Canon 550D compared to Canon 600D - Review of which camera is better?

I've just taken the plunge and sold my Canon 550D that I had as backup for shooting wedding video.

I decided to go for a Canon 600D instead, I think the following features over the Canon 550D are for me well worth the upgrade. Overall the deal was cash neutral as the price for the Canon 550D covered the cost of the Canon 600D.

1) Rotating LCD screen - definitely a real bonus for shooting video and Live view.
2) Video crop mode - far more flexible feature on Canon 600D compared to the Canon 550D
3) Wireless flash control built in - will be very useful and save needing to use the Canon ST-E2

Other features that are available on the Canon 60D such as faster frame rate, higher Raw buffer are not things that I would need. The additional focus points that the Canon 60D offers compared to the Canon 600D/Canon 550D are of no use to me as I primarily only use the central focus point anyway.

Whats in the Canon 600D box - coming soon!

The Wanted Live at Leeds Castle - Glad You Came & Lose My Mind

The Wanted boys celebrate their second week at No 1 with a fantastic set at Leeds Castle. Performing Glad You Came and Lose my Mind 
Watch the video here

The Wanted - video of performance at Leeds Castle Kent

Alexandra Burke performing Hallelujah Live at Leeds Castle Kent, July 2011

Alexandra Burke performing Hallelujah Live at Leeds Castle Kent (Shot on Canon 550D)

This video of Alexandra Burke performing Hallelujah Live at Leeds Castle Kent was shot on Canon 550D using the Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS lens - quite a heavy combination to hold in the air hence the movement during the song.

The video was shot on Canon 550D as MOV format, converted to AVI using Cineform and then edited with Windows MovieMaker and published as 720p WMV file for upload to YouTube.

Canon 5D Mark II - Canon Lens Error 01 - Unable to Communicate with Lens

If you have suffered from Error 01 on your Canon lens, shown as a message on your camera as Unable to Communicate with Lens or similar then you may like to see what causes the error. This error is particular prone to occuring on the Canon 24-105 f4 EF lens and also on the Canon 17-85 EF-S lens.

These shots are of the internal iris mechanism that had failed on my Canon 24-105 f4 lens.

 

The point of failure is the cord that attaches the iris mechanism to the lens body. With the constant motion of the lens barrel for zooming and focus it can fracture or fray and the communication error Canon Error 01 is generated.

Canon Camera error 01 problem with 24-105 f4 lens

It doesn't even need a complete break in the cord to generate error 01 in your Canon lens, sometimes it can occur at certain points in the zoom range when the cord is either stretched or compressed more which causes the fracture to widen and break the communication link.

Photos of 24/105 lens with Canon error 01

Canon 24-105 lens error 01 Canon 5D2

Video of Stacey Solomon - Live at Leeds Castle Kent - July 2011

Video of Stacey Solomon performing Live at Leeds Castle Kent - July 2011, video features Stacey singing Somewhere Only We Know and Son of a Preacher Man

Stacey Solomon Live at Leeds Castle Kent performing Son of Preacher Man

Photos of The Wanted Concert at Leeds Castle Kent

Last weekend we were at the great concert featuring The Wanted at Leeds Castle Kent, these images of The Wanted were taken at Live at the Castle promoted by Heart. Other acts performing were Eliza Doolittle, Alexandra Burke, Stacey Solomon, Twist & Pulse and China Soul.

Photos of The Wanted performing at Leeds Castle Kent, July 2011

The Wanted at Leeds Castle Kent

 

Eliza Doolittle at Leeds Castle Kent

Windows Movie Maker Black Screen Problem After Publishing

how do I fix the black screen on movie maker?

I've recently found a problem with Windows Movie Maker having a black screen in the video that is rendered after publishing. The video appears fine in preview but after publishing the final video produced plays to start with but at a certain point during the video the picture goes black although the sound continues as normal.

One suggestion I found was that audio clips that were muted could cause this behaviour so I set those sound clips to not be muted and just set the volume to be 0. This improved the output slightly in that the black screen at a later point in the video but it still appeared and turned the screen black.

One suggestion was that the Windows Movie Maker project included too many clips and transitions and that to fix the black screen error you could split the project into two parts and once those videos were created then combine them again. Having tried this it works perfectly and although annoying to do, it does enable you to use all the transitions and audio that you included in the project.

I did also investigate whether Windows Movie Maker Live 2011 would fix the problem but it doesnt appear to allow multiple sound tracks to overlay as the Vista version does.