10 Tips for Still Photogs Who Shoot Video

Scott Bourne offers 10 tips for still photographers who are making the transition to video, on his Photofocus blog. He admits he's a relative novice himself to moving images.

Ever since I got my hands on the Panasonic GH1 I’ve been shooting more and more video. It’s fun! But I’m also reminded that I am NOT a seasoned pro when it comes to shooting video. I have some advantages over the guy/gal who’s just starting out, but I still need lots of practice.

I’ve been studying some books, watching some training videos and listening to lectures at my local college. I’ve developed a few tips that I use to get better video and I’ve started a checklist that I will use to help improve my video capture skills. Maybe it will be helpful to you too.

It's all good basic common-sense advice -- use a tripod, make sure you capture good audio, shoot a variety of closeups and wide shots, etc. -- but of course there's a good reason we need to hear those basic lessons over and over, since they're the ones that are most frequently ignored.

Hie thee to Photofocus and pick up your 10 free tips.

SLR Photos + HD Video = Panasonic GH1 = Wow!

Panasonic's compact GH1 SLR/video hybrid gets a big thumbs up from New York Times tech columnist David Pogue.

Pogue wasn't wowed by last fall's G1 model, though he acknowledged that it was "a technical breakthrough that took a giant stride toward the holy grail of photography: gorgeous, professional-looking photos from a small camera." (It was Popular Photography’s Camera of the Year.)

But the updated version, to be released in May, features for the first time full, unlimited-length, 1080p high-definition video, with autofocus, a first for an SLR-style camera.

You can use different lenses for shooting video, including ultra wide-angle. You can use all photo controls for video, including macro (extreme close-up). You can achieve sharp foregrounds with blurred backgrounds, which is impossible with a regular camcorder.

Pricetag: $1500 -- nearly twice the cost of its predecessor. "Panasonic says that most of the increase over the videoless G1’s $800 price is because of the new included lens. And it is a beauty: a 10X zoomer, specially made for video (for example, it’s silent when focusing and zooming)."

In the end, though, $1,500 doesn’t seem that bad when you consider what you’re getting: the world’s first SLR that captures full high-definition video — and keeps it all in focus. Plenty of SLRs cost that much and don’t take any video at all — and plenty of $10,000 hi-def video cameras don’t take stills.

The camera is fast, well-designed, enormously satisfying to use, and generally tops in image and video quality. Overall, the Lumix GH1 is a big leap toward a future when pro-style photos come from consumer-size cameras.

Pogue's review / Slideshow of Pogue's sample images.