Jonathan Palfrey

May Sunset: Canon 550D Test

Hello internet world,

Sorry its been a while since my last blog, I have been busy working on my college coursework over the last month. Thankfully though its all over now! That means I can get back to bloging about random video related subjects either through video, text or photos. I’ve decided to start doing more written blogs as with some subjects such as tutorials or advice it will be easier for people to find and sometimes a video might not be relevant or exciting.

So where does that leave us today. Well around a month ago I got a Canon 550D, as many of you will know through my tweets. This is an amazing video and stills camera but sadly I haven’t had too many opportunity to use it or review it. However I did have a quick go at filming the sunset in Brixham the other day to try out the cameras abilities and settings. I also used it for a paid job as a second camera last weekend at a pirate reenactment/role playing event (more info on that in a future blog).

While creating the sunset video not only did I use it as a chance to try out the camera but I also decided to try using Adobe Premier Pro CS5. This is an interesting update to the NLE as it can edit the DSLR’s H.264 video files nativity, which means no transcoding! Surprisingly it works really well and saves a lot of time in the editing process. Only problem is it does require a good computer and 64 bit of Ram but my XPS i7 does the job easily.

Now as some of you already know I normally edit on Sony Vegas Pro 9. I personally think it’s an incredible software which offers a lot and is often underrated. I must say although I love the native support in CS5 I do miss some of the incredibly useful features of Vegas such as the split tool (single button press no need for switching between tools), auto cross fade and the advanced audio controls. Other features I prefer on Vegas include the quicker interface for effects/pan and crop. That said PP has some advantages of its own including a very good text editor (like a mini Photoshop), far better than Vegas’ basic one and PP’s great integration with other Adobe software.

I know I haven’t used PP long and I will learn to like it the more I use it so I will give updates on my opinion as I learn, however for the mean time anything I edit which isn’t using mostly DSLR I will be sticking with Vegas for now.

Below is my test film of the Canon 550D, ‘May Sunset’. I used a Sigma 18-50mm lens and Velbon tripod. I will soon post a video review about this camera so make sure you check it out.

Like I said at the start lots more blogs will be coming soon, including reviews, videos and tutorials. Not to mention possible the odd rant or two.