Here is my first 5D II wedding video shoot from Saturday:

Bonnie and Matt on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/2804189)

I have a short write up on the Vimeo info page about lenses, etc. For sure it's harder working with those cameras than your standard camcorders (the WB was killing me!) but it is pretty satisfying!

This video is no longer exists ?

Michael, just checked, the video is still there....

Vladimir, very very nice. The couple will be very pleased with this, great work.
I'm finding it very hard to pick up a standard HD camcorder lately as nothing quite hits the same spot as the 5D.

Very nice footage. The 5D is capable to turn everybody into a film star! And of course your skills :)

Maybe this would be the ideal footage for 24p playback without conversion - for the sake of that resulting slight and solemn slowmo?

The colors... and you said WB was killing you...

Can you tell us about the post production process AND your workflow/compression steps to post this on Vimeo

Thanks

Hey Vlad,

Awesome footage, really great quality. Only thing I didn't like about this clip was the amount of people talking on camera.

But, that in no way takes away from the footage. You did an awesome job!

I'd love to hear more about your experience shooting with the 5D Mark II at this wedding. Things you like about the camera? Things you didn't like?

Cheers,

Matthew.

I see the same problem as I've seen with other 5d footage and that is blown out whites, don't know how you manually control the iris on this camera but it seems to be an issue.
On the other hand the camera really shines when it gets darker, those color, detail and limited dof are just amazing.

Another thing which I seem to notice on a lot of 5d footage is that it's hard to keep stable without a good tripod, handheld filming seems to be a problem as well.

Although Vladimirs footage was one of the better I've seen till now I think the camera needs getting used to and requires the right tools to make it right. I've seen footage taken by "amateurs" filming their family and eventough it looked the same as what you see on youtube everyday the image quality makes all the difference, even in the hands of an unexperienced person. I also was drawn in the image as it looked so surreal, like something you almost didn't experience before and it even makes you look past all these small "mistakes" like iris, wb or the shaking of the camera.

I'm waiting to see what comes next, a hd filmcamera that can produce better photo's the a 5d? :)

Love the differential focus, just love it. Didn't mind the blown-out highlights as that was part of the style. As too was the constant camera jiggle.

But is it just me and my computer that makes it all look as if it was shot at 12 fps? It's so damn jerky and this sure gets to me after a while. I noticed 'proper' camcorders on tripods in frame somethimes, so was your 5D movie a side-line you were exploring Vlad?

I've always said that in wedding videos getting good sound is a lot harder than getting good pictures, and in this respect surely the 5D is somewhat lacking? OK, you can bolt it to a Beachtek box, but can you still record a hours speech uninterrupted?

tom.

Very nice but on my two monitors the colours are far more vivid than anything i have seen from any of my cams or most vimeo stuff i see,but i am solely amateur.

Amazing! I really liked the colours and dof. Didnt mind the shakiness at all, if anything i welcome it. (maybe i watch too much The Office)

For shooting a live event, could you tell us the workflow with the 5d (ie, how many batteries you had, how the 4gb limit effects the video, how many CF cards you had...)

Also, was the 5d bare naked or something outfitted with follow focus and mattebox etc.?

Thank you everyone for the comments!
I used the cameras bare naked without any follow focus rigs (although I'd love to try one out someday). I only had 2 batteries (one in each cam), since it seems they're impossible to find anywhere. I did bring a charger so I was able to partially charge them during dinner. For an all-day shoot I would definitely bring at least 2 extra batteries...

I filled up 4 8 GB cards so that gave me about 1 hour and 20 minutes of footage. Didn't have a problem with the 4GB limit, since all the clips were between a few seconds to 1 minute in length.

I did a rough edit in H264, but the playback was pretty choppy, so after I got it down to about 10 minutes I recompressed in ProRes 422 and re-rendered the timeline which made fine tuning the video easier. I exported using compressor:
h264
data rate of 3000 kbits (which was pretty low--I think they say 3500-5000 for HD)
optimized for streaming (with "fast start" selected)
keyframe every 30 frames
1208x720 size

I'm concerned that a couple people reported the video played back jerky? Is anyone else seeing this? On both my desktop and laptop it plays pretty smooth on Vimeo

Here is my first 5D II wedding video shoot from Saturday:

Bonnie and Matt on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/2804189)

I have a short write up on the Vimeo info page about lenses, etc. For sure it's harder working with those cameras than your standard camcorders (the WB was killing me!) but it is pretty satisfying!

Vlad very nice footage. I am very confused on what lenses I should buy. I have the 24-105mm and just got a 50mm 2.8. You said you shot most with the 85mm 1.2. Would you recommend this lens and why was it so good for most of the day?

Bruce

I'm concerned that a couple people reported the video played back jerky? Is anyone else seeing this? On both my desktop and laptop it plays pretty smooth on Vimeo

Vimeo plays back video at 24p so there is always some jerkiness with 30p footage because every 6th frame gets dropped.

But as I suggested before: It could be nice to drop your footage into a 24p timeline and reproduce it therefore with a slight slowmotion; could give an extra solemn look to it.

Vimeo plays back video at 24p so there is always some jerkiness with 30p footage because every 6th frame gets dropped.

But as I suggested before: It could be nice to drop your footage into a 24p timeline and reproduce it therefore with a slight slowmotion; could give an extra solemn look to it.

Joe, I'm definitely going to give that a try, thank you!

I'm concerned that a couple people reported the video played back jerky? Is anyone else seeing this? On both my desktop and laptop it plays pretty smooth on Vimeo

Plays smooth for me.
Again, amazing video! Great cinematography!

Vladimir,
This played good for me too. I have to say this is the best 5d footage I've seen. Great stuff. I too was a little thrown off by the people talking with no audio. I wanted to ask about RAdiohead. Did the couple choose this song?, and wow what a good choice. Thanks for posting. This makes me cry that I have to continue to edit stuff shot with my A1s because a real video camera like this doesn't exist yet.
Bill

Very smooth. The sensor is amazing.

Thank you! :-)

I agree Bill. I have two new FX1000s and they don't hold a candle to this footage. It is very frustrating. In the photo store the other day I was shown how large the sensors are on the Canon and I couldn't believe HOW large they are. It is no wonder they record such awesome images.

[QUOTE=Jeff Harper;995415]I agree Bill. I have two new FX1000s and they don't hold a candle to this footage. It is very frustrating./QUOTE]

Don't get too frustrated Jeff. You know what they say - highly successful films gather such adjectives because their audio is good, and your audio capture has a lot more potential than a bare 5D. Big chips certainly see well in the dark and allow you to control the dof with more finesse, but look - you have a 20x zoom at your fingertips, your camera has a swivelling turning, twisting screen, you can shoot for an hour non-stop and I bet your Blu-rays slap your clients awake.

Successful filmmaking is much more to do with your shooting and editing decisions than ever it is to do with your kit, believe me. So go forth with those FX1000s; remember that if time-travel could take you back 10 years the Hi-8 videographers would fall unconscious at your feet in gob-smacked shock and awe. All things are relative.

Yet you and I and Vlad know this: your brain makes the movie. The camcorder is but a senseless lump of magnesium and glass. It sits there, dumb, waiting for input, any input. Then like an obiedient moron it does what it's told, no more and no less.

tom.

All you say is true, Tom. But this camera is on my list anyway! I don't know what I'd do with it, but I want one!

Nicely said, Tom. I'd rather have a movie with a great script, acting, editing and sound, than a crummy movie shot on a nice camera.

That said, shallow DOF, high resolution, great color and effective diffusion combine to make an emotional impact. Just look at a stunning still photo. There's no dialog, acting, time-based editing or sound, but a great photo can be breathtaking.

Having the potential to combine the emotions of great photos with the dynamics of film is an amazing opportunity.

This is by far the best wedding video I've ever seen. Period. There's no "video" camera on the market today - at any price-point - that matches the DOF characteristics, color rendition and almost grainless output. Sure, you can spend tens of thousands on putting special rigs on video cameras to get 35mm-like DOF but you're still dealing with noisy and far more costly cameras and media to start with.

As I've said before a DSLR isn't an *ideal* video platform simply because of form factor and lack of manual controls. But as this video proves, if you know the limitations of the equipment and how to overcome them then it just doesn't matter. Does it?!

This clip firmly proves that DSLR videography is here to stay and the vid-cam manufacturers need to rethink their technology from the ground up.

Vladimir: Great job!

This is by far the best wedding video I've ever seen. Period. There's no "video" camera on the market today - at any price-point - that matches the DOF characteristics, color rendition and almost grainless output. Sure, you can spend tens of thousands on putting special rigs on video cameras to get 35mm-like DOF but you're still dealing with noisy and far more costly cameras and media to start with.

As I've said before a DSLR isn't an *ideal* video platform simply because of form factor and lack of manual controls. But as this video proves, if you know the limitations of the equipment and how to overcome them then it just doesn't matter. Does it?!

This clip firmly proves that DSLR videography is here to stay and the vid-cam manufacturers need to rethink their technology from the ground up.

Vladimir: Great job!

Thanks Robert--you made my day!!