Record around 90 mins continually

[edrg1983]

Hi Everyone,

 I need to record a still shot of a concert that goes on between 60 and 90 minutes. I need it to be a forward-facing shot because it's purpose is to later review the footage to look at the lighting and performance. I'm thinking the ideal position to place the camera would be FOH on a tripod. I have a Canon 550d, but it's has several shortcomings for this: short recording time and low battery life.  I thought about GoPro but I'm thinking the lens will be so wide that, at that distance what's happening on stage won't be very visible (distance from FOH to stage varies, but it's usually all the way in the back of venues, or at the middle in larger ones),. What would be the best option for this? Do I really have to go into camcorder territory?

 Thanks

 

 

[elgabogomez]

The fs100 is a great option for this, long battery life, small file size, iso usable to 8000, good detail (for a 1080 cam), you can buy it for around $1200.00us in very good shape. The sound is also good.

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

Any camcorder with a big SD can work out. If you just have the GoPro, place it as near to the stage as possible

[dahlfors]

Camcorder is not needed; Panasonic GH4R shoots as long as the battery lasts (and the batteries last quite a long time).

It's a good option, but if you need really good low-light performance, the small sensor cameras aren't as good as large sensor cameras.

Another option is to record from the HDMI-out. I know at least that my D800 supports recording for as long as battery lasts over HDMI-out, and I guess a lot of other cameras support that.

[pablogrollan]

You probably don't need excellent low light performance to shoot a concert. I have shot a few on several Sony EX3 without a problem. The camera feels a little cheap (too much plastic) but it is a great 1/2" camera with very nice IQ and the "kit" lens (anyone ever changed it? not that I know of) is an f1.9 31mm-439mm equivalent, so a very competent all-around zoom. I imagine they can be found cheap on ebay... The only downside are the absurdly expensive SxS cards, but there are cheap dummy cards that can accomodate an sd card inside. 32GB would give you around 100 mins. if I recall correctly.

[JurijTurnsek]

Wouldn't ML enable longer recording times? Also a used battery grip for 550d would be easy to find. GoPro is a no go, since the distortion would not let you get the right idea about what is going on on stage. Also battery life, lol.