Canon 7D Video Setup

I just wanted to talk about my video HD SLR camera set up.  If you're in to this nerd stuff, then enjoy.  Otherwise, look at this picture of the pretty girl.


Click Below to see my Video Camera Setup!

Behold the power of 7D Video

This is a similar set up to what a lot of people use.  Mostly Lisa uses it, and this badass dude uses it.

At the top most section is the Bescor LED-70 with a swivel head.  I can use this to direct the light anywhere I choose.

The mic is the RODE VideoMic, and it is directly connected to the 7D.  Normally I would connect this to the laptop and receive it directly in to the computer, but if I don't have a laptop handy, I would connect it to the 7D.  There is a problem with the Autogain that cranks up the background noise during silence, but I can fix it afterwards in post.  I know some people who have "upgraded" to the 60D just to go around this problem.  And the swivel screen is awesome.  Actually, you can make this same set up with a 60D and have enough bux left over to buy a nice lens and a burger.  If you want to go even cheaper, you can go for the Canon T2i (550D), which will also be pretty similar.

All of this is held up in a Y-bracket.  This is to make the whole set up look bigger and more impressive.  And to increase distance from the lens and place them off center... but that is secondary to looking big and pro.

The lens attached is the Samyang 8mm/3.5 fisheye.  This is a really cool lens, it's manual focus only but because the focal length is so short, it's easy to keep everything in focus.

I use other lenses as well, like the Sigma 30mm 1.4 (my favorite prime lens, I use this the most) and the canon 50mm 1.8. The fifty is small and compact and makes it really easy to fit inside your jacket pocket.  I bring it everywhere.

The battery grip is useful when attached to a tripod.  If you run out of power, you can replace the battery without dismounting the whole set up.  The memory card I use is a 32GB CF card so I can take a lot of footage at a time without replacing the card.  12 min of full HD footage takes up around 4 gigs, so the 32GB card lets me take an hour and a half of footage.

When this is not in a tripod, I use a Stedi Stock stabilizer.