Videoing with a Canon Powershot S5 IS
In the beginning, Festival Previews sourced its preview videos exclusively from the performers themselves for display on their promotional pages. Many fine videos are regularly received but since some groups touring the festivals haven’t yet put together a video, we decided to add some of our own. So last year, we went out to the Edinburgh Fringe and videoed many of the preview performances during week zero.
For this, I chose the Canon Powershot S5 IS (American readers, click here), which was new on the market last year. Normally one would buy a camcorder and stretch it when wanting still pictures but I decided to buy a still camera and stretch it to produce video. I read many reviews on the Powershot and it didn’t look like I would have to stretch it very far.
I must say, that I have found the Powershot to be an excellent camera, with loads of ability, including an 8 megapixel sensor. I’ve enjoyed photographing nature, meteor storms, even historic documents at the National Archives and under computer control from my laptop using the supplied software which enhances its abilities even further. You can read the detailed review which sold me on this camera here. I can say that I agree with all of this review’s findings.
So, how did the videoing go? Well, again I loved it for many reasons but I found that the darkened, spotlight theatre environments with clapping audiences are much more challenging than the likes of bright beaches that perhaps this camera’s video capabilities are targeted at. You can see for yourself in the Edinburgh 2007 video section of our blog, though bear in mind that the compression software used to squeeze the videos onto the website causes a little bit of degradation as well as presenting the video at half the original resolution. Here’s a summary of the good and bad points:
Pros
- Power, it uses 4 AA batteries and it’s easy (and cheap) to carry around a bag full of rechargeable AAs.
- Storage, it uses industry standard SD memory cards. I used an 8 GBytes card (class 6), with a 4 GByte card in the bag, just in case and my phone has a 2 GByte card, which I could also use in an emergency. 8 Gbytes gives you just over an hour at best quality recording and highest resolution, twice that on the lower quality setting and twice again on lower resolution. It also downloads to the pc much faster than a camcorder would using tape.
- Superb 12 x optical zoom lens, no need to be near the stage, I usually staked out a spot at the back, which makes side to side panning much more gentle.
- Portability, very lightweight compared to a reasonable quality camcorder. I encountered many burdened camera operators lugging their equipment between venues, during the Fringe.
Cons
- The world has gone wide screen but unfortunately the Powershot hasn’t, yet. I’m sure a firmware upgrade could add this. In the meantime, it produces videos with a maximum size of 640 x 480.
- The auto focus sometimes loses lock in the challenging conditions presented by the spotlight stages.
- To change the batteries or SD memory card, the camera has to be removed from the tripod and the tripod attachment removed from the camera to gain access to these items.
- There is no socket for external microphones, which limits your options, though the in-built stereo microphones are excellent under good conditions. Where I found a problem was filming in a park with a howling wind. The wind noise reduction facility doesn’t help much.
- Humourously, a feeling of inadequacy when surrounded by national TV network cameras, as one can be on the Fringe circuit!
So, with festival season approaching again in the northern hemisphere, I think I’ll look to acquire a wide screen prosumer camcorder. I’m very impressed by Canon products and I’ve started looking at the XH A1 (American readers, click here). I’ll post an update once I have bought one, hopefully in time for the Brighton Festival Fringe. My Canon Powershot is certainly not retired, it will be left to concentrate on what it does best, producing stunning, high resolution, wide screen stills.