Canon EOS 5d

Sounds and looks like a great camera but it should be recognized that it down converts and highly compresses the video signal before recording. In other words it's tossing out a lot of information in order to record 30 fps. You can't compare this to the uncompressed signal with full color depth that the top end video cameras or film scanning produces. The camera's highest quality image recording speed is "only" 3.9/sec. primarily because of the sheer amount of processing required.

I do believe DSLR cameras such as this will prove to be game changers for particular production requirements but they aren't giant killers yet. It's ultimately still true that you get what you pay for. Having said that, I am looking forward to complimenting my current 5D with another body that could serve dual purpose. Just need to sell more clips first!

Cheers,
Will

Im ok with that though.... The basis for the way an mp3 works is that it tosses out all sounds except the loudest sound at any given moment. This is because the human ear can only hear the loudest sound. So people who say they can tell the difference from raw audio files from mp3s are full of it , because it is physically impossible to tell the difference (unless you have the ears of a dog or something). Similar but more complex methods are used to compress video, but it still works within the parameters that the human eye interpret images. As long as the video isn't recompressed and recompressed over and over again it should be impossible for someone watching to tell. Also it down converts to 1080... right? Thats what you would down res red footage (or film) to anyway so it seems like its doing some of the work for me.

The one thing I can't find out is does this camera have full manual mode while shooting video.

I'm finding conflicting information on that. If you read Canon's website it says you can put it in shutter or aperture priority but no mention of manual.

It's a great camera, no doubt. but if you can't put it in manual, It's useless for stock.

Jake

I don't know about that,,, thats why I want to hear normstocks opinion of it first.
Im worried there might be some weird technical problem with it, look at what happens with the nikkon dslr camera :http://s477.photobucket.com/albums/rr134/jamesmel9/?action=view&current=DSC_0012.flv when you move it side to side. Yikes! Although the mark2 doesnt have that problem maybe it has some other weird issue.

I thought I read on vincents site that he was able to change the fstop etc.
I know the fps is stuck on 30, (but that can be converted in post) but Im thinking he was able to adjust the shutter? maybe? vincent also says: “the 5D MKII is far superior to the RED camera in terms of low light performance…”

interesting http://www.slashgear.com/canon-5d-mark-ii-video-capture-is-comparable-to-500k-pro-video-equipment-2116819/

Yes, Norman is what the rest of us are waiting for.
Sorry you're the guinea pig Norman, but you bought it first. LOL

I'm going to stop trying to find out anymore about the camera because right now its all speculation until the first camera actually is in use.
I saw that about the N-90. The canon doesn't have that problem. It was corrected in both the Canon and the Red.

Yes, you can change the F stop but the camera will change the shutter speed. That's what I keep reading. It seems you don't have full manual control. Well, like I said, I'm not going to research anymore until we hear from a real user.

I'm also not worried about only 30fps. I only do that now.
Man, low light is a huge boost for this camera. To shoot something at 1600 ISO without much noise is just unbelievable.
That in itself opens up a lot of ideas and concepts I have only thought about doing.

Jake

Yes, Ive come up with a lot of cool lighting schemes (with candles and such) when I was reading about set lighting, but they were too dark for my camera. Thats the advantage of a film camera, the big sensor allows for very dary areas, and bright areas all within the same frame. It seems as though the mark2 has inhereted this ability with its sensor size.

B&H has an interesting review of Nikon's D90's video capabilities for those of you you invested in Nikon lenses.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/find/newsLetter/NikonD90-Video.jsp

Will

www.Cinema5D.com is basically a 5DmkII forum - you will find answers to most of your questions there (as much as is known at the moment anyhow).

Lee

It sounds like canon will probably not release its own BIOS firmware upgrade because they dont want the 5d to compete too much with the video camera sales. (which means no changable frame rate or no changeble shutter etc.)

Fortunately its not too hard to hack the firmware on electronic devices, and make your own software "upgrade" that allows those features to be present. ;) Sometimes it is as easy as opening the software with a hex editor and going in and changing a few numbers. Although I am not sure if that is technically legal, but it if you own the camera I think it should be yours to do with it what you will, but you might void the warranty by messing with the software.

Here is another video made with the 5d. This guy used a adaptor to use Nikon lenses.
I wonder if doing that would give you back manual iris control.
Still, this is incredible footage from a DSLR.


5D footage

Jake