5D mk2 enables cinematography for the masses

To be honest the word video does not do justice to the samples we have seen from the 5dmk2 and users should distance themselves from the term early, this is no video-cam its a new level, these clips are what cinematographers aspire too this is a "movie" mode for real, and there lies the total beauty of this tool, it is photo and cinematographers dream and alows both to expresses the creativity of these formats in what can only be the most compact system to date.

In my opinion this camera should not have been labelled with a video mode, at the very least movie/cinema or film mode.

In any event once people are familiar with this camera they wont be offering a video to compliment the photos of the event but a HD BluRay Movie?

Yes, the video can be pretty if you invest a lot of time, turn off IS, use a solid tripod etc. But I think you are overstate the impact on the masses.

It will be a niche crowd at best. There are already a lot of low cost HD range camcorders out there that are much easier to use and will thus remain the preferred choice for most videographers. Even if you can't swap lenses and shoot at 1.4 and maintain a tiny DOF (which gets boring after a while anyway), the camcorders offer much better ergonomics and controls for video.

I would much rather see a camcorder that took EF lenses!

I do expect we will see more talented people with a lot of time on there hands producing many stunning videos with the Nikon D90, 5D II, and all the other digital video SLRs on the way. But we will probably see a lot more really bad, jittery, boring DSLR video than we already have! Good IQ does not produce interesting video.

A few people got excited when digital camcorders started offering still shot functionality. I think some people will enjoy the advent of video on DSLR's, but I don't think it will change much. I like the idea for family, kid, school events where I used to have to decide between my HDV camcorder or 5D.

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EOS 5D and some lenses.
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This is my point, cinematography is a craft just like photography, I think there's no niche here demand will be huge. This thing will be a joy to use on a tripod or handheld, probably a monopod like the manfrotto with the tiny foot and fluid base will be a great combination with is switched on!

http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/view_item_cat.php?catalogue_number=mn-560b

This will work really well with the 5dmk2, also the d90 aint in the same league as the 5dk2, its very restrictive and is 720p(ok) but not the resolution fo this thing.

The 'masses' will no doubt prefer the cheaper D90 rather than the much more expensive 5D II.

Here I am with my $ 10 000 Lenses and Body. Frontstage. The Shows starts.

Only one step behind me (even not registered and totally unnoticed by the label, artist, security or eventmanager, a kid with a 150$ cam doing hd video and sound recording.

Video is on YouTube the next Day. My Photo still in postprocessing.

One Days later my Pics are ready, printed in the papers. But suddenly its uninteressting, cause the kids already downloaded the video from youtube.

The Artists and Manager decided going for video, because its much "cooler"
to have a bonus video on the cd, then some live pics on the website.

Video is the killer application of the web 2.0. we will have bandwidth and webspace populating our videos.

and of course, what everybody's whining about, the 1/48th shutter... That's the thing that everyone wants on the video mode! 1/48th to simulate the 180 degrees that film does!

The D90 lets you choose aperture and shutter speed, and you can lock ISO, so you get a fully controllable, MANUAL camera for filming and matching scenes/clips when editing.

The 5DII (that I'm buying) doesn't let you choose anything, maybe the aperture (according to Vincent Laforet but we still don't know if it's true). Shutter speed is up to the camera, ISO too. You can lock AE during video, and it doesn't have the horrible stair-stepping issue that the D90 has, but it's not manual, so it's more difficult to shoot with confidence.

D90 does 24fps videos. 5DII does 30fps.
Cinema is 24fps. Video/TV is 30fps.

Conclude what you want. But Canon needs to hear from the buyers about those shortcomings. I encourage you to write them how you feel once you've got the camera in your hands.

Look at that filmic look from the D90 :
http://www.vimeo.com/1923662
5DII is not bad either :
http://www.vimeo.com/2053280

wow that post processing on the 5D 2 looks pretty darn good, but still seemed a bit jerky. With the full manual controls in video mode, i think we can achieve our 1/48th shutter, and the 24 fps. Additionally, i think if we can have 120fps, or even 300fps... heck that's just wishful thinking

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can someone explain this 1/48th shutter speed thing to me please?

Samuel Gao said:

wow that post processing on the 5D 2 looks pretty darn good, but
still seemed a bit jerky. With the full manual controls in video
mode, i think we can achieve our 1/48th shutter, and the 24 fps.
Additionally, i think if we can have 120fps, or even 300fps... heck
that's just wishful thinking

Click to expand...

There is no "full manual" in movie mode, so no 1/48th or 24P video without at least a firmware upgrade and probably not even that as a lot of this is probably implemented as chips in the camera.

Personally, I don't care about those features as I'm not planning on becoming a cinematographer spending hours on a single shot, and putting out my film on Blu-Ray. What concerns me is lack of decent AF in movie mode and a lack of motorized zoom. These are 2 features that will disappoint the average user who just wants to shoot some video quickly. I sold my Sony HD camcorder to help fund my 5DmII pre-order, so I'm hoping that "art" aside, it will also be easy to shoot "casual" video of my family.

From my point of view, a videographer, the 5DII is an incredibly limited tool as a video camera.

I don't think it is going to make or save any careers.

Maybe version 2.0 of video from a still camera will be more useful, but I only see this as being effective in a controlled shooting environment, with external sound recording.

No zoom servo or decent audio inputs makes this as the OP's title suggests a tool for set shots or maybe quick little sound bites.

How do you check exposure or monitor audio?

Does it output live, full resolution from the HDMI for monitoring?

It seems like a useful addition and another way to get mileage from our lens investment, but the feature could use some more features before it really gets widespread use imho.

I'll be honest, I'm blowing hot and cold on this;

one day I wake up thinking yes creatively this is a dream and then the next I think, wow alot of staging to get this thing to perform.

To be honest on my 42inch plasma (latest pana 720p) my sanyo xacti's and my casio ex-f1 all in 720p look amazing in good light. Bad light ooh, downhill rapidly, they work but noisey as hell. My thought is that the 5d2 and the nikon d90 for that matter will out-perform the smaller sensor sanyo/casio(new canon sx1) and all of the current avchd camcorders, by a mile and augment my footage nicley, adding the creativity bits that need staging and the low light stuff and then the other std camcorder devices can be used for "easy" pano footage, that in the case of the nikon anyway are not good at, f8 max in movie mode with an af lense.

At the moment am thinking the d90, I dont really need 1080p and am a total amateur for own needs so dont need 23mpix either.

Re sound, a separate sound recorder is the norm anyway, and the handclap will allow you to sync then sound with the film quite easy, most sound men are recording separate from film!!

Anyway for those on a budget the d90 might fill the gap, 5d will be better, we all know but shooting 720p on the nikon is nice touch, it does give me a problem though of integrating 720p(30/60) with 24p

As I say I blow hot and cold, I know I want a hybrid, but they aint making it easy!!!

mrpharmacist said:

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can someone explain this 1/48th shutter speed thing to me please?

Click to expand...

1/48th would be a 180-degree shutter speed for 24P video.

The underlying issue here is the current lack of ability for the 5DmII to shoot at 24P (in addition to 30P).

The request for the 5DmII to support 24P started from the cinematographer community, but now has the "average Joe" claiming "yes! Yes! We must have support for 24P!" The average video shooter in the US generally wants to see that on a TV that's 30 fps. That's why Canon chose this standard. It's frustrating for film makers who want to leverage the 5DmII for their purposes though because film's are shot at 24 fps. So, 24P video more closely looks like film.

Of all my geek friends, I'm the only one who has a Blu-Ray player (they all support 24P) AND also a HDTV that supports 24P. It's not that common out there yet. Viewing a 24P Blu-Ray may feel more film-like, but, unless you're intent is to produce indy films with the 5DmII, it won't be an issue. Actually, in practice, shooting 24P is harder as it rquires much more fluid pans for it not to look choppy. Not a problem for cinematographers using specialized equipment, but not a great fit for the average home user.

Unfortunately, folks with PAL TV's (UK, for example) use 25 fps. My limited understanding is that it complicates things a bit for them because the 5DmII doesn't shoot video in 25 fps mode natively, so a transcoding of some sort is necessary.

The best fit for everyone would be Canon's eventual support for multiple selectable frame rates.

BTW

Video wobble is very eveident with the d90, limited by monopods/stabilisers etc and the nikon vr

But it look like the 5d will be the same, this means non-is lenses are tripod/monopod only for video, myabe short focal lengths wiht is around the house will be ok, longer focal lengths may make you dizzy

Are well, compromises.

I'm excited about shooting video with a 5D II. Ergonomics and lack of controls are the downside. But the ability to use my Canon lenses and get a FF shallow DOF are unprecedented at this price. Say what you want, but I do think 30p is also a limiting factor. (I shoot exclusively 24p on my video stuff.)

As for the masses, they'll be happy with their camera phones and (some now great) camcorders (e.g., Canon's HF11 and HV30). But... the 5D II opens a whole new world for amatuer and semi-pro photographers/videographers (I think pro pro's will still go for dedicated video gear.) Very exciting stuff in my book. (Esp. adding in the apparent outstanding low light capabilities of the 5D II.)
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