I managed to borrow a Canon 5D for a wedding yesterday. I thought I'd just use some shots here and there but I went gung-ho and went for an all 5D SDE (except for two clips).

Shooting was an absolute joy. Editing was like pulling my nails out one by one with a pair of rusty pliers.

I was crawling on a Core2 Dell with only 2 gigs of ram. I only managed straight cuts and a linear narrative but I was just after finishing the darn thing.

Mitzi and Henry on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/3107224)

Lenses used:
Canon 70-200 2.8
Canon 50mm 1.8
Sigma 28mm Macro

Thanks for watching!

Great job managing the shoots with a different form factor. I suppose most of us use various support gear so we rarely ever actually hold just the camera, but even still, the placement of all our favorite controls, wheels, knobs, levers would throw me for a loop unless I had a few weeks to re-memorize where everything is!

The must reported crushed blacks seemed to be present, but honestly, unless you are playing with deep shadows or extremely low light, you seem to have avoided them.

I've been wondering about the audio. Was the on cam mic very sensitive to camera body noise? I know my GL2's mic is mostly useless if I adjust almost anything on the camera (which is why I have a LANC & a MultiRigPro).

I liked your audio transition between the percussive soudns of the music box and the soundtrack. Very slick transition.

The story and the shots are great (as is par for your productions). I see you really dug into the DOF available with the full frame sensor. Great use of it. I can't remember if you had prior background in still photography. Was there some awkwardness in handling such a short camera body for the placement of the zoom / focus rings?

I didn't notice any rolling shutter CMOS issues in your video. Did you have any issues with it? I haven't heard of it, but since it is a CMOS, I was wondering if it had the same reported issues as the Sony EX1, etc.

As with all SDEs, I'm always wondering if you choose the song first, and created a shot list to match it before hand...... or simple shot what came to you, and then figured out what music to use when you had all the video in the media bins.

One of these days I'll get the guts to try a SDE ..... but I would need a few support staff to help log footage to multiple PCs, transfer data over a gigE connection, and then edit while I shoot (where could I find someone else to edit to my tastes.... or a reception with a 1hr full course meal so I have time to cut it together!).

Thanks for sharing your SDE!

Hey Jason,

Thanks for the extensive reply and insight. Let me go through some of the points you bring up.

1. My difficulty with the controls lie in the record button. I wished it was programmed in the shutter button rather than the button in the iris wheel.
2. The onboard mic is very sensitive to the body noise. Even just the scrolling of the compensation wheel.
3. I never was a pro photog but I am a hobbyist =)
4. Yep the rolling shutter is present, not as bad though compared with the FX1000.
5. The music always comes first for me. For this one, the couple actually chose the music. I actually found it without peak but I figured it worked well with the linear narrative.

Thanks for the reply and I wish the best in your first SDE.

Cheers!

Hey Jason,

Great work!!!!

Did you use any special "Picture Styles"?
What technique did you use to control the exposure settings?
Love that music....I am working on a project right now that I would love to use it....do you mind sharing?

Keep up the great work!
Paul

Awesome Jason! Love to hear more about how the cameras form factor worked for you. Did you shoot handheld much, or were you on a monopod?

Love the DOF on that thing, I need to get my hands on one!

Hey Jason,
Thanks for the extensive reply and insight. Let me go through some of the points you bring up.
1. My difficulty with the controls lie in the record button. I wished it was programmed in the shutter button rather than the button in the iris wheel.
Arrrgh. I know. Even my Canon Powershot S1-is has a separate record button on the back of the body. Annoying for sure, but even more so on a camera that is supposed to be a dual use camera. Must be a Canon DSLR thing.

I really enjoy a documentary feel of this video, great shots in the beginning, the slider worked nicely...on wide shots, not sure if I saw rolling shutter.. anyway I'd take this SDE of yours any day, and in a way it's closer to my ultimate wedding video: less videographer and more true essence of wedding day, emotions, truth.

Any chance you'll go back to regular video camera?

I really enjoy a documentary feel of this video, great shots in the beginning, the slider worked nicely...on wide shots, not sure if I saw rolling shutter.. anyway I'd take this SDE of yours any day, and in a way it's closer to my ultimate wedding video: less videographer and more true essence of wedding day, emotions, truth.

Any chance you'll go back to regular video camera?

Hey Oleg. Thanks for watching. I'm sure I will, especially for longer forms. I hope the the new laptops can keep up with the demands of the editor.

Cheers!

Hey Jason,

Great work!!!!

Did you use any special "Picture Styles"?
What technique did you use to control the exposure settings?
Love that music....I am working on a project right now that I would love to use it....do you mind sharing?

Keep up the great work!
Paul

Thanks Paul!

I was on Program the whole time. =).
To control exposure, I would point the cam onto the lighting condition I preferred. Lock the exposure then proceed to record.

Hope this helps.

double posting

5. The music always comes first for me. For this one, the couple actually chose the music. I actually found it without peak but I figured it worked well with the linear narrative.

Nice stuff as always, Jason.

I agree with you regarding the music. I start to lose my sanity after hearing music that's as repetitive as this was :D

Nice sde especially the intro. Panalo!

Very Nice JMag....the colors were rich. I loved the comment "oh thats video"

Very Nice JMag....the colors were rich. I loved the comment "oh thats video"

Yeah that comment was sweet! That's what i keep thinking about using this camera. Everyone will think you are shooting photos. What the client/guest think when you say it's video? Will they think that it's some cheap video because your using a digital still camera? Not that they actually know anything but perceptions are weird.

Joe, I couldn't tell you how many countless times I've been on a gig how many people think I'm taking stills, whether with a large shoulder mounted camera or not. They pose, smile... as if waiting for a flash to go off. "Umm... this is video... do a cartwheel or something". :) Or... having someone come up and tap me on the shoulder and ask if I could "take a picture of us".

One would think being in L.A. they would have more of a clue :D

Hi Jason,

I liked your clip, i mean for someone that simply picked up a "foreign" tool and delivered a seamless product is a feet on itself. You had excellent control of your DOF and it came trough very well.

So you found the workflow on a duo core not so hot? Did Premiere deal with the files appropriately and what adobe preset did you use?

I hear that there is a way to convert the .mov file to a .avi which adobe will be able to play back in realtime and wont be to hard to edit. Have you read anything to this fact?

And for your sound, you might want to look into something like this

Sennheiser | MKE 400 Compact Video Camera Shotgun | MKE 400 (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/534023-REG/Sennheiser_MKE_400_MKE_400_Compact_Video.html)


P.S. i hear that the singer in your video is like Usher to the Philippines. lol

Thanks for sharing Jmag, and as i told Mayad, I'm coming to the Philippines in 2010, i hope I'll get the chance to meet you.

great clip...was that all handheld?

Jason - stunning video. Despite the simplicity of editing process you can't actually tell that you did it on a laptop :-) As far as the hardware, maybe you should get MacBook Pro? Those new models are pretty loaded.

I'm curious what kind of support equipment did you use? Tripod? Monopod? Rails system for that dress shot?

Hi Jason,

I liked your clip, i mean for someone that simply picked up a "foreign" tool and delivered a seamless product is a feet on itself. You had excellent control of your DOF and it came trough very well.

So you found the workflow on a duo core not so hot? Did Premiere deal with the files appropriately and what adobe preset did you use?

I hear that there is a way to convert the .mov file to a .avi which adobe will be able to play back in realtime and wont be to hard to edit. Have you read anything to this fact?

And for your sound, you might want to look into something like this

Sennheiser | MKE 400 Compact Video Camera Shotgun | MKE 400 (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/534023-REG/Sennheiser_MKE_400_MKE_400_Compact_Video.html)


P.S. i hear that the singer in your video is like Usher to the Philippines. lol

Thanks for sharing Jmag, and as i told Mayad, I'm coming to the Philippines in 2010, i hope I'll get the chance to meet you.


Thanks for watching Carl.

I used the DV preset and scaled down the *.mov file. I was using a core2 2.1mhz laptop with only 2 gigs of ram. Scrubbing was a pain and so is playback.

I am now currently doing research on the workflow.

Gary Valenciano is still pretty hot! Like an old Usher lol.

Thanks for the audio suggestion and hope to see you when you fly in.

Cheers!

great clip...was that all handheld?

Actually most of it was tripod mounted. Thanks!

Jason - stunning video. Despite the simplicity of editing process you can't actually tell that you did it on a laptop :-) As far as the hardware, maybe you should get MacBook Pro? Those new models are pretty loaded.

I'm curious what kind of support equipment did you use? Tripod? Monopod? Rails system for that dress shot?

Lukas (you are the namesake of my youngest son),

I'm looking at Alienwares right now =). I was bred with a PC. lol.

I used a tripod, a glidetrack HD, one shot with a Glidecam 4000 and some feeble attempts at a monopod.

The only handheld shots there were the CU of her hair, a pan during the preps and the kiss at the altar.

Yeah that comment was sweet! That's what i keep thinking about using this camera. Everyone will think you are shooting photos. What the client/guest think when you say it's video? Will they think that it's some cheap video because your using a digital still camera? Not that they actually know anything but perceptions are weird.

Hey Joe!!! Thanks for watching. That incident happened like 3 or 4 times that day. I always have to explain after.

It was a riot.

I hope putting on the short shotgun would help.

Cheers man!

Hey Joe!!! Thanks for watching. That incident happened like 3 or 4 times that day. I always have to explain after.

It was a riot.

I hope putting on the short shotgun would help.

Cheers man!

Maybe you could mount it on some shoulder mount? Or rod system? This way it would look more like a vid cam?

Just wanted to share this information with those of you who have 5DMKII and would like to have a better audio solution.

The Sweet Sounds of the Canon 5D Mark II | B&H Photo Video Pro Audio (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/find/newsLetter/Sweet-Sounds-of-HD.jsp)