Canon, Nikon video-shooting SLR cameras ready for action

— -- Millions of point-and-shoot-camera lovers have stepped up to more advanced digital SLRs to improve their photography. But while $1,000 or so gets you a faster-performing, sharper camera that can stop action on a dime, the fancier camera hasn't been able to shoot video, something virtually any point-and-shoot can do.

Video clips on low-cost digital cameras have gotten so good that full-featured video camcorder sales have been declining for years. Get ready to weep some more, camcorder manufacturers.

Two new SLRs can now shoot high-definition video, taking advantage of the superior lenses (much better than video cameras, way better than point-and-shoots) available for SLRs.

Nikon's $999 D90 (body only), out now, is the first digital SLR to shoot video at 720-pixal resolution. Rival Canon ups the ante next month with the upgrade to its popular 5D camera, the $2,700 (body only) EOS 5D Mark II, which shoots high-def clips in the higher-resolution 1080-pixal format.

The 5D won't be in stores for four to six weeks. I tested a preproduction model. The verdict: Video on the 5D is vastly superior to the D90, but it's not really a fair comparison. The 5D is nearly three times the cost, and the D90 is an amazing camera but better for stills.

Video quality on the D90 is on par with a good point-and-shoot. The 5D, to these eyes anyway, looks comparable to a professional video camera.

Shooting video on SLRs.

Canon and Nikon were able to introduce HD video to SLRs thanks to advances in Live View technology, which allows shutterbugs to frame images on an LCD preview screen instead of a viewfinder. Manufacturers made this video breakthrough by ramping up the power of their cameras' image processors to increase video output resolution and data transfer speeds.

I'm not a fan of Live View. If you try composing your image in bright sunlight, it's nearly impossible to see. But if you want SLR video, this is what you have to do to get it.

The good news about SLR video, and it is pretty major: You can make use of the mouthwatering, supersharp, add-on accessory lenses that camera makers promote to let us zoom in really close or go wide for wonderful vistas.