I don't know how you feel, but I was never crazy about traditional video and nature work. I had worked professionally with video back in the 1980s and early 1990s and did only a little nature work with some of the cameras I was working with. Standard definition video just did not do it for nature.
With HD, this has changed a lot. When we got our first HD television set, I was so excited to see wonderful nature presented in high definition. Nature finally looked good on video.
I started shooting nature with HD video with some camcorders a few years ago, but the cameras did not match the experience of shooting with a digital SLR. So when DSLRs came out with HD video built-in, I was very excited. These cameras offer three really great features for nature photographers interested in shooting video -- full interchangeable lenses, excellent wide-angle video, excellent macro capabilities, superb video quality and a small camera/lens package. None of those things were readily available with video camcorders.
This video was shot with the 7D, Canon 50mm macro, Canon 10-22mm wide-angle zoom, plus the use of a Canon 500D achromatic close up lens on the 10-22 for wide-angle close ups.
Audio can be a problem with DSLRs. Don't use the in-camera mic -- they are all pretty much worthless. I used a Sennheiser MKE-400 shotgun mic which I would not hesitate to recommend. I like it a lot. A friend had a Rhodes mike and I did not like the results as well as my Sennheiser.
This video really points out how cool video can be. Look at these bees -- brown against brown! Not very photogenic for the single image. But put these bees in motion with sound, and they literally come alive.
Great video! I hope you will be adding many more of these in the future.
I think it would be great to offer a series of these nature related videos.
Is there a resource for me to learn the technical stuff about DLSR video? Such as aperture, speed, focus?
This is new enough that there are just some new things coming out. The first books I have seen are a bit too related to video professionals. A friend of mine, Michael Guncheon, and I have a book coming on on video for photographers that will be out in January, and we are both very proud of it. We feel it does speak to photographers. Also, I will be doing a video program for Lynda.com later this year that should be available early next year.
Rob