Canon 5Dm2 "RAW" files... FAIL

[pango]

disappointing

disappointing

Horrible indeed. But the image texture is better for the bathroom shot with somewhat more light (although still iso1600), so maybe it is also a question of noise reduction. (And who said that the low light performance was great).

I guess, the compression imposes touch limitations, and so they apply heavy noise reduction before compression. Remember that there is less than one bit per pixel and frame available and it is not wavelet.

Also, the wobble in the bathroom shot is indeed quite visible. Laforet held the camera on his knees and probably did not use the gyro stabilizer for this one. The extracted shot is to short to see that, but it can also be seen in the "making of".

Edit:
OK, but they *are* shot at extremely high iso, it is interesting to look at the stills for comparison:

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2128

So what do you learn: (a) it *is* an amazing still camera, (b) the light was as low as it gets. (c) the noise reduction is very aggressive on the videos as well as on the stills, but the stills have a different level of resolution (~ 9 times more pixels).

 

[laguun]

The shots are ASA 2000 and ASA 1600 lowlight.
I am curious to see some ASA320/500 results.

We will probably buy some, i suppose they will be an interesting alternative for many shooting scenarios where HDV/DV/D-Beta/DVCPRO HD/P2 are used today. I certainly prefer the image over HVX200 or Z1 results, even as there are several artefacts i dislike.

DOF and sensitivity, price, availability, support network and inexpensive good glass however make the 5D MKII attractive.

I suppose than ~2010/11 the race will really begin when full convergence between still and moving cameras will be pretty usual.

 

[Andrew M.]

Let’s take the clip that was shot using EF 85mm more sharp lens then two other ones, clip #3.

As to the Live output from HDMI, there will be the same problem, needs a lot of DSP power to scale down 21MP to 1080p.

Unless you want to use RED batteries (or even better car batteries) to power Canon camera adapter with some kind of 21MP to 1080p downers converter you will not get much better output via HDMI. Basically they have to build the Scarlet form factor camera.
One more pound or so.

 

[schack]

The real issue here is not the actual images or there quality, but the fact that a major still/video camera producer now have a 24x36 chip of this quality and have shown the ability to grap a significant amount of frames off it, compress them and transfer them to a solid state medium, all within a very small form factor requiring no active cooling. The bright heads inside canon could, as I see it, relatively easily build a camera, maybe based on the XL series, that could rival even the RED ONE.

 

[Nova Invicta]

Wrong story

Wrong story

Remember where Canon are aiming this product they never intended it for broadcast or features.

 

[Joel Kaye]

Remember where Canon are aiming this product they never intended it for broadcast or features.

Doesn't mean they won't wake up and smell the coffee. There are loads of products in the marketplace that began targeting one set of consumers and ended up being adopted and targeted to another set.

I know what I'd do if I was them. Merge consumer video and SLR divisions, drop prices and become RED essentially. But the Vinyl records guys couldn't change fast enough. Maybe Canon is similarly screwed.

Nikon is the scary one. They don't have a video business to protect. They could just toss their hat in the ring... buy Cineform - include it free and become dangerous really fast.

 

[kidrobot]

What is Canon's position in the video market? I know they have their XHXL-type cams, but are they being used by professionals?

 

[Michael Hastings]

What is Canon's position in the video market? I know they have their XHXL-type cams, but are they being used by professionals?

It is lenses - they split a very profitable market with Fujinon but since probably 60 to 70 percent of the lenses are sold with the camera Sony, Panasonic, etc. have a significant influence on what gets sold. If Canon had ever moved seriously into making highend (b4 lens mount) cameras those manufacturers would have dropped Canon which would probably kill them in that market since even though there are significant aftermarket sales for wide angles and such they probably need the volume from the manufacturers to sustain the business.

As I said in an earlier post - the crossover point at which Canon pulls out all of the stops will be when it is clear to them that the profit from "cinematized" DSLRs and their own video business will offset the profits from their highend lenses.

....compress them and transfer them to a solid state medium, all within a very small form factor requiring no active cooling.

Besides Lenses and autofocus capability - this is the area where Canon has solid advantages. They have spent many millions and more importantly hundreds of engineer-years on developing the DIGIC and other dedicated very large scale ICs which can do this sort of processing without the large size, heavy power draw, and high heat that the state of the art in the current digital cinema world of RED, Arri, Dalsa, etc. simply doesn't allow. The money isn't a problem for RED but the engineering time may be.

It will be interesting to see what develops with EPIC/Scarlet/DSMC as Jim may be using the low end to drive the technology of the highend - as Sony did in the early days of CCDs.