Cheapest DSLR

I am looking for a cheap DSLR that records HD footage. I have found one, which is the Canon EOS 550D/Rebel T2i, but I am not sure if it is the one I want to get. If you have any suggestions, shoot.
 
I just did it, literally like 30 mins ago. Easy as pie to install and once you realize it has its OWN menus youll be glad of the features. Zebras are cool, but slow, and the default setting of on has this LOW light zebra and zebras anywhere its UNDER exposed too... crazy.. I just turned it off for now, Ill learn how to work zebras later.

You don't really "install" anything, just turn on the cameras ability to boot from a SD card. ML software is loaded from the SD card at boot up. This means If you dont want ML, you format your card and that's it. Its gone.

It took me a bit to realize a detail. The official released build doesn't have all the latest features. Like supposed native ISO's and Kelvin White balance for example, so once you have the OFFICIAL release working, you download the newest bug fixed build and simply drop the new binaries on your SD card and your running the new build, easy to revert if your so inclined.

So far no issues.
 
I just did it, literally like 30 mins ago. Easy as pie to install and once you realize it has its OWN menus youll be glad of the features. Zebras are cool, but slow, and the default setting of on has this LOW light zebra and zebras anywhere its UNDER exposed too... crazy.. I just turned it off for now, Ill learn how to work zebras later.

You don't really "install" anything, just turn on the cameras ability to boot from a SD card. ML software is loaded from the SD card at boot up. This means If you dont want ML, you format your card and that's it. Its gone.

It took me a bit to realize a detail. The official released build doesn't have all the latest features. Like supposed native ISO's and Kelvin White balance for example, so once you have the OFFICIAL release working, you download the newest bug fixed build and simply drop the new binaries on your SD card and your running the new build, easy to revert if your so inclined.

So far no issues.

So you decided to keep the T2i. Good man. Panasonic can suck it! :lol: And I'm sure you'll turn a tidy profit when your Lumix finally arrives.
 
Just a quick question.
Does audio quality improves to usable level on your t2i when disabling AGC on ML? External audio.

It improves in the sense that you can set gain manually, but the pre-amps are still poor quality and you can't monitor the audio. Better, but still far from good.
 
@CF, not sure if Im keeping in. the 30day return policy doesn't care.

... that said, I bought another lens last night, so It getting stupid to pretend otherwise! Pawnshope special sigma 28-150 f2.8 for < $100. Not so great according to the internet, but looks good to me.

@chilipie,
Rumor is that you CAN monitor audio with ML in the new build. Once ML boots up, your supposed to be able to plug in the canon AV cable on which audio will be playing back. You'll need a headphone amp (or not, I read some folks are using a simple adapter) dont know, haven't tried it yet, probably wont as Im dual system now..
 
@chilipie,
Rumor is that you CAN monitor audio with ML in the new build. Once ML boots up, your supposed to be able to plug in the canon AV cable on which audio will be playing back. You'll need a headphone amp (or not, I read some folks are using a simple adapter) dont know, haven't tried it yet, probably wont as Im dual system now..

Ah that's interesting, cheers. So you'll be able to use the AV out for audio without losing the built-in screen?

Another quick question - you said you just need to format the card to remove ML, so does that mean you have to delete clips from the card rather than just formatting it? (I realise you can delete all the clips at once, but I prefer to format between reels to reduce the risk of data corruption.)
 
@CF, without a ML enabled SD card in the slot, there is no way to know its any different from stock. Because it is no different (excepting that boot flag)

@chilepie, exactly right. If you FORMAT the card, you formatted your ML build away, and made the SD card NON BOOTABLE at the same time. So, yes, if you want to keep your ML cards configured for ML you have to delete clips from the PC, or erase on the camera.

That said, it takes about 40 seconds to prepare a card for ML so it doesn't really matter that much. So long as you have access to the tools.
 
It improves in the sense that you can set gain manually, but the pre-amps are still poor quality and you can't monitor the audio. Better, but still far from good.

For any serious project, the best the improved audio can be expected to do is offer a cleaner track for using sync software like PluralEyes.
 
I just did it, literally like 30 mins ago. Easy as pie to install and once you realize it has its OWN menus youll be glad of the features. Zebras are cool, but slow, and the default setting of on has this LOW light zebra and zebras anywhere its UNDER exposed too... crazy.. I just turned it off for now, Ill learn how to work zebras later.

You don't really "install" anything, just turn on the cameras ability to boot from a SD card. ML software is loaded from the SD card at boot up. This means If you dont want ML, you format your card and that's it. Its gone.

It took me a bit to realize a detail. The official released build doesn't have all the latest features. Like supposed native ISO's and Kelvin White balance for example, so once you have the OFFICIAL release working, you download the newest bug fixed build and simply drop the new binaries on your SD card and your running the new build, easy to revert if your so inclined.

So far no issues.

Thanks for the feedback. I won't be able to install this until tomorrow, and after reading this I am still a little confused. It does add an audio monitor to the screen? And is there any other way to monitor audio with ML installed? Because I was reading through the rest of this and I'm not exactly tech lingo savvy, but the people posting made it sound like they were plugging stuff into the camera with ML to monitor. Thank You in advance. -The Photog
 

Very cool. I believe THIS is the poor-man's solution. All you need, then, is a female-female adapter (Radio Shack), and you can monitor your cheap mic plugged into your DSLR.

Let's not forget that this is not a permanent solution. The audio is not going to be good. But it will be better than the in-cam mic, and will hold you over until you've got more money for a better solution.
 
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