Re: DSLR + HD VIDEO - which one to choose?

I also think that a shorter DOF has more to do with 'film look' than frame rate so for me 24 fps is not so important but 25 fps is as I live and work in a PAL land. Which pretty much excludes 5DmkII for me for a daily workflow. Quality frame rate conversion is a slow process and still yield artifacts, especially with overlapping motion. Also bear in mind that 5DmkII runs at exactly 30 fps, not NTSC 29.97. The GH1 has also over-cranking as default in 720 mode (59.94 fps NTSC / 50 fps PAL).

As for the depth of field difference between GH1 / 35mm movie cameras and full frame still cameras like 5dmkII is not a matter of closing the aperture "a little":

A 'normal' field of view is achieved with a 25mm lens on the GH1 and for a workable DOF with moving actors / objects / photo models moving in z-direction you mostly don't want to open up more than 2.8 or you need a pretty experienced focus puller. To get the same DOF with a 'normal' 50 mm lens on the 5DmkII, you have to stop down to 8.0 - a whole 3 steps. OK - the larger sensor on 5DmkII is more light sensitive but not by that amount.

Should also mention that a lot of people including Illya Friedman of Hot Rod Cameras and myself have concluded that the GH1's ISO ratings are conservatively valued by Panasonic. IE: GH1 is more light sensitive than the ISO hints to compared to other brands. Look at the ISO values given with-in the Birns and Sawyer film to check that.

cheers



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