial and diy solutions for focusing. Search follow focus.