OK, so you're not all into shooting movies on EOS 5D Mark II cameras, but maybe you like shooting timelapse?

Well, I was thinking about this the other day and realised that if you don't need sound in your video, or you're recording sound separately, then maybe you don't need to record sound on the camera. Some may ask what the point of this is, well the answer is simple - if you don't record sound, you have more space for video....

You see the 12-ish minute limit when shooting full HD is in place because the FAT 32 format used to write data to the memory cards can't support more than 4GB in a single contiguous file. So it follows that if you don't take up some of that space with sound data, you have more space for video data! 

Now, granted there are very few places where you'd either want 14mins of clip recording, or indeed where you'd be happy to have video without sound, but timelapse is one of them. If you record a long segment and speed it up, it has the effect of making time look like it's rushing past. So how long can you get? Well, there is no exact figure - in the same way it is quoted as 12-ish minutes for normal shooting, I'm going to call this 14-ish minutes as it will depend on how much detail you have in the scene and how well it can be compressed by the H.264 codec. . 

Want to see what it looks like? Check the video below. This is 14mins 14sec compressed into about 15seconds. 

Short video timelapse example from EOS Network on Vimeo.

As I've said on the blog before, when shooting video, audio is as important, if not more important than the visuals. While we're quite tolerant of slightly inferior visual quality, any glitches in audio really do jar with the senses.

With that in mind, finding a good recording solution for shooting video is an absolute must. 

Now, the first thing to say is there is no 'perfect' way of doing it. There are, as ever, many ways to skin a cat. Your solution will be down to budget and priorities, as well as how much hassle you're willing to put up with. 

My method of choice is a Zoom H4n audio recorder. This post is not the place to tell you how good I think this thing is for the money (that will come in a later missive) instead, here I want to show you an accessory I use with the Zoom to help combat wind-noise. 

It's called a redhead windscreen and is available from www.redheadwindscreens.com in Maui. Kalani, the guy that sells them, is a really sound guy (no pun intended!) and the product he sells is first rate. At US$34.95 with free worldwide shipping, it's a bit of a bargain too.

The real question is, how does it perform?  Well, I could go on about how it cuts wind out and improves sound recording outside, but the reality is the best way to show you is to give you a little video comparing the Zoom H4n without a windscreen, with the supplied windscreen and with the Redhead. These recordings were all done without the low cut filter enabled so you can see the genuine quality without processing. By default I'd use 80Hz as a low cut filter setting, but that's also for a future post! So, without further ado, here's the video:

The music is by Howard Eliott Payne and is called 'Dangling Threads'. It's currently at the top of my playlist! 

Zoom H4n windscreen tests from EOS Network on Vimeo.

So they're not the cheapest thing sin the world, but SanDisk have just announced their latest CF cards - and they are the UDMA Mode 6 cards we've been hearing referenced in the EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 50D and EOS 7D product specs.

With sizes from 16GB to 64GB and a write speed of up to 90MB/sec (double the current fastest cards, the Extreme IV), the SanDisk Extreme Pro cards will be the ones to be using if you want to make the most of your camera's burst shooting functions. 

The EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 50D and EOS 7D can all make use of these UDMA Mode 6 cards, so expect to see increased buffer performance as the camera writes data from the buffer to the memory card quicker, thereby freeing up the buffer for more images. 

For more information, get over to the SanDisk website.

To achieve such high speeds, they're using a dual core processor to handle the data. Prices from £197 to £657 depending on capacity. (16GB, 32GB, 64GB)

Did you know that Canon and SanDisk were two of the original partners in the CompactFlash card alliance? Because they both subscribe to the specifications of the group, SanDisk memory cards and Can cameras always work well together. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of an issue with a SanDisk card and EOS camera.