My first tests of the Canon 5D

Well these are the first tests using the 5D in extream low light. I shot these in BW just to see what the BW grain would look like.

This first is of the family cat. It was in very low light and I had the camera set to ISO 6400 f5 1/30 shutter. The camera was mounted on a Induro monopod. Its a cheap $99 Plastic wonder 50mm lens. This is the H264 MOV file direct out of the camera with no editing.



Cat Vid


This next vid I did to do a DOF test on the 50mm. Again its at f5 1/30 and ISO 6400. This one was converted to a Xvid AVI format which is about 1/2 the size of the H264 and still looks pretty darn good.



Toast and DOF


All the sound is from the built-in mic and once you focus the camera you get zero noise. Since there are no moving parts.

Here is a still frame taken at ISO 6400. Its at F1.8 and 1/2500. Its a hand held shot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8656232@N06/3287472810/

This next one is a shot at ISO 25600. No thats not a mistake. This area was almost completely dark. Its a crop and is again untouched.

http://flickr.com/photos/8656232@N06/3287481782/

I think the camera is going to make once nice stock shooting camera.

I am doing research into the next lens. I am thinking the 24-105. f4 Its an IS lens so I should get some stability for handheld shots. .


The other choice is the 24-70 f2.8. Its a much bigger and heaver lens and the f2.8 would give me better DOF control. Its not an IS but Im not sure IS feature on lenes are going to help with any thing at this point.


If you pick up one of these cameras. Look at the cheap F1.8 50mm. Its good glass but weighs nothing and makes the camera very compact. I found the smaller the lens the less I arract attention. In the town I live in if you shoot with a pro video camera you have to have a permit. Normaly they wont bother you unless the camera is big and you are using a full tripod. With this camera and a monopod (with tri legs) I can shoot all day and look like any other crazy tourist.

I welcome input as to the lens I should get. Keep in mind Im not spending $4000 on a lens.

Also if you have not seen this yet check it out.


Vincent LaForet

Hi Michael,
What lens are you using, I'm guessing its a manual lens so you had control over the iris.
Also, what did you do if anything to compensate for the camera wanting to auto adjust the ISO during shooting?

Thanks for posting, I'm always interested in people using this camera.
I agree, it will be great for stealth shooting as well as the great shallow DOF.

Jake

Here is a little experiment in the studio. Its raw directly form the flash card. I was just experimenting with exposure compensation and needless to say I did not know what the heck I was doing.

Also I had the rode mic attached. Its gain was at max and the I did not know it at the time was pointed at a air filter.



Another Test

Here is a liveview focus. The lens I am using is fairly noisy so you can hear it do its thing.



Live Focus Test

Oh you can also turn off the beep off if you want.

Here is a vid som guys did to test the chroma key ability of the 5D


Chroma Key

Thats pretty cool.

So as far as I can tell with all the work arounds, the only problem is the frame rate option right? 24p or 29.97p. Which can be solved in post.

@kk5hy
I can ferm now that when shooting video you have no control over the gain (ISO), shutter speed or Aperature. The camera pretty much goes into full auto mode when you shoot. I think this is probably one of the top issues for this camera. It means you dont realy have control of the camera type of recording it will be problematic. For this reason I dont recomend using it in a studio environment.

@ironstrik
not sure what you are asking.

All in all the 5d is billed as a semipro camera but yet is has some of the same restrictions you find in a point and shoot. For a $2700 this seems kind of counter productive. Even in the still department its missing many things I would expect in a high end camera. But its low light shooting capability tend to make up for all its shortcomings.

Im going to do some outdoor shooting today and if I cant record the kind of video I want it will be going back.

This is a paste from another user on how he gets the ISO to stay put.

"AE lock is the only way to force the camera to stay at a particular ISO setting, shutter speed or aperture setting during a take. Even if you aren't using the tricks to force specific settings before a take, you should use AE lock before each take because the camera is very sensitive to changes in light and adjusts to differences in light fairly quickly. This adjustment often happens in abrupt jumps in apparent exposure making the picture suddenly brighter or darker during the course of a take. That can be avoided by simply AE locking. "

Update: Apperantly there is a way to lock down the exposure settings. Its not intuitive but it does make sense now.

This little clip show how


Lock down exposure mode

There is a lot to this little camera. You have to think outside of the box. I think thats why so many young people are having a lot of success with the 5D.

If you are a long time Vidoagrapher set you your ways I think the 5D is not for you.

As fast as technology is advancing in cameras, if you're set in your ways, you'll be out of business in a very short while.

Im reffering to all the problems with the firmware.
You see a lot of people are demanding new firmware that shoots 24p and 30p, and gives more manual controls.SO if I wasn't going to mod the firmware (which voids the warranty) I would have to make a bunch of work arounds (like the AE lock) to turn it into a "video camera."

people also want uncompressed footage, which I think is pointless, especailly since there are ways to increase contrast without creating artifacts.

I know how to hack the firmware, but I don't want to. BTW I think it is possible to shoot uncompressed, or to any other codec and at 60 fps. Not that I would DARE to look at the code ;)

I think this camera is great, I like the fact that its not so user friendly, its better than working with film chemicals. or HDV taoes. According to specs the h264 actually has more info than HDV ??!! Its just compressed more efficiently.

SO my question is...what other short comings are there? Because I think they can be fixed :)

The camera shoots 30P. I think they ar demanding 25P and 25P.

What I want is the ability to have true manual control over the Shutter/Aperatue and ISO when doing vid without having to lock or result to other tricks. I think it a simple firmware upgrade but who knows it could be they dont have enough memory on board to do whats needed. I personaly would like to see some of the CA and full auto stuff taken away.

Once I get through the learning curve I expect I will use the 5D for half or more of my shots. While the FX1000 is much larger it is easyer to use and does give me more control over all the settings. But then again the FX1000 takes horrible stills. In less than a month I will be shooting my first wedding. We shall see how things unfold.