zooming while shooting = epic fail

[Bill Binder]

Originally Posted by Dylan Couper

Something had been nagging me for a while about this post, and while I initially agreed with you, I've had to change my mind.

The problem with what you've said here, is that, yes, those are the holy trinity of even lenses........... for photography.... where you only have to snap a few shots here and there and can change lenses without interrupting your work flow.

I have a wide background of live event video, where you need to shoot continuously for half an hour to an hour at a time (if not longer), uninterrupted.... and you need to vary your focal length throughout, from wide to closeups, with the same lens. This means that the still photo "holy trinity" really dont qualify as event video lenses, since they don't have the zoom range to carry you through.

The only "serious" still camera lenses suitable for live video events would be the Canon 28-300L IS and the Sigma 50-500 (barely), neither of which are constant aperture.

Of course, there are tons of type of live events, and multi camera setups would make certain things easier and more complicated at the same time (and ignoring the 12min time limit). In a perfect world you've have 5 camera setups with 5 different lenses, but that's a different topic altogether. :)

My point is back to: The photo holy trinity of film lenses isn't a solution for live video where you can't switch lenses while shooting (ie, most single camera events), and many of us will be back stuck with the aperture "glitch". This of course isn't an issue if you are shooting multi-camera setups where you can cut to a different angle while zooming, or if you shoot enough b-roll to cut away to during zooms.

That's all.... I'm just giving a heads up.... and here I was just about to plunk down $2k on a 70-200L f2.8 IS (nah, I wasn't really, just dreaming. :) )

Dude, if you're looking for a one-man video camera to do events with where that type of coverage is required (consistent run-n-gun for extended periods of time), you've simply GOT THE WRONG CAMERA for the job. And I say that as someone who absolutely loves his 5D2, so don't take that the wrong way. The specific problem discussed in this thread (dropped frames on aperture change) is only ONE reason why that is true, there are many, MANY more reasons as we all know so well (not the least of which is complete lack of manual control, an unsatisfactory audio capability, and a very un-ergonomic form factor that practically requires stabilization at all times).

In my humble opinion, if the focus is film/video (not stills), this camera should only be used as the primary camera under very controlled circumstances (e.g., Indie Filmmaking). For events, weddings, photojournalism, etc., the 5D2 would be better leveraged as a secondary camera or a b-roll camera to supplement the primary (or supplement the AMAZING photography that can be made with the camera).

For me personally, I've been using it to do multimedia pieces of mixed photography and video, and for that, it is quite simply the most amazing camera on the market as far as I'm concerned (despite the long list of shortcomings). But then again, I'm a photographer first, so there you have it.

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Bill Binder

Dude, if you're looking for a one-man video camera to do events with where that type of coverage is required (consistent run-n-gun for extended periods of time), you've simply GOT THE WRONG CAMERA for the job. And I say that as someone who absolutely loves his 5D2, so don't take that the wrong way.

Totally true... However... there will of course be a lot of people who start shooting live/event video with the 5D2, hopefully this thread will be some help to them.

[Tom Roper]

If the 70-200L F2.8 IS and 24-70L F2.8 are members of the holy trinity, consider me excommunicated. I use all three lenses, and others. I find the 24-105L F4.0 IS sharper although slower and with more barrel distortion, and the 70-200L F4.0 IS is the sharpest zoom in the entire Canon inventory, although again, slower than the F2.8 IS.

I have the older 5D (no video), but whether you are shooting stills or event video, image stabilization only helps with camera shake, doesn't help at all if the subject is moving within the frame.

[Bill Binder]

In my personal experience, with the 70-200 f2.8 IS for indoor, available-light event work, that extra stop at f2.8 plus one or two more from IS (regardless of subject movement) LITERALLY makes or breaks shots. I'm not questioning the sharpness of the f4, just saying that some of us would never even dream of swapping our 70-200 f2.8 IS for the f4 -- you'd have to pry that lens out of my cold dead hands before I gave that thing up. IMHO, the lens is a MUST HAVE for every serious photojournalist, wedding photog, etc.

[Tom Roper]

Bill, you're right. Your work needs speed. I should not dismiss that. And it's the same for the 24-70 F2.8 and the 16-35 F2.8.