The word Videography is not my favorite. The word has neither the same tone nor the same attractiveness as the word Photography. Video is an electronic extension to Film Making, or Cinematography, and is the art and science of capturing images in video for electronic media.
Whatever you call it, video capture is an important part of today’s photography. Almost any camera that you buy will come with some type of video capability. Smartphones can capture incredible footage. In fact, award-winning films have been produced exclusively with Apple iPhones.
We will examine videography today, its definition and relationship to still photography.
History of video in stills cameras
Since the dawn of digital photography, video has been available on still cameras. Video was of low quality and low resolution, but it lacked ergonomics. Videography is a separate discipline.
This changed with the Canon EOS 5D MkII. It was a high definition stills camera, which is not inherently unique. Two things made it unique. It was Full Frame. Up until that time, full frame video was only available on expensive and high-end video cameras. Second, the ergonomic design made it easy to use for both filming and photography.
Next, the Panasonic Gh4 was launched. Panasonic was building a solid reputation for producing high-quality cameras, both for stills and videos. The GH4 added 4K video and a variety of video tools, such as focus peaking.
There are many DSLR cameras and Mirrorless that are capable of producing high-quality video, but only a handful are designed to be hybrid video/stills cameras. Later, we will examine some of these cameras.
