First 5D II wedding video at DVinfo.net

First 5D II wedding video · January 12th, 2009, 01:02 PM

Here is my first 5D II wedding video shoot from Saturday:

Bonnie and Matt on Vimeo

I have a short write up on the Vimeo info page about lenses, etc. For sure it's harder working with those cameras than your standard camcorders (the WB was killing me!) but it is pretty satisfying!

Michael Ojjeh · January 12th, 2009, 02:52 PM

This video is no longer exists ?

Vladimir Chaloupka · January 12th, 2009, 02:56 PM

Michael, just checked, the video is still there....

James Miller · January 12th, 2009, 04:13 PM

Vladimir, very very nice. The couple will be very pleased with this, great work.
I'm finding it very hard to pick up a standard HD camcorder lately as nothing quite hits the same spot as the 5D.

Joe Wentrup · January 12th, 2009, 06:04 PM

Very nice footage. The 5D is capable to turn everybody into a film star! And of course your skills :)

Maybe this would be the ideal footage for 24p playback without conversion - for the sake of that resulting slight and solemn slowmo?

Jon Nelson · January 12th, 2009, 06:06 PM

The colors... and you said WB was killing you...

Can you tell us about the post production process AND your workflow/compression steps to post this on Vimeo

Thanks

Matthew Ebenezer · January 13th, 2009, 12:20 AM

Hey Vlad,

Awesome footage, really great quality. Only thing I didn't like about this clip was the amount of people talking on camera.

But, that in no way takes away from the footage. You did an awesome job!

I'd love to hear more about your experience shooting with the 5D Mark II at this wedding. Things you like about the camera? Things you didn't like?

Cheers,

Matthew.

Noa Put · January 13th, 2009, 02:38 AM

I see the same problem as I've seen with other 5d footage and that is blown out whites, don't know how you manually control the iris on this camera but it seems to be an issue.
On the other hand the camera really shines when it gets darker, those color, detail and limited dof are just amazing.

Another thing which I seem to notice on a lot of 5d footage is that it's hard to keep stable without a good tripod, handheld filming seems to be a problem as well.

Although Vladimirs footage was one of the better I've seen till now I think the camera needs getting used to and requires the right tools to make it right. I've seen footage taken by "amateurs" filming their family and eventough it looked the same as what you see on youtube everyday the image quality makes all the difference, even in the hands of an unexperienced person. I also was drawn in the image as it looked so surreal, like something you almost didn't experience before and it even makes you look past all these small "mistakes" like iris, wb or the shaking of the camera.

I'm waiting to see what comes next, a hd filmcamera that can produce better photo's the a 5d? :)

Tom Hardwick · January 13th, 2009, 03:02 AM

Love the differential focus, just love it. Didn't mind the blown-out highlights as that was part of the style. As too was the constant camera jiggle.

But is it just me and my computer that makes it all look as if it was shot at 12 fps? It's so damn jerky and this sure gets to me after a while. I noticed 'proper' camcorders on tripods in frame somethimes, so was your 5D movie a side-line you were exploring Vlad?

I've always said that in wedding videos getting good sound is a lot harder than getting good pictures, and in this respect surely the 5D is somewhat lacking? OK, you can bolt it to a Beachtek box, but can you still record a hours speech uninterrupted?

tom.

Martyn Hull · January 13th, 2009, 07:01 AM

Very nice but on my two monitors the colours are far more vivid than anything i have seen from any of my cams or most vimeo stuff i see,but i am solely amateur.

Jack Tran · January 13th, 2009, 02:40 PM

Amazing! I really liked the colours and dof. Didnt mind the shakiness at all, if anything i welcome it. (maybe i watch too much The Office)

For shooting a live event, could you tell us the workflow with the 5d (ie, how many batteries you had, how the 4gb limit effects the video, how many CF cards you had...)

Also, was the 5d bare naked or something outfitted with follow focus and mattebox etc.?

Vladimir Chaloupka · January 13th, 2009, 04:55 PM

Thank you everyone for the comments!
I used the cameras bare naked without any follow focus rigs (although I'd love to try one out someday). I only had 2 batteries (one in each cam), since it seems they're impossible to find anywhere. I did bring a charger so I was able to partially charge them during dinner. For an all-day shoot I would definitely bring at least 2 extra batteries...

I filled up 4 8 GB cards so that gave me about 1 hour and 20 minutes of footage. Didn't have a problem with the 4GB limit, since all the clips were between a few seconds to 1 minute in length.

I did a rough edit in H264, but the playback was pretty choppy, so after I got it down to about 10 minutes I recompressed in ProRes 422 and re-rendered the timeline which made fine tuning the video easier. I exported using compressor:
h264
data rate of 3000 kbits (which was pretty low--I think they say 3500-5000 for HD)
optimized for streaming (with "fast start" selected)
keyframe every 30 frames
1208x720 size

I'm concerned that a couple people reported the video played back jerky? Is anyone else seeing this? On both my desktop and laptop it plays pretty smooth on Vimeo

Bruce G. Cleveland · January 13th, 2009, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vladimir Chaloupka

Here is my first 5D II wedding video shoot from Saturday:

Bonnie and Matt on Vimeo

I have a short write up on the Vimeo info page about lenses, etc. For sure it's harder working with those cameras than your standard camcorders (the WB was killing me!) but it is pretty satisfying!

Vlad very nice footage. I am very confused on what lenses I should buy. I have the 24-105mm and just got a 50mm 2.8. You said you shot most with the 85mm 1.2. Would you recommend this lens and why was it so good for most of the day?

Bruce

Joe Wentrup · January 14th, 2009, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vladimir Chaloupka

I'm concerned that a couple people reported the video played back jerky? Is anyone else seeing this? On both my desktop and laptop it plays pretty smooth on Vimeo

Vimeo plays back video at 24p so there is always some jerkiness with 30p footage because every 6th frame gets dropped.

But as I suggested before: It could be nice to drop your footage into a 24p timeline and reproduce it therefore with a slight slowmotion; could give an extra solemn look to it.

Vladimir Chaloupka · January 14th, 2009, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Wentrup

Vimeo plays back video at 24p so there is always some jerkiness with 30p footage because every 6th frame gets dropped.

But as I suggested before: It could be nice to drop your footage into a 24p timeline and reproduce it therefore with a slight slowmotion; could give an extra solemn look to it.

Joe, I'm definitely going to give that a try, thank you!

January 12th, 2009, 02:52 PM	#2
Michael Ojjeh Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 338	This video is no longer exists ? __________________ Dragonfly Production http://www.dragonflyproduction.net/ http://www.vimeo.com/user432181

January 12th, 2009, 02:56 PM	#3
Vladimir Chaloupka Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Santa Fe, NM Posts: 80	Michael, just checked, the video is still there.... __________________ Vlad http://www.vladfilms.com/

January 13th, 2009, 12:20 AM	#7
Matthew Ebenezer Major Player Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Toowoomba, Australia Posts: 370	Hey Vlad, Awesome footage, really great quality. Only thing I didn't like about this clip was the amount of people talking on camera. But, that in no way takes away from the footage. You did an awesome job! I'd love to hear more about your experience shooting with the 5D Mark II at this wedding. Things you like about the camera? Things you didn't like? Cheers, Matthew. __________________ --------------------------------------------------------- www.shadowplay.com.au --- www.shadowplay.com.au/blog

January 13th, 2009, 04:55 PM	#12
Vladimir Chaloupka Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Santa Fe, NM Posts: 80	Thank you everyone for the comments! I used the cameras bare naked without any follow focus rigs (although I'd love to try one out someday). I only had 2 batteries (one in each cam), since it seems they're impossible to find anywhere. I did bring a charger so I was able to partially charge them during dinner. For an all-day shoot I would definitely bring at least 2 extra batteries... I filled up 4 8 GB cards so that gave me about 1 hour and 20 minutes of footage. Didn't have a problem with the 4GB limit, since all the clips were between a few seconds to 1 minute in length. I did a rough edit in H264, but the playback was pretty choppy, so after I got it down to about 10 minutes I recompressed in ProRes 422 and re-rendered the timeline which made fine tuning the video easier. I exported using compressor: h264 data rate of 3000 kbits (which was pretty low--I think they say 3500-5000 for HD) optimized for streaming (with "fast start" selected) keyframe every 30 frames 1208x720 size I'm concerned that a couple people reported the video played back jerky? Is anyone else seeing this? On both my desktop and laptop it plays pretty smooth on Vimeo __________________ Vlad http://www.vladfilms.com/

January 12th, 2009, 04:13 PM	#4
James Miller Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Sussex, UK Posts: 317	Vladimir, very very nice. The couple will be very pleased with this, great work. I'm finding it very hard to pick up a standard HD camcorder lately as nothing quite hits the same spot as the 5D.

January 12th, 2009, 06:04 PM	#5
Joe Wentrup Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Posts: 27	Very nice footage. The 5D is capable to turn everybody into a film star! And of course your skills :) Maybe this would be the ideal footage for 24p playback without conversion - for the sake of that resulting slight and solemn slowmo?

January 12th, 2009, 06:06 PM	#6
Jon Nelson New Boot Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Orange County, CA Posts: 14	The colors... and you said WB was killing you... Can you tell us about the post production process AND your workflow/compression steps to post this on Vimeo Thanks

January 13th, 2009, 02:38 AM	#8
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	I see the same problem as I've seen with other 5d footage and that is blown out whites, don't know how you manually control the iris on this camera but it seems to be an issue. On the other hand the camera really shines when it gets darker, those color, detail and limited dof are just amazing. Another thing which I seem to notice on a lot of 5d footage is that it's hard to keep stable without a good tripod, handheld filming seems to be a problem as well. Although Vladimirs footage was one of the better I've seen till now I think the camera needs getting used to and requires the right tools to make it right. I've seen footage taken by "amateurs" filming their family and eventough it looked the same as what you see on youtube everyday the image quality makes all the difference, even in the hands of an unexperienced person. I also was drawn in the image as it looked so surreal, like something you almost didn't experience before and it even makes you look past all these small "mistakes" like iris, wb or the shaking of the camera. I'm waiting to see what comes next, a hd filmcamera that can produce better photo's the a 5d? :)

January 13th, 2009, 03:02 AM	#9
Tom Hardwick Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Billericay, England UK Posts: 4,711	Love the differential focus, just love it. Didn't mind the blown-out highlights as that was part of the style. As too was the constant camera jiggle. But is it just me and my computer that makes it all look as if it was shot at 12 fps? It's so damn jerky and this sure gets to me after a while. I noticed 'proper' camcorders on tripods in frame somethimes, so was your 5D movie a side-line you were exploring Vlad? I've always said that in wedding videos getting good sound is a lot harder than getting good pictures, and in this respect surely the 5D is somewhat lacking? OK, you can bolt it to a Beachtek box, but can you still record a hours speech uninterrupted? tom.

January 13th, 2009, 07:01 AM	#10
Martyn Hull Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: England Posts: 444	Very nice but on my two monitors the colours are far more vivid than anything i have seen from any of my cams or most vimeo stuff i see,but i am solely amateur.

January 13th, 2009, 02:40 PM	#11
Jack Tran Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Houston USA Posts: 90	Amazing! I really liked the colours and dof. Didnt mind the shakiness at all, if anything i welcome it. (maybe i watch too much The Office) For shooting a live event, could you tell us the workflow with the 5d (ie, how many batteries you had, how the 4gb limit effects the video, how many CF cards you had...) Also, was the 5d bare naked or something outfitted with follow focus and mattebox etc.?