Can we PLEASE have a manual video mode? (UPDATE: Sony listened...)

Update, 7 September 2010: According to EOSHD.com, Ichiro Takagi, Deputy President of Sony's Imaging Business Group, announced that Sony will be adding manual video controls to some of its NEX- and Alpha-series DSLRs (most likely the NEX-5 and Alpha A55, although Takagi-san didn't mention specific models.) The new firmware is to be formally announced at Photokina at the end of the month, so unless Sony announces yet more new models between now and then, the firmware will upgrade existing models. (Now, if Nikon will only get on board...)

Nikon and Sony have recently announced two important DSLRs: The D3100 from Nikon and the A55 from Sony. Both cameras have 1080P (at least under some conditions), both have continuous autofocus in video mode, and both are priced very aggressively (especially the D3100). However, both are missing something every important: Manual controls in video mode.They do video in full auto only.

Both cameras support both manual and full auto operation in photo mode, so all the capabilities for supporting manual video are built in. Everything, that is, except for manual support in the cameras' firmware. Why did Nikon and Sony choose not to implement manual video mode? One argument is that given the target audience for these cameras, first-time DSLR owners moving up from point-and-shoots, manual video would be too difficult to use and too intimidating. However, shooting good pictures in manual still mode isn't easy, yet both cameras can do it.

In my opinion, the reason reason why Nikon and Sony have left out manual mode is that they don't want to cannibalize other, more-expensive products. Nikon is likely to have a higher-end DSLR with manual video mode coming very soon for $1,000 or more (U.S.), and to date, Sony's position on full manual is that if you want that, you'll have to buy one of their camcorders. Only Canon has gotten it right, with 1080P and full manual control in the T2i/550. Canon, which sells at least as many DSLRs as Nikon and quite a few more than Sony, trusts its customers to be able to flip the necessary switch to enable or disable manual control.
Manufacturers have the right to put whatever features they want into their DSLRs. However, if a customer wants manual video control, they're not going to accept full auto, and if they can't find manual in a camera in one product line at a price they can afford, they'll buy a camera from someone else.

Sony introduces its first DSLRs with 1080p/i video

Sony has just introduced four new cameras, two DSLRs (A560 and A580), and two quasi-DSLRs (A33 and A55). Their video specifications are very similar; all four cameras can do 1920 x 1080 1080i at 50/60fps with AVCHD compression (at 17Mbps average), and 1440 x 1080 1080p using MPEG-4 compression (at 12 Mbps average). So what, you ask, is a quasi-DSLR? Sony's new design uses a permanent, highly light-transmissive fixed mirror than enables continuous autofocus and live mode for both still shots and video. This means that the cameras have electronic, not optical, viewfinders, although they have a largely conventional DSLR body and can use Sony's conventional Alpha-range lenses. The A560 and A580 are conventional DSLRs and can't do continuous video autofocusing.

Digital Photography Review has published a review of the first production version of the A55. There are some unusual "features" that it found in its video tests:

• The camera can record approximately 29 minutes of video in AVCHD mode, but it can only record 9 minutes if SteadyShot is turned on. The review is unclear as to why image stabilization affects storage capacity so much, but it may be due to the fact that the camera does digital image stabilization inside the camera rather than using lenses with optical image stabilization.
• Even though MP4 uses a lower bitrate and should allow a storage card to save more video, storage of MP4 files is limited to 2GB at a time, which limits the maximum duration of a shot to around three minutes. AVCHD doesn't have this limitation and can span multiple files in a single shot.
• DP Review found that the A55's autofocus feature was often less than helpful in video mode, as the camera sometimes lost track of the object that it was focusing on and went out of focus. This problem was especially pronounced with fast-moving sports events.
• They found that the A55 has a fairly pronounced rolling shutter "jello" problem, about the same as many other DSLRs, but more severe than some competitors.
• The review states that the A55's average AVCHD bitrate is 17Mbps, but it's unclear if that's the camera's maximum bitrate. Some other DSLRs and camcorders can support 24 to 30 Mbps.

DP Review was very impressed with the A55 as a still camera, and in fact gave it a Gold Award, so it's important to recognize that it's a very good camera. However, as with many DSLRs, the video functionality of the A55 isn't as well implemented as the still image features. In the U.S., the A55 will ship in October at a list price of $750 (body only) and $850 (with an 18-55mm lens). The A33, which has essentially the same video specifications as the A55, will ship in September priced $100 lower than the A55.