Canon EOS 500D video test

The clip originally shown here has been replaced by an edited selection, shot in a mixture of 1080 and 720 modes, assembled using iMovie and written as a 720p final project for YouTube. Don’t mean to cause confusion, some visitors may have linked to this post already, and I do not want to add another post. Please feel free to link directly to the YouTube vid or to this page.

The constraints of having the camera for a short time were considerable, with some emphasis on still images (the Sigma 18-250mm OS lens was also being tested). The weather seemed to conspire against anything especially worthwhile – as did society. The camera went for a walk at 11.00am on a Saturday morning, past at least five sports grounds and playing fields in Kelso. Not a single person was training, playing or doing anything else – every single sports field was deserted on a lovely Saturday morning. Can’t imaging that happening anywhere else except a town which loves its very late Friday nights…

That’s how the groundsman with a mower ended up as the only moving subject in sight – and why a quick chat with my friend and neighbour, potter Ian Hird, ended up being used here! Eventually, I ended up at the Saturday farmers’ market with the Sigma lens fitted, at 11.55. The lens had to be packed up and in special delivery back to Sigma by 12.15, including a dash back home to pack it and do the labelling and franking. That’s the reality of testing gear which is allowed out on a 3 day or 1 week window during which regular magazine production, administration and everything else must all continue.

The instruction book and software arrived from Canon UK on Monday, with my deadline for my BJP report Tuesday morning. The camera was collected on Wednesday, which was sad as the Levellers gig in Edinburgh provided a great subject for my old KM A2 and pocket Kodak Zi6 that night. But, again, those were allowed into the gig by security and the DSLR would have been banned (at the request of the artists, no ‘big’ cameras).

– David Kilpatrick