Should I take the plunge?

[Tom Roper]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mueller

I am having a hard time getting decent shots with the 24-105 though. Anyone else experience this? I also bought a 50mm 1.4 and am thoroughly happy with what I am able to get with that lens.

You need user familarity with the 24-105 to hit its sweet spot which is a moving target as far as sharpness is concerned. If you do that, it is very sharp, although distorted and fringed at the wide end, and a bit softer toward the long end. Overall it's strikes a good balance. If I had to have just one lens, that would be it. I sold mine recently, I may regret that decision. I am shooting with prime and zooms.

For the 24-105 the best resolution is at:

24-35mm - f/5.6
40-60mm - f/6.3
70mm - f/8.0
105mm - f/11

It's fairly sharp at larger apertures than above, but those are the peaks for combined center and edge sharpness.

PTLens or DPP can correct the fringing and barrel distortion.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mueller

Nigel, I hadn't seen that footage yet. All I can say is WOW! Truly amazing. Any idea what lens he had parked on the front of the cam?

He discusses it here SmugBlog: Don MacAskill Blog Archive First 1080p video from Canon’s new 5D MkII - Amazing! He mentions an F4 which I bet is the 24-105mm kits lens. An 85mm 1.2L & a 'secret weapon' a Canon 200mm F2.0.

Originally Posted by Ryan Mueller

I am having a hard time getting decent shots with the 24-105 though. Anyone else experience this? I also bought a 50mm 1.4 and am thoroughly happy with what I am able to get with that lens.

I was initially a bit disappointed when I shot some night footage with the 24-105mm F4L lens that came with the camera. I suppose that I was expecting the sort of quality that I saw in 'Reverie' & Chris MacAskill's clips that I linked to. In fact to shoot video that good in that light you need lenses with larger apertures. A lens at F1.4 lets through 8x the amount of light that it does at F4. This graphic that I pinched from Wikipedia demonstrates this well. A 50mm F1.2 lens lets through over 30% more light than does a 50mm F1.4 lens. Take a look at this explanation of aperture Aperture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mueller

Peer, glad to see you in here as well! I'm sure that we will be able to help each other out a tremendously as we learn and grow with our new camera decision.

Sure, and this is pretty much what I do nowadays -- trying to read up on this stuff. I hate to paint myself into a corner by purchasing wrong equipment. Although the XL2 was quite good to me, I never really came to terms with its "video look" depth of field, (but sure miss the audio capability).

What lenses did you decide to go with for the MKII?

Canon 17-35 2.8 L
Canon 300 4 L
Canon 28-135 3.5 (non-L)
Sigma 15 2.8

(As a kid I often used a 300mm on a 35mm camera, which was really nice -- so hopefully a lens this size will also work on the MKII, since it's a full-frame camera.)

And then I got this microphone: Ambient Tiny Mike ATM216

I'm also planning on getting rails, mattebox and follow-focus for it -- although I have not yet taken the plunge for the camera itself -- I was SO hoping that Canon would release a firmware fix at the NAB. Oh well.

-- peer

[Steev Dinkins]

Originally Posted by Peer Landa

I got this microphone: Ambient Tiny Mike ATM216

Do you have any video examples using this microphone?

-steev

[Ryan Mueller]

Originally Posted by Tom Roper

You need user familarity with the 24-105 to hit its sweet spot which is a moving target as far as sharpness is concerned. If you do that, it is very sharp, although distorted and fringed at the wide end, and a bit softer toward the long end. Overall it's strikes a good balance. If I had to have just one lens, that would be it. I sold mine recently, I may regret that decision. I am shooting with prime and zooms.

For the 24-105 the best resolution is at:

24-35mm - f/5.6
40-60mm - f/6.3
70mm - f/8.0
105mm - f/11

It's fairly sharp at larger apertures than above, but those are the peaks for combined center and edge sharpness.

PTLens or DPP can correct the fringing and barrel distortion.

Thanks for the info. I shot some more footage with it today and was able to produce footage to my liking. I do have to say that the 50mm f1.4 is amazing in low light! I am definitely content with the 24-105 now as well. The OIS works fairly well when having to shoot mild handheld.

Thanks Nigel for your input as well.

Peer, That's quite a collection you have going there! You'll have to send me some test clips with the different lenses. I'm curious to see which one you shoot with the most after you get your cam. I too would like to hear some audio clips captured with that mic into the MKII.

I am using a Sennheiser EG2 wireless lav setup to capture audio into mine right now. Doesn't sound great, so I think I'll have to just capture audio with one of my XL2s until my field recorder gets here.

Overall I'd have to say that I absolutely love this cam for both stills and movies! I am glad I decided to purchase one of these bad boys.

[Ryan Mueller]

So I decided to upload a couple of clips that I shot today. One of them is with the 24-105 f4 and the other is with the 50mm f1.4. Definitely should have had the 50mm on a tripod, but I was really just messin around. I think the results are pretty remarkable! Oh, and by the way it is more cat footage. I didn't think there were enough test clips involving felines LOL!

http://www.rpmproductions.info/video...5f4example.mov
http://www.rpmproductions.info/video...1_4example.mov

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Steev Dinkins

Do you have any video examples using this microphone?

Since I haven't got the camera yet, I've no video clips with this mic -- I don't even know if it works. It looks good though, and I also got the Tiny Mix for it -- a two line passive mixer with manual controlled hi-pass filters for each channel -- also this unit is very well built.

I hope it will work with the MKII, because it won't do any good as a paperweight -- it's too tiny and too light for that purpose.

-- peer

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mueller

I'm curious to see which one you shoot with the most after you get your cam.

Yea, I'm curious too what lens I'll end up using the most. Think I promised my ex the non-L 28-135, (we'll see if she remembers ;^)

-- peer

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mueller

Peer, That's quite a collection you have going there!

Oh yea, forgot I also just bought a Nikon 135 2.8 -- but yet no camera ;^)

-- peer

[Wayne Avanson]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

It was these two clips that were the very first 5DII video we saw that convinced my wife & I. The clarity & low light capability are simply extraordinary. Chris MacAskill : photos : Paris and San Franciso videos by night- powered by SmugMug

Yeah me too Nigel, the bakery shots were the ones…

[Steev Dinkins]

Well I took the plunge! Got the camera body and EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens from BHphoto today. I now join the madness.

-steev