Can the 5DMKII pull all day video marathons?
 

Just trying to learn more about the MKII.

I know that 12 minutes is the cutoff before you have to pull the trigger again. Is that because of the FAT32 4gig limit, or because of the "CMOS overheat prevention" that I've heard about? To go along with that, if you keep hammering the video and heating up the CMOS...has anybody noticed side effects like noise, etc.?

I haven't had a chance to really dig deep and search for this, but has anybody attempted to shoot an entire wedding strictly with the MKII and be successful with it?

Also, on a side note....does anybody have any reputable places that they know of where the MKII is usually readily available without getting financially raped in the process? I see several places openly saying that they have plenty in stock but the businesses look shady to me and I would certainly be scared to pull the trigger at the checkout.

Thanks for any info and help!

Take care,
-Brad

I have never done it, but there is one

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/wedding-e...deo-shoot.html

Thank you Noel. Wow. That was impressive.

I've done it
 

This last Saturday was the first time I've attempted to shoot the entire day with just the 5D. It seemed to hold up just fine and I'm excited to start editing this one. I did use my XHA1 during the ceremony as my stationary camera and safe shot but probably won't use anything from it. In about 10 hrs of shooting I went through 4 16gig CF cards and about half of an 8 gig. I needed two batteries to get through the whole day as well. The scariest part of the day was the toasts because I had no idea how long they would drag on but luckily they only last about 5 minutes a piece. All-in-all, I think most of the weddings I shoot in the future will be completely shot with the 5D, it's such a light setup when paired with the Merlin.

Hey Josh,
First off, i would like to say i how i love your work!! You are one of the Best of the Best in the industry!



About the battery, i thought each battery can record for ~2hr. Did you have to turn the camera off often, to save battery? Also, how were you able to capture audio?

Listening for Josh's responses as well......

Also, what lenses did you use for the day?
What did you do for the ceremony, just keep pressing record when it timed out?
What's the minimum requirement for a CF card (specifically) in the MKII for video?

I know I will have more questions....I can't remember them right now. haha

Thanks guys.

Batteries, lenses and more
 

Wow Jack, thanks, you just made my day! I'm not sure how long the batteries are supposed to last but two of them got me through ten hours with room to spare. I'd say I probably shot between 6 and 7 actual hours of footage and I don't remember turning the camera off a lot but I'd flip it off during downtimes for sure.

Since I hardly ever use any natural audio in my videos I just used the onboard mic to handle everything but there ceremony and the toasts. The audio during the ceremony (the ceremony was short by the way, probably about 30 mins) was captured by wireless mic on groom and sent to the XHA1 and I used a Sony IC Recorder plugged into the church's mixer for the officiant's voice. Toasts were recorded with the IC Recorder via the DJ's mixer.

Since I actually consider myself a photographer I have a full range of lenses to use with the camera. I used the 70-200 2.8 by far the most. The lens has the Image Stabilization that steadies the shot like our camcorders would which helps with the shaky footage. When flying the camera on the Merlin I used a 35mm 1.4 lens which seemed to be a really good combination. The 50mm 1.2 would probably be another good combo when mounted on the Merlin.

Since all my ceremonies are short form, I never needed any clip longer than a few minutes, so the 12 min max recording never was really a problem.

I'm not exactly sure what the minimum CF card requirements are but I used Sandisk Extreme IIIs and they seemed to work just fine. The 16 gig cards were about $120 a piece at my local camera store which was nice.

All-in-all, shooting video with the 5D is just so much more inspiring, it really brought me out of my shell for a day which really helped make the day much more enjoyable. It does suck tricking it to stay in a lower aperture but once you get the hang of it you get really fast at tricking it.

Hope that helps. Keep in mind, i haven't even started editing the footage but I watched quite a bit of it last night and I'm really excited to start messing with it.

Hey Brad,

I've shot all day with the 5D as well. You can check it out here on Vimeo: Ben and Sally - a 5D Mark II wedding video - HD on Vimeo

Lots of 16gb CF cards and lots of batteries is all you really need. I've got four batteries and three or four 16gb CF cards. As Josh said, go the fastest cards you can get, no less than Extreme III's.

Warning: Once you start shooting with the 5D you'll want to sell all your other cameras :) Don't say I didn't warn you.

Cheers,

Matthew.

By the way, congrats on making the EventDV TV top 25 list!

Very, very nice. It felt like I was there - sign of a great video!

I noticed another photographer; were you shooting stills for them as well?

Thanks heaps Jason!

Hey Dana,

Thanks! I was just focused on video for the day. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to borrow a 5D Mark II for the day so I did a 12 hour round trip to film that wedding. It was possibly the first wedding video in Australia shot with only the 5D - that's why I made the trip.

Cheers,

Matthew.

Wow guys, thank you so much for all the feedback so far.

Ok, so it's like this....(I know this is going to start sounding repetitive across multiple threads) but I'm going to have about $3,700 to drop on a new camera but I have to be very careful which route I go because that will be it for some time. I'm not afraid of the 5D. My close friend is a pro photographer, and I use to have a Letus so it wouldn't be so intimidating. I think the 5D would fit our style.

I just need to know what exactly I should get first if this is the route I choose to go. What a good general lens would be, speed of CF cards, WTB batteries, etc. I guess the first thing is seeing if I can even find one for sale from a reputable place.

PS- The Extreme III's are 30Mbps write speed. I thought the MKII was higher than that. (DP Review says 38.6Mbps) Is that right?

take care,
-Brad

Brad,
It worked for me already on several all day occasions, even in -4F outside.
Couple of wedding recently, that I shared here. I own two of 5D's

First congrats to Matthew for making the list.

I am envious that you guys can drop $ 3k easily to buy a camera, whereas I am still saving for my first HD Camera