Why is the video res : photo res of a dslr lower than that of a camcorder?

Milk

Milk

For example my dslr canon 7d can record 1920x1080 25fps - 50fps
Sony Hdr sr5e can record 1440 x 1080 30 fps
[off the top of my head, may be slightly off]

But the Sony takes stills at 5mp
and the canon 18mp

So why is it, the canon is only 580 lines bigger for video?
Surely it's capable of more?

or is it just the fact there is no demand for higher resolution?
 
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Because the processor inside the camera can't handle the data stream of the full resolution of the sensor. It's highly compressed. The sensor on a 5D is bigger (and would take higher resolution stills) than a Red One, but a Red One has more/better processors inside and a larger body (to dissipate heat) that prevents the camera from melting (though they do have overheating issues). If they put all the stuff in a 7D or 5D to allow them to send out uncompressed sensor data like a Red then they would cost 3 or 4 or 6 times as much.
 
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Yup! 24 (or more) 18mp images per second takes a hotrod processor and several terabytes of storge space to get any significant amount of time.

Also, what are you going to play back on? Granted it's nice to record higher resolution than you release, but aside from a handfull of expensive 4k projectors, the max most people will see is 1080p, more often much less.
 
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ah! Makes sense..

So thats why it doesn't look as good, as a proper film camera because it's compressed?
Is there likely to be a raw video function in dslrs ?
 
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Yes, compression hurts the image quality.

And yes, there will probably be a RAW video function in DSLRs... Eventually. Not in the next several years however.

The cheapest camera to do a RAW video is the RED. RAW is high bandwidth again, so you need hefty stuff to pull it off.

If rumors are true though RED will release a sub-$10k, 3K resolution camera in the next few years. They've been talking about it forever and delaying it, canceling, reinstating etc. It's on as of last time I heard but no sense waiting for it when you could be shooting now!
 
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For me, and this a personal choice with my producer hat on.
Once you get above about $6K or $8K price I have no interest in owning. I need a camera that's good "enough" for my commercial and music video work, and if I want a better camera for making a feature then I'll rent a Red or an Alexa.
 
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yeah, what finally sunk this home for me is the discovery that a single FRAME of HD Video is only 2 mega pixels.

So where do the other 16mp go? that data gets tossed out, plain and simple, there are various techniques that the different vendors use, to get the best 2mp of data from the 18mp sensors.
 
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