And here we are.  Those of us who jumped and those of you still peering over the edge measuring the distance to the water.  So, here it is.  The scoop, the skinny, the low-down straight up. 

First, a little cold water on your video wet dreams:  This camera will not be suitable for all types of video shooting situations.  If you need a video camera that will work in any situation, this isn't it. 

A second splash of ice water: If you don't know anything about video, the video you shoot with this camera will look like crap.  You can trust me on that, I have some really crappy examples to prove it.  That's if you can get past the video suddenly freezing, segments interrupted by an agonizingly slow auto-focus adjustment, or video that suddenly changes brightness because you left it on auto.  So if your dream was a $2,000 camera that would turn you into Michael Bay, with legions of bikini clad starlets lining up to wash your Lamborghini, allow me to assure you that's not going to happen.

Now that we've thoroughly trashed your dreams of fortune and glory, we can have a candid discussion about what this camera will and will not do for you. 

The first thing that becomes apparent is that Canon really did intend this model to primarily be a still camera, and one that spends the bulk of its life on either Full Auto or CA (Creative Auto).  Something it does exceedingly well. 

Now let's get more specific--video tips by Bill

Turn Of Auto Settings

This is the first thing to do with any new camera that shoots any kind of video. For some reason, they come from the factory with every imaginable automatic function on. Sometimes you have to hunt to make sure you're in full manual.

First thing to do after turning the camera on is turn the dial to the M--for Manual--position. Turn auto focus off. Turn auto white balance to daylight, tungsten, or white balance manually. If you're in manual mode, unlike a regular video camera the 7D's shutter will be in manual too.

OK, let's say you've read the manual and are in full manual mode and you're an experienced cameraman who's been shooting with professional video cameras for some time. What issues are you going to run into when shooting video with a DSLR?

The short answer is: several. But not to worry. They can all be overcome. First thing to realize  is that the camera is a still camera, laid out like a still camera. It handles like a still camera and in fact it is a great still camera. If you're shooting video with it, however, it is a rather awkward to use video camera. It's going to be different from any one you've used in the past.

Keep Your Fingers Off That Zoom Ring

There is no electronic zoom control, no adjustable speed zoom control, no slow, creeping zooms, no feathering of zooms in and out. If you have a zoom lens on the camera, you will use the zoom function only to change focal lengths, or perhaps to zoom in for critical focus. So pretend you're shooting a feature film with prime lenses and forget about zooming. This will make you a better cameraman anyway.

And speaking of lenses, shooting with a DLSR is all about lenses, even when shooting video. Gone are the days when you pick up the camera and it has a built-in lens that opens to f1.8 and gives you a 20:1 ratio. To equal the lens you may have been using if you had a 1/3" chip HDV camera, you'll need a wide angle zoom, a normal range zoom and a telephoto zoom. Or, if you have the money a nice set of prime lenses would be even better. Canon's L type lenses are superb and superbly expensive. Their EF lenses are good and very useable for most work most people do most of the time. One nice thing about Canon's EF lenses is that you can nearly always sell them and upgrade to L lenses if you want.

Here's what I have at present: A Tamron 17-35 zoom which is f2.8 at the wide end and f4 at the long end, a Canon EF 50 mm f1.8 lens, and the Canon EF 28-135 kit lens that lists for $400 but cost $200 as part of the 7D package. The 28-135 is fairly slow in that it opens up only to an f3.5. With video, the faster lenses are better, and naturally they cost more. The ones that do not stop down as you zoom in cost even more. The Canon 24-70 f2.8 L lens is superb and well over $1,000. Tamron has a very nice 17-55 lens that is comparable to Canon's EF-S lens in that same range. If a Canon lens has an S after the EF, that means it does not cover the full 35mm size frame and would not be appropriate for a camera such as the 5DMKII. Because if it's APS-C size chip, the 7D can use all the Canon EF and EF-S lenses, as well as equivalent lenses from other manufacturers. The Tokina 11-16 mm lens seems to be popular among 7D users these days. That would be a nice wide angle lens to have.

Some people may prefer to spend money on longer lenses, depending on the type of work they do. There are some in the 70-300 mm range that are very inexpensive and not bad if you stay out of the extremes--ie., don't shoot wide open zoomed all the way out or all the way in; try to shoot in the mid-range of f-stops.

Don't Touch That Dial!

If you're in the NTSC world and doing more filmic type things, you probably will do most of your shooting in 1080P/24. That means the shutter speed should be set at 1/50. If shooting at 30 fps, use a 1/60 shutter speed. This is the same as you would do with a professional camera, although most have a 1/48 setting for 24 fps speed. The 1/50 is close enough and for practical purposes is the same thing.

Still photographers getting into video with a DSLR are often seen using the shutter speed to adjust exposure. That's what you do when shooting stills. That's not what you do when shooting video. A lower shutter speed will make the footage stuttery or blurry, and a faster speed will cause other types of motion weirdness. One fun thing to do is aim your camera at a spinning fan blade and crank the shutter speed higher and higher and watch what happens. Eventually you get the fan to appear almost static or to even look as if it's going backwards in slow motion.

Until you're very familiar and had plenty of hands on time with the camera, be careful to check your shutter speed with every shot. It's very easy to turn the shutter dial when you want to turn the aperture knob. My fingers haven't learned which is which yet.

In order to control exposure and not have to shoot stopped down all the way in bright sunlight, you'll need three ND filters. A .9 for sure, as well as a .6 and .3. If a .9 is not enough you can stack the .3. If a .9 is too much, you can use the .6 or .3. Just like shooting with a motion picture camera. If you already have a matte box on rails, then 4x4 filters are the ticket. If not, you can use step-up rings for your different lenses if you buy filters sized for your biggest one. If your biggest lens has 77mm threads, for example, buy 77mm filters and a step-up ring for your 72mm lens, etc. Still camera stores are good places to find those rings cheaper than professional video supply stores. 

Another alternative is to use Series 9 filters and adapter rings for each lens size. Series 9 filters have no threads--they are 90mm in size, and you sandwich each one within a retainer ring and a stepdown ring. They're expensive but handy.

A matte box can be a bit of a challenge depending on which lenses you have. If you got the 28-135 kit lens, you'll notice that when you zoom in, the front barrel of the lens extends up to about an inch or more. That means you need a matte box that has a foam ring to go around the lens, or one that has the black pouch with drawstring around the lens (like most teleprompters have). 

I tried using my Lee Wide Angle Lens Hood, which I bought for the XH A1. It doesn't use rails because it's very light and screws to the end of the lens like a filter. It has two slots for 4x4 filters. Perfect for the XH A1, but on the 7D with the kit lens, the very light weight pulls down on the  lens barrel enough to bind it, making turning the zoom ring difficult and probably not good for the lens. I believe the L lenses do not extend when zooming--another reason to lust after the good and pricey glass.

Get a Tripod

It's tempting to get the video and still functions of a hybrid camera confused in your mind. "Hey, it's a still camera--I can get all these cool hand-held shots."

Wrong. It's very difficult to hand hold this camera smoothly enough for video. Even with a well balanced normal video camera, you really can't get good hand held shots unless you're shooting at a wide angle. That means using something like a 17 or 18mm lens. Also, it's almost impossible to do steady hand held without an eyepiece type attachment to convert the LCD into a viewfinder. These range from about $200 to $400. I've ordered the IDCPhotography device, which is a Hoodman 3.0 attached to a machined bracket that fits onto the bottom of the camera. You need the eyepiece so you can treat the DSLR more like a regular video camera, meaning you can hold it up to your eye, which provides a third point of contact and helps to stabilize a hand held shot. Or you can use a shoulder mount. Simply grabbing the camera and trying to shoot video as you would stills will not give you satisfactory results in most cases.

Presets Are Your Friends

Learn to use the presets. Download the software from the CD you got with the 7D. Spend some time finding presets you like and tweaking them to your preference. So far I've just been using the Neutral setup in the camera, with a little desaturation. I've found I need to take the contrast down a bit as well. You need to hook up to a good monitor to do these setups properly, or shoot tests and play back on a good monitor.

Overall, if you're a video guy coming into the HDSLR world, it's going to take you a little time and effort and testing to achieve a comfort level. Once you've got it down, you'll love the camera, but it's going to be awkward at first. If you're getting into video from still photography, you've got a longer learning curve. The camera is only the tip of the iceberg, and a great camera does not a great cinematographer make.

Now Let's Talk About Sound

Sound is a problem with the HDSLR cameras. The Magic Lantern shareware has gone a long way to helping out, but so far it's only available for the 5DMKII. It will be available for the 7D, hopefully soon. In the meantime, if you want to shoot interviews, dialog, etc., you need to go double system sound. Just like shooting film. Why? Because the camera has auto gain, no metering--ie., it's unusable for anything other than grabbing ambient sound. 

There are two inexpensive and very slick little flash recorders out there, the Zoom H4N and the Tascam DR-100. Both are about $300. The Tascam lists for $429 but B&H has it for $329. Both have a 1/4" socket on the bottom and can be mounted via a hotshoe adapter. both have XLR inputs.