Moving to videography on a PEN

[bluechair84]

Hallo all,
I'd like to get some onions from you all. I'm currently on an E-series Olympus (four/thirds) but have moved away from stills, to video. Unfortunately the e-series doesn't shoot video so I'm hoping to pick up an EPL 3 so I can continue to use my flash and lenses. However, The big thing I want to achieve, and why I don't want to go down a standard camcorder route, is the narrow DoF. However, photography isn't my stronger aspect and is a necessary to my writing so I don't know as much as I could.
I've come across this which made me concerned that the camera wont like me trying to achieve my set DoF:

Originally Posted by dpreview

You can initiate recording from any exposure mode using the red record button on the back of the camera; the camera will honour any exposure compensation you have set before shooting, but will otherwise choose its own exposure parameters (it won't necessarily employ the set aperture or shutter speed in A and T modes, for example). By default the camera will automatically adjust for any brightness changes in the scene while recording, for example when panning from dark to light areas, but you can lock the exposure before recording if you prefer (as long as you have the Fn button set to AEL).

I've a manual lens amongst my kit so I'm hoping I can set the f-stop and get what I'm after. Am I going to run into much trouble with this intention? Any advice appreciated!

[beatnik69]

That doesn't sound like it will let you adjust the aperture to allow you to change DOF. When it talks about exposure modes it means Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program or the auto modes such as Portrait or Landscape on the dial on top of the camera.

[bluechair84]

But, if I'm using the manual lens the camera only has control over the shutter speed, I can set the f-stop value. I'm not sure if the camera will self destruct if I try such a thing...

[beatnik69]

Good point. I might try it tomorrow on my D7000 to see what happens. If my camera self destructs will you buy me a new one? :-)

[bluechair84]

Originally Posted by beatnik69

Good point. I might try it tomorrow on my D7000 to see what happens. If my camera self destructs will you buy me a new one? :-)

Yes*








* Does not conform to a legally binding contract as BC84 has recently suffered head trauma; everything suggested, eaten and built is to be considered the fictitious workings of a fractured consciousness.**






**Apart from that

[alfbranch]

Originally Posted by bluechair84

Unfortunately the e-series doesn't shoot video !

The E-5 does HD video but do you want to pay that much.

[bluechair84]

The E5 is way beyond my budget - but it's also not entirely suitable for me. The reason I went for the e-series is it had one of the smallest bodies on the SLR market. I think the e-400 held the record. Then the Micro 4/3rds came out. I need a small body to pack into a riding sack so that I can take stills / video on long mountain bike rides. The smaller the body, the lighter and easier it is for me to carry over 20miles of rough terrain. Or, I can take extra kit like flashes or lenses. I always hoped that maybe a firmware update would bring video to the e-series but it won't happen.