Shooting video on K-x

Well I'm glad that making short films with really high image quality is now more possible for amateurs. I am sometimes very bored with what the professional media pump out... The Wire excepted.

I think these cameras are a probably a pain in the ass for typical home movie video compared to normal consumer camcorders, but real budding film makers would be willing work around the limitations (maybe using external screens etc) to get the unique quality.

Well I know it is true for me!

Only slightly! My close focus has always been very good, over the last three years I have noticed that I can't quite focus on things as close as I used to be able to - I can now manage about 6inches, 20 years ago, this was more like 2!

You need bifocals, trifocals or even varifocals so that your prescription can be tuned to different distances.

I'm not quite ready for glases yet! I hope to hold out a few more years yet, but when I am, varifocals might be for me!

Latest update. Still having problems. I took some video clips of my daughter horse riding. Found it very difficult to focus. She was riding towards me - walking pace. With the shallow depth of field she quickly went out of focus. The worse thing was the camera shake at 200mm it was terrible!

Still finding the tiny screen makes it difficult to focus. The Delkin pop-up shade makes it easier to see, but I can only really focus by clicking the info button to set up the shot, and then once I start filming there is not opportunity to zoom.

I'm not giving up yet! Next time I'm in this situation, I'll either use the smaller 18-55 lens rather than the 50-200 zoom, or mount the camera on a tripod. I will try manual focus as the autofocus is too indecisive!

Anyone finding the K-x OK for video? Any tips?

I can well imagine it's virtually impossible to keep a moving subject in focus and steady at 200mm hand held! Bad enough with a regular video camera. Good manual focusing practice though

Shooting video on a DSLR with shallow DOF and a moving subject is undeniably difficult. You've either got to put a lot of practice into it, or change your plans and shoot with a smaller aperture instead. F16 makes focusing less critical.

I was doing some outdoor videoing today with my K-7. I could see the screen well enough to frame ok. Do turn the LCD brightness up when that would help.

The DSLR versus video camera argument is irrelevant to those of us who can't afford or don't want a video camera. Personally, I don't want to carry two cameras, and if I only have one camera, I want it to be mainly for stills, just with video as a bonus.