Our cameras fall into two categories - camcorders and video DSLRs.
Our Sony camcorders will be familiar to most filmmakers and students and are very easy to use. They can be operated handheld or via a tripod and have standard sound recording features such as XLR mic inputs and headphone monitoring.
Our video DSLR cameras offer more cinematic potential but are trickier to master. Due to the larger image sensors they can produce wonderfully crisp HD video and enable the shallow depth of field that many filmmakers love to use.
The images below demonstrate the difference between the camera sensors when it comes to depth of field.
Sony Z1 camcorder - f5.6
Canon 5dMKII DSLR - f5.6
As you can see the Sony Z1 has a deep focus (bricks in far wall) whilst the Canon 5D is focusing all attention on the plant in the foreground. This ability is a great tool for filmmakers but comes with a downside - losing focus when the camera or subject is moving!
The other main difference between the camera sensors is about scale. The video DSLRs can be fitted with a wide variety of stills and cinema lenses whilst the Sony camcorders feature a fixed zoom lens. The camcorders have some useful features like ND filters (good for sunny days) and a long focal length (you would need a huge paparazzi lens to emulate this on the DSLR).
The images below show the difference in framing that can be achieved on the cameras at maximum width.
Sony Z1 camcorder at f5.6
Canon 5dMkII at f5.6
This may all be suggesting that the video DSLRs are superior and in many ways they are. The problem of sound monitoring can be overcome by recording sound separately using our digital audio recorder.
For ease of use and to ensure focus during event filming such as weddings we would still recommend our camcorders. If you want to be a bit more creative then try a video DSLR, we are open Monday to Friday if you want to try one out.
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