Canon 5D Mark II

A couple years ago my wife made me watch House with her, so I know a little bit about the show. But fortunately, I was able to talk my way out of watching it because I just wasn't into it.

However, I watched last night's episode and I am extremely impressed with the results. For those who don't know, the entire final episode was filmed with the Canon 5D Mark II.

The primary reasons were stylistic, the director wanted to use (over use, actually) an extremely shallow DoF and they were shooting in very confined places where traditional cameras have lots of issues.

A Canon rep was also on set during the shoot and took back a TON of notes with him when he left. At the to of the list, apparently, was a request to record RAW and second on the list was support for either 4:4:4 (preferred) or at least 4:2:2. Supposedly the rep told them 4:2:2 was already coming in a new camera due out before the end of the year (all Canon's currently shoot 4:2:0). Sound was also a major issue and the Canon rep promised major improvements in that area too.

I kinda thought something along those lines was going on. They also worked with very little lighting from what I saw. From what I understand, if you run the clips through neoscene, it takes them up to 4:2:2
From Cineform:
Chroma Interpolation: 4:2:0 → 4:2:2. Background: Most HDV and AVCHD camcorders record chroma (color) in a format known as 4:2:0. Without diving too deep, 4:2:0 chroma is half the color resolution of more professional 4:2:2 formats. When Neo Scene detects 4:2:0 chroma it properly interpolates the source chroma to 4:2:2 for more accurate color processing during editing and effects work. And if you ever "key" your material, CineForm’s chroma interpolation will substantially improve your resulting visual fidelity.

Yeah, but it's "digital" 4:2:2 and not true 4:2:2 color space.

And yeah, low light was the other thing... They used F1.0 lenses for a lot of it... Never heard of F1.0 lenses before.

Some producers are attaching $250,000 lens to the $2,500 MK II. They consider the MK II a disposable camera for use in less than desirable situations where they would worry about damaging production camera.

Never heard of an f 1.0 lens? Here's an f .95 lens with a nice price tag to go along with it:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/586190-REG/Leica_11_602_50mm_f_0_95_Noctilux_M_Aspherical.html

I bought a 250,000 dollar lense .......with Dons credit card.
Sorry Don :P

I personally dont need 4.2.2 or 4.4.4, I haven't upgraded to the 24p firmware which compresses the video less. I just think for the most part RAW is excessive and not necessary. Good color keying is more dependent on knowledge of AE.

But..do stock videos taken with DSRL's sell as well as those taken with 3ccd camcorders? These DSLR look so portable and easy to carry compared to an NX5u, HMC150, EX1,EX2, etc...

The fact is the subject and setup of the video is more important than the camera. I got my 5D MKII and now 7D in the last year, but a large part of my portfolio is from the Canon HV-20 and Canon XH-A1. I still do very good sales even on the HV-20. In fact more than enough from the HV-20 to buy the XH-A1, 5D MKII and 7D. Don't worry to much about the camera, worry about getting good subject matter.

Agree with you Don, but haven't the right tools makes it thousands of times easier. I outgrew the hv30 very quickly when I realized its limitations.

Luxor, all videos will sell if content is good, as Don said. But, certain cameras are easier to operate in certain situations. I've found for stock I prefer my mark II over my fx1000, but for weddings I wouldn't shoot the main ceremony with the mark ii, but use it for B roll.

The DSLRs are really changing things. Sony has taken notice and will be releasing a prosumer model of camcorder that has a standard SLR lens mount soon and really get some things going. My perfect world would be being able to use the same lens on my camcorder as my DSLR cameras.....sigh

The House episode was pretty cool! (it is online now). Except for the "trade your house in to buy" lenses, they could have stopped into a Best Buy on the way to the set and gotten the cameras they needed. What a concept.

For those of you interested, Ron Howard has some great behind the scenes info on the Angels and Demons DVD where he goes over getting some DSLRs into the Vatican for footage needed in the film, but could not get permisson for. Just send in a tourist and the world is yours.