To 7D or Not to 7D That is The Question...

Honestly I haven't had a chance to sit down and watch this video, but I had the good fortune of meeting JJ Kim, at InFocus in Austin, and he's a stand up guy. He did this because he's cool. Read below for my take on the 7D vs. T2i so far. I have only had the camera for a day and I am slightly biased, as I paid good hard earned money for my 7D, and it hasn't failed me but has never failed to impress me.

7D vs. T2i Comparison Video from Orange Wedding Films on Vimeo.
If you own a 7D should you dump it and grab a T2i and a lens.
In good conscience I could not advise that.
If you don't have enough for 7d + lens and cards,and batteries. Yes. You can always keep your lenses just don't buy crop lenses, get full frame lenses.
If you want a B-Roll camera and already own the 7D and can't afford another one. Yes. However you will have to buy all new batteries and cards,and a card reader that reads SDHC cards so calculate the difference between T2i and 7D. Then add new cards and batteries/reader to price of T2i.  If you already have a decent supply of cards/batteries stocked up for 7D and it will cover both cameras on most shoots. Get another 7D that camera is still a massive steal at $1600.
If your on the fence and can afford it or are close to affording it, get the Canon 7D or 5D. Depending on the body of work that you will do.
Advantages of T2i much crisper LCD. Cheaper.
Disadvantage
 Loss of a LOT of ISO's that I use. A LOT. You have to jump from 100 to 200 to 400 to 800 to 1600. You completely skip ISO 1250, which I use a lot in fairly dark rooms.
 If you have a 7D, and have to,then, get another one for B-Roll. If your strapped for cash,and want to shoot DSLR,well then jump in my friends, the water is warm.

Disclaimer: This camera just arrived. If anything bad happens a month from now contact Canon. I receive nothing from them. I'm not a fanboy. I'm a blue collar guy, trying to help if I can. If you have specific questions, let me know, I'll do my best to get back to you as fast as possible. Stay tuned! Footage is on it's way. Loads more reviewing to come before I make any definitive conclusions. This is just a real-time spewing of my impressions thus far. I just hope I can help people make educated decisions regarding camera purchases. I have learned a lot from people like David Perry, stillmotion, Philip Bloom and many others over the last year plus about giving out information and help just to do it. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback thus far. For that I thank you all. Oh yeah. Keep on rocking in the free world. We are lucky to be alive in the greatest Renaissance independent filmmaking has seen in a long, long,time. Never forget that.

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Canon T2i Compared to Canon 7D: First Thoughts

The body of the 7D is way better. More rugged build. When you hold the T2i (if you are used to the 7D it feels like a toy. This is a very stupid thing I guess but I prefer my 7D a lot in this way.
I still have to get used to the button configuration/controls which I found to be a bit harder to figure out where the 7D it just makes sense. A few interesting things I will explore further is that while in Movie Mode you can very easily switch between a variety of White Balance presets as well as a custom one you can set yourself. Another feature I do prefer in the T2i is the ability to switch the framerate you are shooting in without ever leaving Live View. There is a setting in the Menu as well for Automatic focus while in Movie Mode. I would never shoot in Auto and I am not sure if that actually works or I am a fool but found that interesting. I plan on shooting a bit tonight when we go out for dinner to see how it holds up in a real life situation. Here's another odd thing I noticed
The ISO for the T2i in Movie Mode
100
200
400
800
1600
3200
6400

There seems to be quite a few ISO settings missing that are available in the Canon 7D .
If you own a 7D I wouldn't feel bad about your purchase. I am certainly still very happy with mine. I absolutely love it and it definitely seems to have a much better build, as I would assume. Now for $800 I think it may be a great camera for someone who wants to get there feet wet in the DSLR video world. I plan on shooting more as I said and hope to have various videos up tomorrow. Two other things of note if you already own Canon DSLR's you will need new batteries and you will need new cards. The T2i  takes SDHC not CF cards.

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Canon T2i First Look

T2i Unwrapping! from Cristina Valdivieso + Jon Connor on Vimeo.

More to come...

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Canon T2i Has Arrived

It's in a box sitting on my couch. My better half is on the phone. I can't open it until she gets off of the phone and I am dying right now. I feel giddy like a little school girl. It's snowing like mad outside and i literally just caught the UPS guy thanks to the supreme intelligence of our bulldog Bruiser. The guy went to the wrong door and Bruiser was kind enough to alert the entire neighborhood by barking like a maniac. Stay tuned as we work this camera out and see what exactly we have on our hands here. I am very excited to put this thing to the test. Too bad I can't really go outside because of snow but I am definitely not complaining.

Update: It's out of the box. If you are already sold on the Canon T2i
and you already own the Canon 7D or 5D MK II make sure to buy extra batteries because the T2i doesn't use the same batteries.

From T2i

From T2i

From T2i

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Follow Friday with @TRStudios

Follow Friday Video 2/26/10 from T R on Vimeo.

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