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We’ve been using the Canon 60D for 10 months now and I’ve already posted twice about our experiences with the camera. We’ve used it for TV commercials, marketing videos and short-form promotional videos, many of which involved on-camera talent requiring scenes with dialogue and on-camera spokespeople.

So what are my thoughts now that I’ve used it extensively? Well…you can get great results using these cameras, but when it comes to ergonomics and workflow in the field, the 60D (and DSLR cameras in general) just doesn’t compare to a dedicated professional video camera. The 60D certainly has its share of good qualities, especially its excellent video quality. It’s also generally easy to operate. But in my opinion, using DSLR cameras as your “A” camera for professional projects simply requires too many peripheral devices and convoluted cabling setups.

The two biggest issues are with sound recording and monitoring and external video monitoring. Even though the 60D has manual audio controls, unless you’re willing to load third party firmware (called Magic Lantern) every time you turn the camera on, controlling audio levels and monitoring is a convoluted process, requiring microphone preamps, a separate digital sound recorder (mainly for backup) and crazy cabling setups. You also cannot see your VU meters while shooting. The only way to check those is by way of a menu setting during your sound check. You can monitor sound through a separate field mixer or mic preamp while shooting, but it’s a bit disconcerting to not have a meter to check as well.

We’ve also experienced an odd, high-pitched noise on the auido of some of the 60D’s digital files. Oddly, the corresponding audio on our Zoom H2 recorder sounds perfect. This is significant because both signals are coming from the same mixer! We’ve ruled out the microphones, the cabling setup and the cabling itself through extensive testing. Unfortunately, we have not been able to rule out or duplicate the problem in our mixer/preamp (an ART Dual PreUSB). So it’s either an intermittent problem in this small mixer, or it’s a problem somewhere in the 60D’s audio circuitry.

Since I haven’t officially been able to rule it out, I can’t say with certainty the 60D has a problem. I will say that when I put the uncompressed .wav files recorded by the Zoom next to good audio files recorded with the 60D, they’re indistinguishable, both on the waveform and to my ears. So the perception that Canon DSLR cameras record “dirty” sound doesn’t hold water….unless of course our 60D is what’s generating that occasional high-pitched noise. My guess is it’s in the mixer, but until I can prove it I really can’t say where it’s coming from. Having the Zoom files available solved any post-production problems, but it’s still a pain to have to record separate sound. 

Video monitoring is yet another pain. You can send an HDMI signal to an HDMI capable monitor, but you can’t get rid of many of Canon’s on-screen menus, such as exposure readings and center frame markings (unless you use Magic Lantern). Same goes for SD monitoring, which can be utilized with a Canon supplied cable. But the down-converted composite signal is positively awful and is only good for framing and very general exposure checks.

And sending a signal to a second monitor for client viewing is a nightmare via HDMI. You either need an LCD monitor with HDMI loop-through (I’m only aware of 2 that are available, one from Marshall and one from Lilliput); or an HDMI splitter. We already owned a $1000 LCD monitor with HDMI input, so I bought an HDMI splitter. Then I bought another one, then another one….well…you get the picture. They DON’T work. I’ve yet to figure out why, but with all three units, one from Sewell Direct, one from Monoprice, and one from B&H Photo, getting a signal on both monitors required a crazy sequence of first plugging in one monitor, then plugging in power to the splitter, then waiting 10-20 seconds and plugging in the second monitor. Occasionally this silly procedure worked, but more often than not it didn’t. Or it would send pink video to one of the two monitors.

I don’t know if there is a problem with the HDMI signal that the 60D sends, if our camera has an issue, or if the splitters are just flaky devices. But I plugged all the splitters into two other consumer HDMI monitors and experienced similarly odd and inconsistent results, so I think it’s just a case of a still emerging protocol that isn’t designed for the fast-paced and demanding environment of professional video shoots. I even received a detailed if comical tutorial from the folks at Sewel Direct (who have great customer service) on the cabling and power-on procedure.

I have recently read that the Magic Lantern firmware (which is free) is now working fairly well with the 60D, but back in the summer when I tried it, it barely worked at all. The latest version is supposed to add on-screen VU meters, headphone monitoring capability (through the A/V jack’s audio out), and an HDMI video output signal without all the standard Canon menus and markings. Why is this important? Because it would allow you to output the uncompressed HDMI signal to a separate digital video recorder and record your video to whatever format, codec and compression desired. This could save a tremendous amount of time in post since you wouldn’t have to convert the complex H.264 files that the 60D records natively. Don’t misunderstand me here, there is nothing wrong with the video quality of Canon’s native files. When shots are properly focused, lit and exposed, they look great. And according to my tests, the files are captured at 44Mb/sec, which compares very favorably to other production quality high definition formats.

But overall, if you’re used to using $30,000 plus cameras designed for professional video, you’ll hate shooting with a DSLR. And if you’re a skilled shooter, you can achieve many if not all of the same shallow depth of field results with clever use of lighting and a long lens setting. About the only time you can’t get the same look is in small rooms or tight quarters. But for my money (and the clients’) I’d rather shoot with a professional video camera any day.

We’ll still use our 60D, but we’ll be getting a new HD camera before the end of the year, most likely the Panasonic AG AF-100, primarily because we’ve shot with Panasonic professional cameras since 2004 and know and understand the menu systems, scene files etc. The AF-100 seems to achieve a nice middle-ground between the conventional DSLR cameras and pro video cameras. Once we’re up to speed with it, we’ll likely use the 60D as a “B” camera on shoots.

I should also point out that we use the 60D for still photography, and for the money, it’s a FABULOUS still camera. In the hands of skilled photographer, the camera can produce truly stunning images. I’m not sure why anyone would pay more for a 5D or 7D when you could get two 60Ds and a couple of additional lenses and in my view sacrifice almost nothing in the way of professional features.

Filed under: DSLR Video on November 28th, 2011 | No Comments »

In the last 25 years the growth of computer technology and the internet have both fundamentally changed how companies market themselves. The early to mid-nineties saw the birth of digital production. Then in the early part of this decade, digital television and the internet matured. And in the last three years, social media came of age.

Obviously this technology has had many positive effects when it comes to marketing and advertising, but in my opinion that same technology has had some negative effects as well. Most prominent is a tendency for people to think that digital workflows are inherently faster and more efficient.

When used properly, digital tools can certainly speed workflow and productivity.  But two things that are still key to selling people anything is developing great ideas and producing compelling stories. Getting these right STILL requires the two things the best digital tools can’t deliver – time and experience. It’s no secret many projects have tighter deadlines and smaller budgets, and while a modest budget and quick turnaround doesn’t automatically doom a project, it certainly hampers the ability to make it stand out. That’s exactly where the value of experience comes in.

Experienced marketing professionals have typically worked on hundreds or even thousands of projects. That vast experience does two things. It gives the marketing professional great depth of knowledge about how to get projects done. And it provides a tapestry of work and ideas from which to draw upon.

Over the last 15 years here at Magnetic Image we’ve produced literally thousands of projects; from videos and print pieces to websites and social media pages. There is no substitute for that experience. When a client comes to us with a project, even if it’s something we’ve never done before, it’s a good bet that some element of that project is similar to past work. That experience does two things. It allows us draw upon our archives for ideas and workflow estimates, and because we’ve almost always done something similar, it speeds workflow.

These two things are at the heart of being a true professional, which in my opinion is any company or individual that is both fast and good. Give a group of designers a week to create something and you’ll usually get some great looking stuff. But how many designers can crank out great designs in a day? Probably not too many. The advantage these designers typically have over their less talented counterparts is experience. Certainly talent and creativity are important too, but I’ll almost always take the designer that is consistently fast and good over the designer that does great work but takes a week to do it. And rarely does the technology they’re using make any difference in the work or how fast they do it.

I see so many companies that opt to hire small, inexperienced firms to design websites or produce videos or manage their social media, and their hiring decision usually came down to being sold on the vendor’s “technology” or their “digital processes.” In this day and age, any marketing company still breathing is using advanced technology and dozens of digital processes…so I’m still amazed that smart executives are swayed by this. But darned if they aren’t. It amounts to snake-oil most of the time. But one thing is still true. The best technology simply cannot hide bad ideas, bad writing and bad storytelling.

If you don’t know what story your company needs to tell; or can’t tell that story in a compelling way; the design and execution of that story is irrelevant, and the digital tools used to produce are equally irrelevant. It’s a cliche, but experience matters. Oh does it matter!

Filed under: Thoughts & Musings on July 19th, 2011 | No Comments »

Dick Ebersol resigned as head of NBC’s sports division on May 19th and just a few days later Joe Posnanski wrote a piece on Ebersol in Sports Illustrated’s May 30th Point After column. What struck me about the article wasn’t anything about Ebersol’s vast list of credits, or any claim about his influence on modern sports or entertainment programming. It was what Ebersol told Posnanski about the most influential thing he ever learned:

“The most important thing to me, was to tell stories.”

Ebersol said it was a lesson he learned from his first boss, the legendary sports producer Roone Arledge. Ebersol told Posnanski that television seems to be turning away from storytelling, with everything  becoming fragmented and announcers making radio calls shouting about every play.

I had to chuckle and agree. I turned 50 this year, and while I can probably pass for 10 years younger (on a good hair day), I can’t help but feel a little old sometimes when discussing content for marketing and promotional projects with many clients. The idea of storytelling seems unimportant to most. Yet I still believe that a good story trumps style and glitzy design every-time. Great production values certainly never hurt a project, but a non-existent or poorly written story can kill one. Read more »

Filed under: Marketing, Thoughts & Musings on June 20th, 2011 | No Comments »

By Chris Blair

I just completed our first broadcast project using the Canon 60D and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Since the 60D is primarily designed as a still camera,  I was initially skeptical about both the camera’s reliability and quality in a broadcast environment. But once I got used to the controls and became comfortable with the capabilities (and limitations) of the camera, I came away impressed.

Getting up to speed with the camera is really no different than adding any new piece of gear to your arsenal. Before our first shoot with the camera, we spent several hours experimenting with various cabling setups, mounting configurations and menu settings. Despite this, the first shoot was nonetheless nerve-racking. You just can’t reliably judge quality until you use a camera on a real project under real location pressure.

If you want proof that you can do broadcast work with the Canon 60D? Here are two spots recently shot with the camera for HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital.

Although there are definitely drawbacks to using the Canon 60D in the field, most notably monitoring audio and using multiple monitors for client viewing, the image quality is much better than I expected and there are affordable workarounds that overcome these limitations. Read more »

Filed under: Production Techniques, Video Production on April 19th, 2011 | 1 Comment »

I recently created a client website that needed an easy to use e-commerce solution for selling books, CDs and digital downloads of documents and audio files. On the client’s old website, she was just selling her book and CDs using a very simple PayPal link for processing and payment. It worked, but wasn’t very attractive and offered little more than credit card processing.

I use Wordpress to build client sites so I spent a couple of hours researching and testing various e-commerce plug-ins. There are several out there that are extremely popular but they all seemed unnecessarily complicated to setup and convoluted to use…not to mention buggy.

Then I found Ecwid. It’s not only a Wordpress plug-in, but also a complete e-commerce solution that can be used with literally any web authoring platform. The plugin is simple to install, and it’s hands-down the best Wordpress plugin (of any sort) I’ve ever used. What makes it so good? For starters, it just plain works, which is a nice change from the bulk of Wordpress plug-ins out there, which are typically buggy and offer little or no instructions for use. Ecwid is rock-solid, full-featured and has just about the best documentation, tutorials, and knowledge base of any product I’ve ever used. That’s a tall statement considering I bought my first computer in 1984 and have worked on all the major OS platforms at one time or another. It’s also FREE for store-fronts up to 100 products, with incredibly affordable pricing plans for stores with up to 20,000 products. Other than the product limit, the free version offers virtually the same functionality as the paid versions, minus some security and SEO features. This software is so good, my guess is that many people try the free version and gladly upgrade to the paid one. Read more »

Filed under: Computers, Graphic Design, Online Marketing on March 23rd, 2011 | 11 Comments »