Hi @andy_from_sligo,
sorry for my misunderstanding. Now I see what you're looking for.
Well, I don't know any modern digital camera which offers something like a "pause" feature while filming. When pressing "start/stop" for the first time, recording starts and a new file is being generated. When pressing the button for the second time, recording ends and the file is being closed. So every time you begin a new shot a new file is being created.
Digital cameras do not produce one large file with chapter marks but store single files each time. That's a bit different from e. g. an old analog VHS camera, using video tapes. I believe to remember that on those cameras you were able to pause a recording and to continue a bit later.
Well, in the digital world I can't see the benefit of having a "pause" mode. Stopping a recording is like a pause anyhow, except that you're not getting one single file in the end but several files. But it's easy to connect those single files and to produce one large file in the end. Well, that large file is finally your movie.
Actually a "pause" mode in your sense would make video editing much more complicated.
Example: Imagine that you've created a clip of let's say 10 minutes by using "pause" several times. You would get one large file. What in case there's a bad recording somewhere in the middle of the clip (shaky, unsharp or whatsoever)? You would need to cut out that bad clip and to re-write the complete rest of the file. When using single files you can easily decide beforehand which clips you'll take for the final movie and only connect those which are really worth being shown.
Additionally, I rarely use my clips in chronological order when producing the final version.
Example: Last year I've been to Malta and was walking around Valletta taking several clips in the historical centre. The final result (after editing) does not at all show the order in which I took my clips. Most clips did not even make it into the film finally. Some takes were bad, others were simply unnecessary and of course I had lots of duplicates of the same buildings but from different angles. In case I would have had one large file only I would have gone crazy in trying to produce a final version.
So finally I'd say yes, there's a good reason for not having a "pause" mode and that reason is, that it makes cutting the final movie much more easy than having one large file which you would need to cut into pieces anyhow. In case you're not cutting your takes it's still easy to simply connect all your single clips to one big file but the other way around is much more complicated. Actually I don't know any film maker who would use a "pause" feature.
Hope that it's a bit clearer now.
Cheers
darkframe
Wo kämen wir hin, wenn jeder sagte, wo kämen wir hin und keiner ginge, um zu sehen, wohin wir kämen, wenn wir gingen... (© by Kurt Marti)
