Video Capture - Pentax or ??

Hi guys - since a while, we founded a team in my company that produces product videos - as our products are software, most of these videos consist of screem caming and some animations. However - we more and more also have use cases, where we need real video recording and we now are facing the question - which camera to use. First question is - video versus DSLR - here we are currently more on the dslr track as most movies will be interview scenes and here, we expect better (Bokeh) quality from a DSLR in combination with a great lense. If DSLR - it seems that the best fitting Pentax would be the K30 - the video capabilities of the K30 seem to be better than those of the K5 - however - my question is - is Pentax in general a good choice for a DSLR to be used for videos or do you think that other brands are a better choice. Like the missing tilting display is something, I would probably miss during some recording scenarios.
I am a Pentax fan and my private equipment is Pentax - but for my department, I want to be open minded and it would not be ideal to have not nought the best we can get for our limited budget

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Colors are the lack of darkness

You find more of my pictures here: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/axelluther or on my web page: www.axel-luther.com

I'd also consider the K01 for video.

The K30 does not have facility for an external microphone. This might be a problem for sound quality.

The K5 has generally been marked down as it produces AVI format video files and the format is seen as dated. However I have been very staisfied with the output from my K7 and very recently the K5IIs. I have only noticed the audial click associated with the AVI codex used on one of my playback devices (and Archos 4.

I believe that the K5 would be the better option due to the facility for an external mic, quality of sound will be significantly improved with a good external mic (mine cost £70, I was after one for £140 but could not justify the extra cost).

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Bodies: K5IIs, K7, MZ5n, LX, MV
Lenses: DA*16-50, DA18-55WR, DA18-135, DAL35, M50 F2, A50 f1.4, FA50 f1.4, DA*50-135, DA55-300, Tamron 70-300, DFA 100 WR Macro, M135 f3.5, Sigma 120-400 APO DG HSM, Tokina 500 f8.0
Flash: Metz 58, Metz 48
Accessories: BG4, Pentax right angle finder, Pentax mirror adaptor lens, O-ME53 Viewfinder Loupe
Auto 110 System: Auto 110, Winder, 18mm, 24mm, 50mm, 70mm, 20-40mm, AF100P, 1.7x telecon

That is really a big issue - we actually thought in doing the sound recordings with an external device and mix both together in After Effects but not having the possibility to quickly shoot a movie without an external recorder with a directly mounted mic is far from good....

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Colors are the lack of darkness

You find more of my pictures here: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/axelluther or on my web page: www.axel-luther.com

I think much depends on your budget and the resolution you require of your output. The K7 does tend to get hot after recording for 5 minutes, my experiance with the K5ii only extends to just over 6 minuites and the temperature indicator did not appear on the screen. Also the K5 had full 1080HD where as the K7 had an odd top resolution so I kept it as 720p or lower.

A quick DPReview Camera feature searce listed 16 results that might be worth a further look.

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Bodies: K5IIs, K7, MZ5n, LX, MV
Lenses: DA*16-50, DA18-55WR, DA18-135, DAL35, M50 F2, A50 f1.4, FA50 f1.4, DA*50-135, DA55-300, Tamron 70-300, DFA 100 WR Macro, M135 f3.5, Sigma 120-400 APO DG HSM, Tokina 500 f8.0
Flash: Metz 58, Metz 48
Accessories: BG4, Pentax right angle finder, Pentax mirror adaptor lens, O-ME53 Viewfinder Loupe
Auto 110 System: Auto 110, Winder, 18mm, 24mm, 50mm, 70mm, 20-40mm, AF100P, 1.7x telecon

I would too

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Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -

funnily enough I was messing around with video today using a k-01, only as a static camera though as I use a GoPro for panning/movement.. quality was great though and mixed well with the GoPro footage(protune mode).

shooting video for me is all about the extras that lead to nice smooth footage, I would much prefer to spend £300 on a basic cam and £1500 on rigs than spend the lot on a higher end cam..

I will have no problem putting the k-01 on a rig and using that, I mounted it on a Fat Gecko double suction mount earlier and stuck it on a window, worked great.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/strumstrum/

Pentax K50

You should have a look at all the videos Pentax USA have commissioned using the K7, the Q and the K-01

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Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -

I did some intensive Google Research today and I think - video capturing is not the core business of Pentax - we are currently thinking about getting the Panasonic GH3 - the GH2 was already test winner a few years ago and the GH3 was only beaten by two DSLRs which cost nearly twice as much - 50 frames per second, external mic, live view during recording, adjustable display, superfast AF andandand - will be strange to work with a non Pentax but let's see

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Colors are the lack of darkness

You find more of my pictures here: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/axelluther or on my web page: www.axel-luther.com

I agree with this. I went with Pentax again because I was after picture quality but am mildly frustrated with the video side of things. Honestly if the bit rates were upped a bit it could very well be on a par with the others. Like it or not, DSLR's do offer a lot to video production now, so this is an area that manufacturers will eventually need to start supporting. This doesn't have to come at any cost to still image quality either, so 'purists' need not worry that developments in the video capabilities are in anyway compromising their still camera.

The vibe is that AF is not too desirable in video anyway, but there are occasions where it would be useful to have some nice prediction AF, such as a bride walking down an isle towards the camera etc.

The Panasonics and the Canons are both very open to video production, with much higher bit rates out of the box, even before you start 'hacking' them with the more industrial film firmware add ons.

The Sensor Shake Reduction feature on Pentax DSLRs really comes into its own though with video - gives a lovely 'floating' feel. General non photographers looking at my 'home videos' all comment that it looks 'professional' - (it most certainly is not !!!) but its a good first impression.

The SR combined with a prime lens is a combination hard to beat that may be even more significant than bit rates. I'd agree also that stereo audio through an attached microphone is a must too, and the K7 / K5 offer this.

Capture file formats is a whole new big topic - the avi's from the K7 are fairly hefty size-wise, but I must say on Windows they run well, and I have found editing the files in Sony Vegas Movie Studio Plat11 to be an absolute breeze. The output format will vary anyway depending on purpose, and I havn't had any issues in the conversion from the rather non-standard capture resolution and a more commom one on output.

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My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver

Nigel makes a very good point with regard to the in-body Shake Reduction. I like the older manual focus lenses as the images they produce suits video very well - lovely warmth of colour and soft bokeh.

I rarely use the video on my DSLR, but my son Daniel does and the results he has had from his lowly K-x have been very good indeed.

It's only 720p, but nevertheless it is impressive.

Regards
David

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Flickr

Nicola's Apartments, Kassiopi, Corfu

Some cameras, some lenses, some bits 'n' bobs

I'm not a lover of SLR's for video. Whilst my pentax Kx & K30 will shoot video, handling, playback adaptability are not as good as the £180 Panasonic HD 1080 I bought for my daughter. The flexibility of an angled screen on the video camera just gives so much more.

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K30, K-x, *ist DL. Pentax 60-250 F4, Sigma 18-125 & 70-300

I wish Pentax would simply offer a live, uncompressed hdmi out on thier cameras (as well as more video options) and let us go to third parties like black magic design for the video capture devices.
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/ultrastudio/

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Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.

Shake reduction was one of the things we also thought about but we then looked back to our use cases - 90% of the movies we are going to produce, are interview sequences of senior mgt members or customers - those scenes we are going to shoot with a good video tripod (not just to get a stable picture but also as it looks more professional which gives the interview partners the feeling, we take them serious ). Especially DOF and Bokeh are nice elements of such interview scenes - to get comparable DSLR DOF and Bokeh quality in real video cameras probably means to invest 2-3 times more money. And I also agree that a flexible screen is a must have for video shooting (and a more than nice to have for photo shooting).
The Panasonic reminds me a bit of the days when I became a fan of Pentax - when I almost bought a K10 and then bought a K20 - at that time, Pentax offered cameras with outstanding features but the cameras costs about half of the price of comparable Cankons - the GH3 seems to do the same - playing in the range of a Nikon D800 or the Sony Alpha 99 (at least in the video world) but its body cost 1100 Euro and not 2700 (Sony) or 2300 (Nikon).
Would really be great, when Pentax would also invest a bit in this area - not that I want to become a video shooter in my private life - but having some good features would be nice from time to time

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Colors are the lack of darkness

You find more of my pictures here: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/axelluther or on my web page: www.axel-luther.com