The twenty minute thing is because of device classification.
If a device records twenty minutes or more of continuous video, it is classified as a video device, which changes the regulatory structure.
If you watch movies, these days, it's almost unheard of for a single shot to be more than a minute or two in length. Even films like 1917 are really digitally-stitched montages.
I think the real reason is that Canon is ferociously dedicated to video, and they market that aggressively. It's a very different market from still images.
> If you watch movies, these days, it's almost unheard of for a single shot to be more than a minute or two in length.
Ironically, the low end of the market seems more interested in lengthy shots.
You're right that lengthy shots are unusual in pro film - but people streaming on twitch/youtube routinely record a 4-hour video in a single take. If you're a youtuber shooting an interview with a single camera and no crew, you want it to keep recording and you can edit it down later. Action cameras will keep recording no matter how long your ski run is. Someone recording a sports match or school play or band concert or lecture will want continuous recording. Drone videographers don't want to worry that if they're delayed taking off, the recording will end mid-flight.
Of course, how many people really need or will watch a full length video of little bobby's soccer match? Or need a DSLR to video it rather than a cell phone? Those are different questions...
I looked it up, it’s a european terriff which adds several percent tax to video cameras, with a time limit for what is classified as a video camera. So it’s just about money for one market. One source claimed it was going to be eliminated a year ago.
As for shot length, sure what makes it into films rarely gets 20 minutes but that is quite different than what you want to do while shooting. Much more, we’re not all shooting videos for a feature film.
Are you sure about the clasification? From what I heard the main issue is often cooling. Cameras and sensors are often not engineered as video capturing devices, so recording time needs to be limited to prevent overheating. Often you cannot just stop and re-start the recording after the recording limit, because the camera is still too hot, it will stop recording after a few seconds.
At least this is how it works for Fujifilm X-series cameras (which have higher recording limits though and are frequently used as hybrid cameras for video recording jobs).
I have a Sony A7S2 which can do, after the jailbreak, over two hours without breaking a sweat (never went above that because I didn't need it). The exception is anything involving sunlight - there the A7S2 runs into cooling issues without a sunshade.
Well, it was what was explained to me by a marketing manager.
The cooling thing hasn't been an issue for many years, since they changed their sensor design.
Might also be a power-consumption thing, as the shutter needs to be kept open (I don't think they are using virtual shutters, yet), as well as (for DSLRs) the mirror.
