I'm a still shooter who has shot a lot of video along the way.
I would love a great stills-DSLR which is also a great video-HDSLR.
Is this asking so much?
Because I shoot Nikon and have invested in Nikon glass, and they do make *great* cameras (just like Canon, Sony, Olympus, etc. also do), my preference would be to buy a Nikon DSLR which shoots excellent HD video and is a versatile HDSLR.
But right now I can't. There are trade-offs left and right.
Rather than complain, here's what I want. Mainly, ten things.
- Full (35mm) sensor, full HD (1080p).
- Excellent h.264 or better video codec.
- Built-in XLR inputs (Even if it has to be an audio adaptor screwed onto the base of the body - why not, and how hard can this really be? Smallish video cameras can do it. Why not HDSLRs, with or without an adaptor?)
- Headphone monitoring port for playback and during recording
- Manual audio level controls and visible indicators
- Articulating LCD screen (even better yet would be a bluetooth detachable LCD screen or optional use of iPhone/iPad - displaying a realtime view of the image - via wifi or bluetooth)
- 24/25 or 30fps, and 50 or 60fps (and 110 or 120 would be nice)
- Built-in ND filters up to 8x to enable wide aperture video shooting.
- Excellent ergonomic controls for focus, ISO, aperture.
- Full-res 1080p HDMI output on playback and recording.
- (10.1.1) Trackable auto-focus objects on entire image (eg. "track this eyeball and keep it in focus")
- (10.1.2) IS built-in at the camera level (on the sensor) rather than within each lens.
I could make a longer list but this is for starters.
I'm planning over a dozen projects for the coming year and really hope either Nikon and Canon both get this right for their next gen HDSLRs. Competition is good for everyone.
Meanwhile, the current generation is OK but has a lot of room for improvement; and depending on the project, in some ways it's still best to use a regular video camera in the $2-5K range than an HDSLR.
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