Full HD on Canon EOS 5D Mk. II -- officially announced

[Tyler Franco]

Originally Posted by Gints Klimanis

Many have written that you can lock the exposure after setting it, but you don't have specific control over the settings. With lenses that have an aperture ring, you can manually lock the aperture, but then how is shutter speed controlled? These video modes will improve in the future.

I thought I read that the shutter is locked at 1/60 or 1/125. So setting exposure would entail using a combination of ISO and Aperture. If you want shallower depth of field in bright conditions, you'd want to use ND filters. Note though, I'm just guessing.

[Henry Coll]

have you seen Michael's video yet?

It looks great, such a shallow DOF and nice colours. Only one thing, on some takes, where there's a variation in the whole frame's light balance, as something moves in, or like when the train lights come in, what looks like AE turns the picture lighter or darker.

as for the literature, looks like you can lock exposure before shooting, maybe Michael didnt know?


btw, excuse to ask it again,but didnt get any answers. Does Shake do good 30p to 25p conversions?

[Jenn Kramer]

Vincent Laforet's short film he shot with a preproduction camera is up, quarter-rezed:

Canon Digital Learning Center - Sample Video: EOS 5D Mark II

I think it looks pretty good... smugmug's supposed to be hosting a 720p and full 1080p version at some point.

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/...r-ado-reverie/

[Pat Reddy]

Wow the depth of field, bokeh, and low light IQ look fantastic. Is that CMOS wobble in the helicopter scenes or just helicopter wobble?

Pat

[Steve Wolla]

Sounds like a very interesting cam. I cannot wait to check it out. However its primary reason for being is as a class-leading still photo device, I would buy one for its stills abilities alone. I do a fair amount of stills work as well. This 5D MkII may be a real boon to those shooting corporate/industrials, as well as photo journalists. I'd love to pick one up. I think it's ultimately going to lead the way in defining a product category, and will set a higher standard for all forthcoming pro-level DSLR's.
SW

[Jim Giberti]

Originally Posted by Don Miller

. I don't see people setting down their XL H1 for a 5DII. For them it's more of a demo of the core imaging ability in future products.

I don't agree. It's not a matter of setting them down...more a matter of getting something that you can't get from any 3 CDD camera. The 5DII can produce a look in and of itself that an H1 can't without a quality 35 mm adapter. And beyond the inherent DOF and FOV, there's the latitude, and ISO advantages which are significant.

Compare the size and weight of a 5DII and an XL-H1 with a P&S adapter on the front.

Size, Weight, true 35mm DOF and FOV, latitude, low light, 1080p recorded to a CF card.

I can see a lot of reasons to use this as a dedicated filming tool for any number of practical and aesthetic reasons.

If the IQ ultimately delivers.

[Floris van Eck]

Footage looks amazing. Really. I am blown away. I don't see myself buying an EOS 5D Mark II. I will be waiting till NAB to see what products the competition will announce and see where the market is going. But I think within a year I will be shooting with 35mm photography glass in front of my camera. What a nice world we live in.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Looks like the Heli shots were gyro stabilized (credits), but I didn't see any significant rolling shutter - maybe just a touch in the tunnel and in the scan down the tall building from the heli... but overall an amazing camera - a sign of things to come.

Perhaps the disciplines will merge sooner than anyone expected... interesting developments!

[Alister Chapman]

When I go storm chasing I have always had to make a choice, shoot video or shoot stills. There just isn't time to mess about with multiple cameras. having seen the quality of the video from the 5D it could be that this may be the camera for me. I will be watching this one very carefully. One small issue will be that stills lenses don't track focus as accurately as a video lens when you zoom so mid shot zooms may go out of focus. I think getting focus right will be difficult with the small rear LCD so shooting anything that is comming towards or going away from you will be tricky.

[Rick Hill]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kramer

Vincent Laforet's short film he shot with a preproduction camera is up, quarter-rezed:

Canon Digital Learning Center - Sample Video: EOS 5D Mark II

I think it looks pretty good... smugmug's supposed to be hosting a 720p and full 1080p version at some point.

Without further ado: Reverie Vincent Laforet’s Blog

Wow. The low light performance is amazing. The Heli shot of the skyline just floored me. As an amateur videographer (with some extra cash to spend on toys ;)) my biggest disappointment with the HD camcorder revolution is low light performance. This seems to be a quantum leap forward (yes, not incremental) in low light performance for both retail cams and Prosumer cams as well.

I was also impressed with the wide angle shots with the camara mounted on the vehicle. You can see some bouncing around of the camara but overall not too bad. OIS based camcorders cannot give you that smooth of a shot on a auto mount in my experience. Could that be due to sensor size, I wonder?

Looks like a new purchase is in my future. . .

[Christopher Witz]

if you look as his lenses used you will see that there is about $20,000 of lenses there....

"
EF Lenses used in the making of REVERIE:
FD 7.5mm f/5.6 (converted to EF mount)
EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
EF 135mm f/2L USM
EF 200mm f/1.8L USM
EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM
EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
TS-E 24mm f/3.5L
TS-E 45mm f/2.8
"

Expect to get caught up in the lens addiction with this thing.... I know when I upped to the 1ds3, I had to replace most of my glass with "L" glass to catch up to the 21MP.

Maybe at 1080 rez it won't matter so much.... ?? but fast glass ain't cheap.

[Tom Hardwick]

Rick, sensor size alone doesn't affect image stability one way or the other, but huge files can presumably be smoothed with something like Mercalli with less evidence that they've been tampered with in post.

[Dalen Johnson]

Forgive me if this has been answered - but what do we know about the 12 minutes?

From what I read on Luminous landscape, I believe the review said it just stopped at 12 minutes and he wasnt sure if it was sensor heat or not.

My question would be is it due to simply filling up the card?
Can you keep slapping those cards in there to keep recording?
Or is there a break in which the camera needs to rest after each 12 minute cycle.

That is one of my main questions about the camera...along with what does this mean for camera life? It has 150k shutter life...but if you use the video...how long will it go till it has had enough? Anyone find info from Canon on this somewhere?

The one thing that is disappointing is that it doesnt have the 100% bright viewfinder that you find on the A900. Canon went from 96-98% on the 5D. Why not just give that 2% extra I dont know. (With the exception of there is not much separating this from their 1ds camera)

Peace

dAlen

[Dez Leung]

Here is the link for the BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO of REVERIE by Vincent LaForet
from both Canon XH A1 camcorder - and a few clips for the Canon EOS 5D MKII

Behind The Scenes Video Vincent Laforet’s Blog

[Christopher Witz]

the shutter is up and out of the way during vid mode.... so would only count as 1 click per clip?

the overheating issue is a concern of mine as well.... even if the cam only shoots a few mins to a card, but can output vid live thru hdmi... will it overheat and through an error and need a break? I see no mention of fans, fins, or whatever other cooling methods that other cams ( red, sony ex ) require.

I need another backup cam to my 1ds3 anyways... so I'll find out as soon as I get one of these 5d2's.