Why Current Mirrorless Cameras Are Your Best Bet for Video

Hello all. I wanted to continue on the theme of video established over the last few articles and this time talk about why current mirrorless cameras are your best bet for video.

As a jumping off point, let’s agree that a video is simply a sequence of still frames. If there is nothing happening from frame to frame, the success of the video is unlikely and this is where separation of stills and videos lives. We regularly make images of subjects in motion or where some event is happening but many forget to shoot video. Candidly, those who fail to make video clips are often those with more planet tenure. Younger folks grew up on TV and video and there is nothing particularly unnerving about it to them. It shouldn’t unnerve anyone, we just need to pick a subject where there is something happening over a short period of time.

Why Current Mirrorless

The choice of the mirrorless camera that you may already own for video makes video incredibly simple. Ignore for the moment that all current mirrorless are video capable, many 4K capable and some having the ability to record video at even higher resolutions. That’s all well and good, but the video that you make should really be viewable on whatever devices you own. If you have a 4K or higher display or a 4K or higher capable TV, then there is a benefit to 4K video. If you cannot display 4K, you may not even worry about shooting in 4K.

Current mirrorless cameras have larger sensors and better dynamic range than any consumer video camera. Professional video cameras my have Super 35 sensors and some really high end units will have 70mm equivalent sensors, but we also need to think about playback resolution. An 8K video played back on a regular High Definition TV doesn’t look appreciably better than a 2K video on the same playback device, sensors being equivalent, but a crop sensor, full frame or M4/3 sensor recorded 4K video will run over 4K video from a consumer camera or a smartphone like a freight train. More dynamic range, significantly improved low light performance and real control of depth of field make these cameras the superior choice.

Stabilization

Current mirrorless cameras have moved past in lens stabilization, an interesting technology marketed as capable of doing things it could never actually do. They do in body stabilization which is both more accurate, more scalable and responsive at more shutter speeds. While external stabilizers can still do a better overall job, a mirrorless camera with a quality IBIS solution can allow for run and gun video that is not possible on the best video capable DSLR. I mark IBIS and video as a primary reason to go mirrorless.

Clip Length

Mirrorless cameras are still restricted as are all non-pure video cameras to a maximum clip length of 29:59 minutes. This has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with taxation. Ten years ago, overheating could impact the ability to shoot video and while professional video cameras are built to stay cool and may even include chillers, anyone who has ever watched a TV show or movie knows that the probability of a single clip lasting half an hour is very low and only useful as a method to instill boredom and to cure insomnia. Since most TV and movie clips only run 6-12 seconds before a jump cut, your mirrorless camera is more than capable.

File Size

One of the old and no longer relevant worries about shooting video was the capacity of memory cards. Card capacity is now huge and standard video is compressed using the MP4 model so you do not require super high speed internal bus structures to record excellent video. For those who want to shoot in LOG modes, you will find that cameras that can do this will use higher performance cards. A much smaller selection of cameras will shoot in a RAW video format which does require more bus bandwidth and faster cards, but the thinking here should be about the amount of time you will commit to editing. RAW video files are huge, and the scratch and temp files take up a lot of disk space on the computer while you are editing. Editing RAW video is not dissimilar to editing RAW stills except that it demands a lot of compute horsepower and storage because in the 30 frames per second model, a common video frame rate, you are dealing with 30 RAW frames every second that the video editor must handle. Unless you are part of a film crew, shooting RAW video does not make a lot of sense in general, and remember that TV and film crews have been using video capable still cameras for B roll and even A roll since the Canon 5D Mark II and no viewer ever complained, and only professionals doing side by side frame analysis even noticed. For the majority of us, we can shoot in 100MB/s MP4 and get outstanding video quality right out of camera and the only editing may be just cutting the clips together into a video project, using the storage that you already have.

Shooting the Video

The biggest gap to shooting video is you. If you are making still images of subjects in action, once you have your still, why not shoot a couple of short video clips. A photo of an aircraft that is inverted at an airshow is frankly kind of boring, unless your timing is perfect. Instead flip to video mode and shoot a clip of the aircraft going inverted. Much more interesting content. Maybe you are shooting street scenes filled with lights and cars and people. Great. Now shoot some video of the same scene. It is far more dynamic and far more interesting to the viewer. Maybe you have dogs that love to run around the yard or the dog park. You probably have good stills already that don’t bring across the enthusiasm and energy that a video clip would. I have a friend in Colorado who deals with horses. She has made some great horse portraits to be certain, but I know that with her knowledge of her subject, she could be making incredible videos of the horses running and jumping.

Letting Others See Your Video

Often still photographers want to share their images so others can see them. People who shoot video want the same thing. It’s so easy now. Instagram is moving hard and fast from stills to video and loading a video is incredibly easy. YouTube hosts zillions of videos and you can get a URL to share with anyone that you want. You can also use services such as Vimeo to host your videos if you want a more controlled audience experience. Many still portfolio sites now offer video options. You also have tools like Adobe Express (free) to help you package up your videos.

Quick Thoughts on Audio

Recording audio with your video is not particularly hard but does require some different skills and some additional gear. The built in microphones and preamps in cameras are not very good and bad audio is like a shot in the head to a good video. Instead consider adding a licensed music track. You can get licensed music from multiple sites and it’s easy to add to your video project because audio is just another track. You could also use a basic USB microphone attached to your computer to record voiceovers to your video projects if you would like that. Adding audio is not insurmountable, but maybe shoot some videos without audio at first, add some music in post and start sharing.

Get To Work

It’s never been easier to shoot video. Your current mirrorless camera will do an amazing job and all you need to do is give it a try. Stills are wonderful, but why not expand your creative horizons with some alternative dynamic content? What are you afraid of, and what are you waiting for?

Thanks as always for reading theses articles and listening to the podcast. Please subscribe to be notified of new content. Until next time, peace.