Canon's New DSLR that shoots 1080p video

[Jonathan Bryant]

Take a look at these videos http://www.slashgear.com/canon-eos-5d-mark...-clips-1716575/ The squirrel clip is very sharp and lifelike. And I love the thought of using a 85mm L for video. What do you guys think? I already have a lot of nice Canon lenses but I am curious if this outputs live video to HDMI so you can pull focus, and I am curious if you can manual adjust the iris,etc...

[Jonathan Bryant]

Here is a higher res video that besides the color smearing is pretty impressive. http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?ac...ticleTypeID=225

[Daniel Carruthers]

This really interests me too.

I dont know enough about the camera to answer your questions,but Im curious to know what other people think too?

do you think dslr will be the next big thing in the independent filmmaking world

its strange to think of using an dslr to make a movie? but full frame 35mm,does sound very pleasing

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Short answer; at this time, no not really. In the future it is possible but I don't see it becoming mainstream. There are plenty of issues with using a DSLR as a film rig (though it's essentially the idea behind RED cameras). The biggest issue is ergonomics, rolling shutter effects on those cameras, audio inputs, record time, and editorial for the footage later on. And of course if this were fully solved, would it really still be a DSLR?

[Daniel Carruthers]

Short answer; at this time, no not really. In the future it is possible but I don't see it becoming mainstream. There are plenty of issues with using a DSLR as a film rig (though it's essentially the idea behind RED cameras). The biggest issue is ergonomics, rolling shutter effects on those cameras, audio inputs, record time, and editorial for the footage later on. And of course if this were fully solved, would it really still be a DSLR?

 

 

What do you mean rolling shutter effects?

as for audio, you could sinc it up right,just like with a film camera?

I also read that the camera only shoots at 30 fps, which would work fine for dvd,broadcasting

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Wobbly jello like footage which is a side-effect of CMOS chips. 99% of the time it's not really a problem; but on the DSLRs, at this stage in the game, it is still problematic.

Yes you can run double system without any problem; and 30fps works for DVD; however these are limiting factors for a lot of situations. Point being while they are nice stills cameras, for now that's what I feel they will be seen as. Further; with many other low-cost options coming to market, such as the A-Cam DII, or the Scarlet, there is less of a reason to use a DSLR Hodge-podge in my opinion, than for an indie filmmaker to grab up a scarlet. but no one ever really knows what will happen in the next few years and of course they'll shoot some films; hell SLRs have shot films (La Jetee).

[Varun Nayar]

well i hear it has no time code which might limit its high end television use...and there is a tricky exposure issue while shooting video...which i presume is no available auto exposure. but all that apart its a question of ergnomics...canon and nikon themselves are aiming these at photojournalists who might need the option of broadcast quality video as an added advantage. maybe someone might use it to get a tricky shot where a normal full sized camera wont go...

[Adrian Sierkowski]

I could also see them being used as crash cams in certain situations, and in odd mountings when it's "Ok" to break it. I would think their CF cards would be pretty resilient, though don't know for sure. I know I once submerged a flash-drive, one of those thumb things under water for a week [fresh water] let it dry and got my data off. . . Anyone got a hammer and a CF card I cn borrow for a test?

[Matthew Buick]

I'm really interested as to how this video is coded. AVCHD?

 

I think that footage shares a lot with existing Canon HD camcorders as far as colour rendition is concerned, the XL-H1, XL-A1, etc.

[Daniel Smith]

But is it really 1080p? or 1080i? No where seems to specify, not even the Canon web site.

 

 

I'm really interested as to how this video is coded. AVCHD?

 

I think that footage shares a lot with existing Canon HD camcorders as far as colour rendition is concerned, the XL-H1, XL-A1, etc.

H.264. Amazing codec.

Edited December 22, 2008 by Daniel Ashley-Smith

[Tom Lowe]

Short answer; at this time, no not really. In the future it is possible but I don't see it becoming mainstream. There are plenty of issues with using a DSLR as a film rig (though it's essentially the idea behind RED cameras). The biggest issue is ergonomics, rolling shutter effects on those cameras, audio inputs, record time, and editorial for the footage later on. And of course if this were fully solved, would it really still be a DSLR?

 

Ergonomics is an issue, but on a tripod or steadicam or any decent rig it's not too bad. Handheld is out of the question, obviously, because it's built like a still camera. Rolling shutter is not an issue at all. I can show you tests of this camera mounted on the handlebars of a BMX bike, at night, doing flips and jumps all around town. No problemo. The Nikon suffers from Jello, but not the Canon. As with any camera, including film, you can go out of your way to produce some poor whip-panning results, but rolling shutter is not an issue with the 5D2.

 

Moire-pattern aliasing is the real problem. I guess it's a result of the downsampling or line skipping.

 

Lack of 24p is the only real thing holding this camera back from shooting films.

 

It's low-light performance blows any film or other digital cinema cam clear out of the water.

 

Daniel, it's 1080p.

Edited December 22, 2008 by Tom Lowe

[Daniel Smith]

tnx.

 

you or anyone know what manual controls it has for video? ie. shutter, locked off iris, options to go interlaced etc.

 

or is it almost locked off?

 

 

 

I do both photography and video so I wouldn't mind shooting two birds with one stone. Bearing in mind I'm a skint student and can't afford both.

[Matthew Buick]

H.264. Amazing codec.

 

Isn't that AVCHD?

[Tom Lowe]

tnx.

 

you or anyone know what manual controls it has for video? ie. shutter, locked off iris, options to go interlaced etc.

 

or is it almost locked off?

 

I do both photography and video so I wouldn't mind shooting two birds with one stone. Bearing in mind I'm a skint student and can't afford both.

 

Manual controls require a lens with an iris ring, and a little bit of working around for ISO and shutter control.

 

In terms of buying it, this camera is a super bargain just for its DSLR functions. It shares the same sensor with the $7,000 1DsM3, and has a newer digic chip and better low-light performance. Plus it shoots 1080p video. So yeah, it's a no-brainer for someone like me who shoots both stills, timelapse and video, and who likes to work in low light.

[Dan Salzmann]

I understood that it does not offer manual exposure in video mode. Is that right?

[Tom Lowe]

I think the 5D2 needs an FAQ here?

 

Dan, left to its own devices, that is generally true, that manual control is not offered. But there are workarounds.

 

The most obvious is putting a lens on the camera with a manual iris. That gains you 100% control of iris. Nikon is the main option for this, also Olympus and others will work.

 

Next, you can control ISO and shutter speed with a little monkeying around before pressing the Auto Exposure Lock button. Pretty easy.

 

If you only control the iris, then the camera will ride the ISO to control the exposure. It's last choice will be changing the shutter speed.

[Daniel Smith]

hmm... shame. It would be nice if everything was fully lockable. iris, shutter speed and iso. I'd hate for the footage to suddenly gain more exposure half way through a shot. Wouldn't be any different to a consumer market MiniDV camera as far as I'm concerned. Just higher res and less noise.

[Daniel Smith]

Isn't that AVCHD?

Yep.

[Delorme Jean-Marie]

hi more a question than a reply,

 

i'm starting to get confused and need some of your brain.

 

 

this camera doesn't have a shutter and regarding it's frame rate : 30 fps should it have a flicker issue in 50Hz area??

 

thanks

[John Sprung]

Wobbly jello like footage which is a side-effect of CMOS chips.

Actually of how fast they read the data from the chips. When they get faster, it'll go away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Phil Rhodes]

It's not invariably a side-effect of CMOS chips, but it's a side effect of some of the things CMOS allows you to do, so as a practical matter it's present on most of them.

 

The biggest problem with these things is viewfinding - obviously you lose the optical viewfinder in live view, and the LCD is horribly laggy on all the examples I've seen. Done well, you'd want to replace the mirror with a semi-silvered variant and shoot through it, as on the Canon EOS RT film SLR, although it would have to be a supremely good mirror so as to avoid screwing the image utterly.

 

Thing is, by the time you've done all this, you've effectively got a Red with an optical viewfinder, down to a quite low level of technological similarity.

 

Edit - Wait, hang on a second - that's a really good thing, right?

 

P

[klas persson]

hi more a question than a reply,

 

i'm starting to get confused and need some of your brain.

 

 

this camera doesn't have a shutter and regarding it's frame rate : 30 fps should it have a flicker issue in 50Hz area??

 

thanks

As I've understood it the thing use 1/50 shutter speed as deafult. So there shouldn't be any problem. Oh, and everything is lockable I believe, not manual though.

 

30p and automatic shutter seemed like a useless combination in the pal side of the world but then I read this post in another forum. Got me interested in the camera again.

 

Great for low light situations.