On 17/9/2008 Canon produced the Canon 5D MK2, this camera has quickly proved to be radical for film makers everywhere across the planet - for the first time Canon created an HD full frame DSLR that was efficient at spectacular moving image capture.
This element was put in by Canon because journalists have been inquiring about it for quite a while and also the convergence between stills photography and video within the same device was swiftly becoming viable.
No one was more surprised than Canon when film maker Vincent Laforet, who was among the first filmmakers let loose on the unique dslr camera. revealed his first effort - 'Nocturne' did not disappoint, in truth it's no overstatement to state that it set the world of film-making on fire. The reason for this really is that the very big full frame sensor inside of the camera makes it possible for the operator to generate a truly gorgeous depth of field that conventional small sensor camcorders can't replicate.
The conventional film cinema look is tough to define but one of the significant elements is the depth of field that a 35mm film aperture generates. The Sensor (or film gate) in the Canon 5D is a great deal larger than the sensor found in a 35mm movie camera, actually it's closer to filming on 65mm.
Despite this awesome depth of field property and it's very quick usage within the film making community, Canon's 5D MK2 camera has it's problems when filming video.
One of the major problems is line skipping or moire. The canon must get rid of information from the thousands of pixels that comprise it's sensor to ensure that it can create a 1920 X 1080 HD file. It does this by throwing out every third line of data - line skipping. This could be terrible if you're shooting a subject that has quite a few horizontal or vertical lines - as the image steps across the dumped lines of information it can look unpleasant. Normally I try to keep away from check shirts!
Another difficulty is image 'skew', this is evident when panning left to right swiftly - vertical lines bend and twist noticeably - this is a dilemma on all CMOS video sensors but famously poor on the Canon because it's scan rate from the top to the bottom of the sensor is very sluggish and there is no internal compensation. A way around this is to simply stay clear of any quick pans!
One more drawback may be the 'form factor'. A DSLR is a very awkward design to film with, there is no professional eyepiece so just a couple of points of contact - both hands. If at all possible, three points of contact are needed to get a steady image while shooting handheld video. In the past two years numerous camera support devices have been designed by a vast array of manufacturers but they all essentially do the same task - give you one more point of contact through a shoulder or chest support solution.
The rear LCD monitor is generally problematic to look at in bright sunlight and there are various 3rd party items to cope with this, from low-cost hoods to pricey lensed eyepieces and additional video display units working off the built-in small HDMI port. There are lots of worries with the HDMI supply, most notably, it is quite delicate and fragile. Additionally there is a delay when feeding the image from the dslr to a monitor after hitting record, this means patiently waiting eight or nine seconds before acquiring a monitor visual. This can be maddening in a documentary situation.
The camera records in 8 bit quicktime H264 and even though this produces amazing pictures it isn't really deemed to be a pro recording file format due to the H264 data compression. Having said that the camera has been employed for a great number of TV dramas, documentaries and features. It's image attractiveness obviously outranking it's technical restrictions.
Even with the listed issues, many filmmakers (including myself) tolerate these troubles simply because Canon have put together a wonderful, creative, film-making device. When they improve the grievances with the MK3 then they'll have assembled a truly remarkable camera at a spectacular price point.
This element was put in by Canon because journalists have been inquiring about it for quite a while and also the convergence between stills photography and video within the same device was swiftly becoming viable.
No one was more surprised than Canon when film maker Vincent Laforet, who was among the first filmmakers let loose on the unique dslr camera. revealed his first effort - 'Nocturne' did not disappoint, in truth it's no overstatement to state that it set the world of film-making on fire. The reason for this really is that the very big full frame sensor inside of the camera makes it possible for the operator to generate a truly gorgeous depth of field that conventional small sensor camcorders can't replicate.
The conventional film cinema look is tough to define but one of the significant elements is the depth of field that a 35mm film aperture generates. The Sensor (or film gate) in the Canon 5D is a great deal larger than the sensor found in a 35mm movie camera, actually it's closer to filming on 65mm.
Despite this awesome depth of field property and it's very quick usage within the film making community, Canon's 5D MK2 camera has it's problems when filming video.
One of the major problems is line skipping or moire. The canon must get rid of information from the thousands of pixels that comprise it's sensor to ensure that it can create a 1920 X 1080 HD file. It does this by throwing out every third line of data - line skipping. This could be terrible if you're shooting a subject that has quite a few horizontal or vertical lines - as the image steps across the dumped lines of information it can look unpleasant. Normally I try to keep away from check shirts!
Another difficulty is image 'skew', this is evident when panning left to right swiftly - vertical lines bend and twist noticeably - this is a dilemma on all CMOS video sensors but famously poor on the Canon because it's scan rate from the top to the bottom of the sensor is very sluggish and there is no internal compensation. A way around this is to simply stay clear of any quick pans!
One more drawback may be the 'form factor'. A DSLR is a very awkward design to film with, there is no professional eyepiece so just a couple of points of contact - both hands. If at all possible, three points of contact are needed to get a steady image while shooting handheld video. In the past two years numerous camera support devices have been designed by a vast array of manufacturers but they all essentially do the same task - give you one more point of contact through a shoulder or chest support solution.
The rear LCD monitor is generally problematic to look at in bright sunlight and there are various 3rd party items to cope with this, from low-cost hoods to pricey lensed eyepieces and additional video display units working off the built-in small HDMI port. There are lots of worries with the HDMI supply, most notably, it is quite delicate and fragile. Additionally there is a delay when feeding the image from the dslr to a monitor after hitting record, this means patiently waiting eight or nine seconds before acquiring a monitor visual. This can be maddening in a documentary situation.
The camera records in 8 bit quicktime H264 and even though this produces amazing pictures it isn't really deemed to be a pro recording file format due to the H264 data compression. Having said that the camera has been employed for a great number of TV dramas, documentaries and features. It's image attractiveness obviously outranking it's technical restrictions.
Even with the listed issues, many filmmakers (including myself) tolerate these troubles simply because Canon have put together a wonderful, creative, film-making device. When they improve the grievances with the MK3 then they'll have assembled a truly remarkable camera at a spectacular price point.
About the Author:
The Article Author, Mitchell Blatwood is a film maker generating winning program material for cinema, broadcast and corporate clientele. He manages Tall Man Films and has well over 10 years experience of promotional videos Cardiff. Please go to the web site for additional free guides.