Predictions for the Upcoming Decade

OK, I'm not in the habit of posting to my own posts, but this time I'm making an exception. I've thought about it long and hard, and played and watched... the whole HD video thing in a photographer's hands is going to change everything, and we're only starting to understand it.

My post here, on H2H Reviews.

I’m not interested in idle gossip, or obvious trends. I’m interested in what’s going to change the game, and I think it’s what is now being called HDSLR, or, HD video capture with a DSLR camera.

Here’s the thing. Many photographers, pro and amateur alike, have dabbled with video cameras and have played with the video on their phones and point-and-shoots, maybe even doing some editing in iMovie and posting to YouTube and Facebook. Yet, having HD video on a camera like a Canon 5DM2 still, I suspect, for many of us feels like kind of an added extra, something that is fun, but not essential to the camera. I suspect it’s going to change everything, and here’s why.

First, and most importantly, a still photographer has a different sensibility than a videographer or a filmmaker; a different way of seeing, if you’ll indulge me. Once you get past the idea that you’re goofing around with this thing, and start thinking seriously about shooting with the camera, we’re seeing amazing, and amazingly unique work. Here’s a piece via Lightstalkers’ Poul Madsen incorporating the stills and video from the Canon 5DM2 (video here).

In an economic climate that is incredibly challenging for all photographers, and in particular for photojournalists, this is arguably a completely new “product”- a film shot by a still photographer.

Second, the equipment gives you a “35mm look”, with lenses that most photographers know and love. And already own. To make a long story short, you’re shooting to a full 35mm frame, as opposed to a small three-chip array in a video camera. Shooting a portrait with, say, my favorite portrait lens (the Nikkor 105 f2.8) I’m going to get a perspective and depth of field effect that I want, and is difficult, or impossible, to achieve with a smaller format.

Again. It’s a 35mm photographer’s vision, not the vision of a filmmaker or videographer. And by the way, with a Canon 5DM2 you can shoot full-res stills during a video recording without missing a beat. That is way, way too much for me to try to juggle, but photographers who master that skill will truly break new ground and create a new medium.