Movies and arty stills are
within his reach, writes Terry Lane.
LET'S assume you are thinking
really big for Father's Day this year.
Forget the tie, aftershave and
Top Gear DVDs. Let's give dad the gift that keeps on giving: a camera. And not
just any old camera but one that takes movies as well as stills. What should
you be looking for?
CANON EOS 5D MkII
with 24mm-105mm lens, $4500
THIS is the Big Cheese of
versatile DSLRs. This is the camera used to shoot an entire episode of House. It
gets a credit for shooting the cinema trailer for Red Dog (see it at
tinyurl.com/yl7em8v). This is not only a serious full-frame professional camera
for taking stills, it has professional movie-making aspirations. And, like all
serious hybrids, it has a socket for an external stereo microphone. This is the
pick when only the best is good enough for the old man.
NIKON D7000
with 18mm-105mm lens, about
$1800 street price
LET'S be a little more
realistic. The Nikon is cheaper because it has a smaller sensor than the Canon
- the standard consumer APS size. But it yields nothing in features and build
quality. It is built like a tank to withstand rough use videoing the toughest
stunts. And the smaller sensor still has more pixels than your high-definition
TV has dots.
OLYMPUS E-P3
micro four thirds with
14mm-42mm lens, $1000 - less if you haggle
HERE we have a smaller sensor
again but this lovely camera can still shoot spectacular video and you won't
get repetitive strain injury carrying it. To see just how good the video is
from the Olympus, look at tinyurl.com/3z8mvsv.
PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-TZ20
compact with 16x optical zoom,
$600
WE SHOT a hand-held video using
this camera on a helicopter flight across the New Zealand Alps and we can
confidently recommend it for both its still and movie capabilities. Even the
extreme zoom lens works surprisingly well in both modes, although you won't
want to try hand-holding it at its longest focal length. The TZ18 is the same
camera without GPS and for less money (RRP $500).
IF DAD already has a camera he
probably needs good video-editing software. Both Windows and Apple OS come with
basic movie-editing applications but there are better alternatives. Two we have
used extensively are Adobe Premiere Elements ($143 or $189) bundled with
Photoshop Elements and Corel Video Studio Pro X4 ($89). As there is little
difference in functionality, we recommend the Corel.
If he really has everything,
you can always buy a fast Class 10 memory card. An 8GB card should set you back
about $38. And if you want to give a subtle hint that there is room for
improvement in his still and motion photography, you should consider Tom Ang's
book Digital Photography Step by Step, published by Penguin in Australia and
selling for $39.95.
And, as a last resort, before
getting to the electric nose hair clippers, there is always the gift of 100 blank
DVDs for storing and sharing his video masterpieces. Cheap but not nasty!
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