Camera for shooting interviews

[Josh5353]

Hey guys. We are currently shooting a series of video interviews for the web. We've shot the first couple of interview on a borrowed Canon EOS 7D DSLR with a 17-85mm lens and we like the HD quality it provides (unfortunately it only shoots 10minute chunks of video before you have to restart it!). We are now ready to invest in our own camera;

What comparable camera would you recommend, that can shoot high definition video at the same quality as the EOS 7D, preferably at the lowest price possible as we will lightly have to buy 2 of them for shooting from 2 different angles? We are usually editing & then exporting the video at 50mbps & 1080p for youtube. Good battery life would also be helpful for obvious reasons. 

For sound, we have been using a button mic plugged directly into the DSLR but we also have an attachment to record onto iphone. For lighting we are using an LED light

many thanks,

Josh

[fuzzynormal]

Depending on price, maybe just get two used 5DII's and cheap old 85mm or 50mm --f1.4 or f1.8 prime lenses.  I shoot 5D interviews all the time; often without any lighting.  (still have to know how to get a good shot though and exploit natural light)

Personal testimony:  I also shoot with the GM1 and it's very capable.  You could get those cheap used as well.  Cheaper than the 5D.  Put a speed-booster adapter on it and you'd be shooting roughly the same "sensor" size as the 7D...if you really want it.  You could also just put a inexpensive 50mm on a GM1 and have a great portrait lens, good for interviews.  I'd bet you'd be able to acquire 2 cheap SMC Pentax f1.4 50's, two GM1's and two dumb adapters for less than $1K.

3rd party battery life for the GM1 is around an hour and the thing'll record non-stop as long as there is power.

Anyway, that's some bargain suggestions for ya.

[leeys]

Get a cheap-ish mirrorless like a GX7 (they're going to fairly cheap now), a cheap-ish lens like the Olympus 45mm f/1.8, then spend your savings on audio.

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

If you want to record long interviews (more than half an hour), you'd better get a camcorder. At least for the general shot. Any actual camcorder will do. The other cam can be an DSLR or mirrorless. The Sony ones for example should record 29 minutes straight, instead of the 12 minutes of Canon. But don't trust me: check before buying!

[dbp]

On the DSLR front, the Panasonic GH2 can record straight until the card is full. Not sure about the other models (G6, GH3/4 etc...)

I use it with a cheap Nikon 50 1.8 for interviews at it works well.