Adrian Cranage

Greetings After spending several days testing (comparing) the 7D to the 5D, my first reaction is.......well.......its really difficult to pick 1 over the other. Because...... First impressions......the 5D is clearly sharper (because of the larger chip) and seems to have better colour rendition than the 7D. The 7D can shoot 24p,25p,30p and 50p (albeit in lower rez 720x1280) The 5D can only shoot 30p (at the moment). Transfering from 30p to 24/25p is possible, but no matter which way it is done, it is never as good as originating in 24/25p. Of course it can be done, but using expensive machines/software which usually are very time/processor intensive. Both use H264 compression, which in my opinion only gives results (quality) slightly better than HDV. Decent (fast) lenses (for movie/video) are a must. Most of the cheaper zooms and primes have F5.6, which makes it very difficult to shoot in low light environments. According to the results from my ASA test, above 800asa, both the 7D and 5D start to become 'noisy'. So shooting at 800asa with a 5.6 lens, is very difficult. If you have faster lens, (more expensive) that open up to 1.2, sure you have more light, but then you have extremely limited (shallow) depth of field which presents its own set of problems (ie.focus....or lack of). And pulling focus at 1.2 whilst looking at a 3" monitor is very difficult even at the best of times. Sure, you can buy an external 7" monitor, you could buy a follow focus rig, a mattbox, an eyepiece/viewfinder adapter...the list goes on, but at the end of the day, you have a stills camera that (if handled correctly and carefully and used in the right circumstances) can produce pretty darn good movies. For the web ABSOLUTELY, for onair TV, only in certain circumstances. For documentaries.....maybe, probably not, but i still would prefer to have an Ex1 or Ex3 as my main camera and have the 5D or 7D as my second/special circumstance/CU beauty camera. Of course all of the above is only a refection upon my own opinion/experience based on having shot 2 music videos and 2 commercials with the 5D, 1 commercial with the 7D and currently shooting a documentary for theater release on the Ex1 Hope this somehow helped, if you wish to know any more info, please dont hesitate to ask. Adrian Cranage Cinematographer/EU/Germany www.cranage-dop.com