September 2008 the rise of the DSLR video revolution. The Canon 5d mark II is the arguable tipping point at which DSLRs took the world by storm. It was the first affordable, full frame, 1080p video recording device with interchangeable lenses. About a year later Canon patched the firmware to allow for 29.97 fps and 23.97 fps video recording as well as it's native 30 fps. That meant For about $3,500 you could get a video camera that was in the "prosumer" price range but had the look of fully professional gear. The large 35mm-style sensor on the 5d mk II allows you to shoot with very shallow depth of field and the high quality interchangeable lenses means that you can push that even further with wider f-stops. This means that the blurry backgrounds and razor sharp subjects people see in the movies are right there in our hands, but that isn't where things stop. The dynamic range of the 5d mark II was also much wider than that of it's camcorder cousins, in the same price range, and so black and white clipping happened less often. For Canon cameras there is also a firmware hack that allows you to control other various functions of the camera while in video mode... one of which is the ability to shoot raw video. The raw video function doesn't work well on most of the EOS line except the 5D mark III but the option is out there. The Magic Lantern functions work beautifully for live view video recording, and I use it personally; though I did have some initial problems loading it, and it does void your warranty should anything happen to it so please do so at your own risk.
Newer cameras have come out since the debut of the 5dmkII such as the Rebel line. With Magic Lantern they too can capture video to an impressive degree. I have my T3i, that I love and cherish, all the time. It lets me get my focus right, adjust my audio, focus from the back of the camera, I absolutely love it. Also it was cheap! There is the problem though; the flood of cheap high resolution cameras went into the masses. Everyone has a DSLR and is instantly a photographer/videographer. Even with high resolution camera phones people think this way. With so many people in the market it pushes around pro and growing amateurs into nearly giving away their product, which is an interesting time for consumers. Do you go with dirt cheap A, or really expensive B? Well honestly that's a hard decision to make. Even an idiot with enough money can have pro gear so that's not an indication of ability. Looking at their online or even physical portfolio can be misleading because people steal images for their own portfolio now. I would subscribe to the school of thought that you're not paying a guy for a job, you're getting someone you can trust to capture a once in a lifetime moment for you. That's the job of an artist. Any artist. Be it music, food, visual, etc. They capture something for you and deliver it for your enjoyment. We still have McDonald's because we want something quick, cheap and easy but does that mean it's any good? Arguable. But what would you RATHER have? Grainy, blurry, out of focus, or sharp, clear and in focus? That's what you get when you hire an artist. That person cares about their art, and takes time to master it for YOU, but all these shooters out there, wanting to make it in "the business", cut corners and are just using you as much as you might be using them. They don't care about the art, of crafting a shot, capturing the moment. This is what's killing DSLRs.
Take a look at any stock photography site. shutterstock.com, stockphoto.com, istock.com etc. They're filled with crappy photos and it gets more and more difficult to find amazing things. If you do find a great shot, and about a half dozen copies aren't on the same page, come back in a few days and it will be copied, and listed for next to nothing. I understand that when you first start out as an artist you want to make it big like your heroes, but that doesn't come by ripping off other people. It comes by studying what they did and trying to replicate the techniques to incorporate them into our tool box. Adding those skills that we glean from them and other artists, how-to tutorials, books, magazines and videos make us into completely separate individual artists. Learn, shoot, screw-up, rinse and repeat. Let's step forward out of the insane grubby nature of what has been created into a new future full of possibilities. Will we get 4k, raw DSLR video from Canon or Nikon? Will mirrorless reign supreme? Will we move onto the Hasselblad, Red, or Black Magic? Maybe it will be into the movies or TV, but all that matters is that we label ourselves artists first, and do this as a passion; not money. Once we start doing it well, we never do it for free. Keep on clickin' my friends.
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