The past year has been an interesting one in the camcorder market. We have seen more consumer models move towards HD resolutions and watched an influx of new devices for direct video to the web. The professional camcorder market has also changed dramatically and there has been a revolution of sorts combining professional video with high-end photography.

Today, consumers can capture video on cell phones, Flip Video™ Cameras and even pocket digital cameras. The consumer side of the camcorder market has been dominated by the introduction of small, lightweight HD camcorders recording in the AVCHD format to even more affordable flash memory cards or internal hard drives. These AVCHD cams record spectacular HD video in what the industry calls full HD, meaning 1920×1080 image sizes. While these camcorders are fantastic for point and shooters, home videographers and prosumers, they do not offer the ability to control the image composition that professionals need.

Several years ago the folks over at RED® announced a new breakthrough in professional camcorders. They would deliver the image quality and controls of camcorders costing over $50K for half or a third of the price. RED started a revolution and made a permanent impact in the industry before they ever shipped an actual unit. While RED kept on refining, re-designing and re-launching their product line, the camera folks like Canon®, Nikon®, Panasonic® & Sony® got busy as well. The first DSLR camcorder with HD video recording capabilities to have a significant impact was the Canon EOS 5D Mark II which was launched over a year ago. Then, last year, Canon introduced the 7D at around a $1,500 street price. The revolution had begun!

Over the past year Canon has produced and shipped tens of thousands of DSLR camcorders worldwide. With so many of these getting into the hands of such a wide range of videographers, from home users, to event videographers, independent filmmakers and now even Network TV shows and Hollywood movies, the impact has been dramatic. At Videoguys.com, we are getting calls and emails and reading new forum threads each day asking us what is the best way to edit and work with the footage created from these revolutionary devices. We hope this guide, written by Gary Bettan (the Videoguy himself) and Herb Ricco (our resident creative-guy and experienced Avid®, Adobe® & Apple® editor) will help!

We contacted some of our friends at Canon and told them about our idea for the guide. They loved it! In fact, they sent us over a pair of DSLRs to evaluate and use for this guide. As you might guess, we were pretty excited when a Canon EOS 5D Mark II arrived complete with an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens kit, along with a Canon EOS 7D Digital with an EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens kit. We can’t thank them enough for the opportunity to get all this hands on time with them. Our only regret is that they needed to be returned 😉

Read the full article here Videoguys DSLR Workflow Guide