The convergence of the two was inevitable and inexorable and I don't see the manufactures offering two models in a hurry .. the DSLR market is already saturated at this point (but I could be wrong).  Just list every model DSLR that Canon and Nikon make ... I think you will be surprised at just how many model there are.

I can see the likes of the makers of the RED ONE getting a little worried.  It wouldn't take that much work on Canon's part to offer 60f/s at full 5D Mark II resolution ... now that would be a nice camera.

I think the biggest hurdle, and its not a small one at this time, is band width and memory (storage).

First we have to get away from the 4GB limitation of FAT32.  This can easily be done by adopting NTFS formatting.

Then there is the issue of storage, but again with the rate of increase in capacity of CF cards, I think there are already 100GB+ cards available (for a price), this too will cease to be an issue in the not too distant future.

Processing power could be a problem at the moment though?

But what seems impossible this year, becomes possible next year and old hat the year after.

No matter what happens, exciting times are ahead.  And I for one am looking forward to it.

I for one like the idea of having vidio on my cameras as I tend to set up my finepix s5800 to rec birthday parties and xmas day while the children are opening thier presants but at the same time I take pics with my finepix s200EXR.

On a number of occasions i have missed a great shot but because I have had one of the cameras recoding I have procced it through finepix editor and split it into indervisual frames so I have been able to pull a copy of the shot I missed I know that the picture is not as good as it would have been if I had taken it with the other camera, but it is good enough to put in my album the good thing about both of my cameras is I can take video in either PAL or NTSC. Even though I like video on the cameras I do prefer to take the picture rather than videoing it as I feel theres more feeling to a photo than a video

Not a big video fan myself and never have been, I don't even like being subjected to watching freinds and families holdiday video's, I get bored easily.

I was impressed, however, when I purchased a Canon Ixus 990 to keep in my back pocket and tried the video whilst in Turkey, it was a crackingly sharp result albeit around 5 sec!!

I wish Canon would produce a camera without video, then hopefully it would be cheaper.

I have been playing with "animoto"....

Any comments?http://animoto.com/play/XzJe0nNsic1UmYrOuhcB3g

I like it, very nice and simple. I{ve heard about Animoto a while ago, but I never tried. I just downloaded to my iphone and will try to play around with it. I also know Pro photographer in Tokyo who shows his work after shooting job in Animoto. Good thing about it is music royalty free. When I made video for YouTube I have to use presets music which comes with soft or I create my own or sometimes mix known music, but one cannot recognize is someone`s :) I take a few pieces from different artist and make one, but only music, no voice.

By the way, Nick I found your photo today in "Tokyo Families" Magazine. It looks like you have earned again from your stock. I will send you by email.

Thanks for that Adam, I can't believe how many times this image has been spotted but it is always nice when someone takes the time to grab a copy and let me know!

Thanks again...thought I would upload it for everyone else to see (it's the family on the beach).

You`re welcome Nick. I`m sure is nice feeling and who knows, it might be first time in Japan :)
I didn`t know how to upload here, this is why I sent you by email.

Funny you should mention this because I have two flipcameras - one takes HD 2 hours, and the other is an older model that takes regular (not HD) for 1 hour's worth. People know I do videos and have made online marketing videos, and videos of speeches and events- and now I am starting to get requests for things like video-ing trainings.

There is a training coming up a week from this Saturday, and my little flipcameras are not going to do the trick - the training will be approximately 5-6 hours long.

I was looking at video cameras on Amazon today and trying to go through the customer reviews to decide what would be my best option for video-ing this training. Some of them take crisp videos but the files are ENORMOUS.

My career coach said his wife worked for Fred Fox Photography for 15 years -and her job was taking videos at weddings - I know I could probably do a fine job at video-ing weddings; which, with the capacity to take more footage than I can do now with a better video camera and boom mic, is probably another avenue to pursue and a natural progression from where I am now.

I went to a very expensive elaborate Quinceanera party where they played many videos of the young woman using photographs and some video footage, so I know there are a lot of applications for video and photography together- where having the capability of taking both photos and video and mixing them in fresh and interesting ways can be very useful and marketable.

I'm still noodling on this, but I need to come up with a solution for that training soon in order to come across professionally on the day of the training (and hopefully get referrals).

You could always hire a couple of video cameras? It would eat into your budget a little but would cost less than buying them, look professional and you get the chance to try them out before buying.

I use the Sony PMW EX1...an amazing Cinealta full HD camera. It has two solid state card slots which switch seamlessly when one runs out of space so all you need to do is change each card when it runs out every two hours or so (32gb SD card = approx 2 hours at full HD).

It takes Sony SxS cards which are very expensive but you can also use SDHC cards (using a $14 adaptor) which are wayyyy cheaper.

You cannot get around the file sizes I'm afraid...not if you want quality footage. Shooting HD is the way to go, even if you are using for web only. The large file sizes allow you to zoom and crop your footage without losing quality which adds a new dimension to your final output.

The EX1 uses MXF as its "wrapper" for the files which is compressed enough to reduce file sizes significantly.

To give you an example of file sizes, 1 minute of HD video from the Canon EOS 5D Mark II = approximately 290mb and the same minute of HD footage from the Sony PMW EX1 = 265mb

That Sony camera is heavy-duty professional level, Nick, thanks for sharing those awesome specs!!! 

I feel sheepish for admitting I was looking at the Canon VIXIA HF R100 HD Camcorder with 20x Optical zoom, which comes in at a much lesser of a price tag at about USD $400.00. I'm not sure I'm ready to take on a camcorder like the one you use, yet! I'm just starting out...!  The Canon Vixia HF S200 looks pretty good, too - but it's twice the price of the other one. I need to balance budget vis a vis goals vis a vis technical skill and my PC's capacity for large files at this point...