Canon EOS 5D Mark II: 21MP and HD movies

[Andrew Martin]

Let me talk to my rep here in the UK and see if I can get a number for you. PM me your details and i'll pass them on.

Canon are quite good they are lending a photographer friend of mine 40 40Ds and lenses for a school course hes running.

Andrew.

 

[Tom Lowe]

I'm LOLing at these pics...

How are these rigs helpful? In the first one, it has follow-focus, but what are you going to be viewing to pull focus? The liveview? Do I really need that big honkin mattebox? Wouldn't a 77mm screw-on with a lens hood do the job?

In the second one, how is the woman even going to focus the camera?

 

[FMG battery]

AF tom..

 

[Pawel Achtel]

I'm LOLing at these pics...

How are these rigs helpful? In the first one, it has follow-focus, but what are you going to be viewing to pull focus? The liveview? Do I really need that big honkin mattebox? Wouldn't a 77mm screw-on with a lens hood do the job?

In the second one, how is the woman even going to focus the camera?

LOL, that's funny :clown2:

 

[Andrew Martin]

Is it really locked to 30fps? That's a pity, as it's recording H.264 at a pretty high datarate - 38.6 Mbps.


www.boacinema.com

I was told (but dont quote me on it) by someone at a Canon event that it **could** just be a matter of a firmware issue to get 24p. Which would be awesome. But again dont quote me on it.

Andrew.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

Is it really locked to 30fps? That's a pity, as it's recording H.264 at a pretty high datarate - 38.6 Mbps.
www.boacinema.com

38.6Mbps = 4.825 MBps

That's less than 1/4 of HDCAM data rate. Pretty low in my book. And, being 8-bit, essentially you don't have any latitude in colour correction.

 

[Cristina S]

38.6Mbps = 4.825 MBps

That's less than 1/4 of HDCAM data rate.

How much the REDCODE bit rate is?

And, being 8-bit, essentially you don't have any latitude in colour correction.

Is REDCODE RAW 16-bit?

 

[Pawel Achtel]

How much the REDCODE bit rate is?

28MBps = 224Mbps or 36MBps = 288Mbps, selectable.

but, more importantly, RedCode is a much more efficient codec than H.246 resulting in higher quality at comparable bit rates.

Is REDCODE RAW 16-bit?

No, it is 12-bit.

 

[Alex Coelho]

Found some more footage. Impressive in low light.

http://www.vimeo.com/2053280

 

[Daniel Browning]

5d Mark II manual is out

5d Mark II manual is out

The 5D Mark II Manual is on canon.com now. Looks like the HDMI is using live view image feed, with no sound:

If you connect the camera to a TV set with an HDMI cable (p.140) and display the Live View image while shooting a movie at [1920x1080], the image displayed on the TV set will be small. However, the movie itself will be recorded in the [1920x1080] size as set.

If you connect the camera to a TV set (p.139-140) and display the Live View image while shooting a movie, the TV will not output the sound. (The sound will be properly recorded, but the camera will not output the sound to the TV set.)

So much for getting uncompressed output.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Found some more footage. Impressive in low light.

http://www.vimeo.com/2053280

Some really great stuff here. One thing is for sure: The photogs were really struggling to hold focus on a lot of those shots.

I think one of the MAIN challenges with 5Dm2 and probably Scarlet/DSMC is going to be focus. The form factor is odd for pulling focus on such a huge sensor combined with extremely fast lenses.

 

[Tico Llaurador]

Not to mention trying to focus off the smallish built-in LCD.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Not to mention trying to focus off the smallish built-in LCD.

I'm wondering if there might be some type of mirror/hoodman type of device that could be built to latch onto the 5Dm2's LCD to provide better viewing from angles other than directly behind the LCD.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

It's a shame still lenses do not have accurate focus scales. It is the main limiting factor that I can see. Therefore I hope DSMC will have an option of PL mount. Just imagine all the high quality (fast and sharp) Red glass you could use and pull the focus right.

 

[Tom Lowe]

I hate to say it, but I seriously doubt we will see a PL mount.

I think it's going to come down to finding new ways to hold and support the camera while trying to pull focus, aim, control the iris, etc. In other words, it's going to take some hard work, practice and getting used to new ways of shooting. Even Scarlet/DSMC is likely to use still glass, would be my guess.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

The only other way to focus the damn thing would be to offer 1:1 or even higher magnification while shooting. Canon does not offer that and it is unlikely to do so. Even then, Canon L lens' manual focus throw is way too short for critical focusing.

It seems the whole still picture industry relies on auto focus as sole way of focusing, which does not work for motion picture and the whole idea of convergence falls apart.

If it is hard to pull focus on a cine lens with S35mm sensor, how are we going to focus on a (still camera) full frame at, say f/1.2?

If you look at those night scenes taken with 5D MkII, 95% of it seems out of focus and that's just 720p. Put it on a cinema screen and it is useless.

 

[Wil Klassen]

Not to mention trying to focus off the smallish built-in LCD.

I recently bought a D90 (already had $$$ invested in nikon glass and not enough money to invest in a 5D MII), and focusing is DAMN hard. I took some video at the Redbull Soapbox Derby Race, and a good amount of it turned out a bit blurry. Also, the video quality is...interesting. When it's out of focus, it just gets digital-y and just softened, versus a blur like DOF. But back to topic, yea focusing is a trick on LCD...

 

[Tom Lowe]

If it is hard to pull focus on a cine lens with S35mm sensor, how are we going to focus on a (still camera) full frame at, say f/1.2?

If you look at those night scenes taken with 5D MkII, 95% of it seems out of focus and that's just 720p. Put it on a cinema screen and it is useless.

Exactly. How in the HELL are we gong to pull focus on these cameras with fast lenses? I guess we need to be Jedis and use the Force. :turned:

 

[Cristina S]

If it is hard to pull focus on a cine lens with S35mm sensor, how are we going to focus on a (still camera) full frame at, say f/1.2?

Pulling the focus through AF in manual mode? Before capturing. Not so many transitions.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

Pulling the focus through AF in manual mode? Before capturing. Not so many transitions.

But how do you know you are in focus?

With cine lenses me or my focus puller uses Leica Disto, measures the distance from image plane to the subject with 2mm precision and pulls focus accordingly.

Also, quite often I can't use the screen to focus, even if it had 1:1 zoom capability. An example of that is timelapse of sunrise or stars at night. The screen is black. How do you "dial in" the right focus, specially if 0.1mm move on the focusing ring throws the focus off?