Shooting Video With an iPad 2

Since Friday was essentially the kickoff of the Spring season here on the Gulf Coast, and we thought it would be a great visual opportunity to shoot video at Mobile's historic Bellingrath Gardens. The Azaleas were just starting to bloom, and the "Great Lawn" was in great shape for a Wedding scheduled there the next day.

News 5 Photographer Gary Arnold participated in this experiment with me. He used his traditional Panasonic P2 camera, used for shooting 16:9 for our WKRG on-air newscasts. He would get a certain shot of the garden, and then I would follow right behind him with the iPad 2. We tried to get as close to identical video as possible with our different tools, to compare them in broadcast "package" form side by side.

This is the story shot with the Panasonic P2 camera by Photographer Gary Arnold:

This is the story shot with the iPad 2 by me:

As you can see by comparing these two videos, it's obvious which one was taken by a professional, with professional equipment. Like most Apple products, the iPad 2 is fast, sleek, and easy to use - but may not be ready for the big screen just yet.

Maybe we should try shooting a story with the iPhone 4, since that machine comes with a 5 megapixel camera and the iPad 2's camera is only .92 megapixels.

Is this the future of broadcast news?