Shooting news on a DSLR

Shooting news on a DSLR

I have been using big cumbersome broadcast cameras for 20 years now. While they haven't got any lighter, the quality has improved dramatically. From standard definition 4:3 to full 16:9 HD, they have come a long way in a short period of time. At Al Jazeera, we shoot on Sony's XDCAM HD system, which basically records to a disc that is similar to Blu Ray technology.

The biggest problem with most TV cameras in general is their lack of dynamic range (i.e. the ability to show dark and bright images in the same shot). This is where film cameras have a huge advantage. Up until recently most film cameras were very expensive and out of reach of most people. Now there are fantastic new DSLR cameras available from Canon and Nikon that enable you to get a film-like image for a fraction of the price.

I own a Canon 7D, which costs about $1,700. It has a huge sensor, which can produce an image size of 5184x3456. If you look at full HD, it is only 1920x1080. The image that the sensor on the XD cameras that almost all Al Jazeera cameramen use is 1440x1080. What does all this mean? Well it basically means the bigger the sensor the better the quality of the image. The 7D can record in a variety of different frame rates and settings. The picture quality is far superior to most broadcast cameras at a small fraction of the cost.

So then why isn't everything being shot on DSLR cameras then? Well, for all the pros of these type of cameras, there are plenty of cons. Broadcast TV cameras have zoomable lenses, great viewfinders, good audio recording capability and the record format allows for quick acquisition, editing and transmission. A DSLR camera has bad audio recording, no decent viewfinder, no smooth zoomable lenses and a recording format that takes a long time to process and edit before it can be broadcast. They are also a lot harder to use and get right.

The Sword Maker & The Swordsman from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

I have been using my 7D to record a variety of events for Al Jazeera over the last 3 months. While it does have its limitations, I am still blown away by the quality of the pictures from such a cheap camera. Asia correspondent Steve Chao and I recently travelled to Taiwan to do a variety of stories including one on the dying art of sword making. Steve and I travelled to Cheding in the south of Taiwan to visit Kuo Chang Shi who has been making swords for more than 50 years.

Once there I decided to shoot the story on the 7D. The workshop that the sword maker uses was quite dark and provided potential nightmares trying to shoot with a TV camera. I used the 7D and recorded the vision in 720p, 50fps. This allowed me to record vision and then slow it down during the edit. Shooting at a high frame rate basically means more information is being recorded on the camera than if you shot at 25fps. When you shoot at 50fps and convert it back to 25fps you get wonderful smooth slow motion that shows incredible detail.

The pictures the 7D produced were simply outstanding, far better than anything my TV camera could have produced. However, I had to record the audio on my TV camera and then sync up the sound during the edit. The DSLR cameras still have AGC (automatic gain control) built into them.

You can put a microphone straight into the camera but the audio is terrible. After shooting the story, I then had to import the vision and change it into a different format before I could edit it. The overall process from shooting the story to converting the vision, then editing it takes a lot longer than if you used a TV camera, but it is worth it.

The future of technology is changing so quickly that these DSLR cameras are only going to get better and better. While they still have flaws and can't be used for every job, there is definitely a place for them in TV news.

The demand for multimedia acquisition is growing rapidly. Photographers around the world (including AP and REUTERS) are now being asked to record video as well as take photographs. This brilliant new technology is changing the way we are able to capture events around the world and it will only continue to get better.