Shooting 3h concert

[Francis Rene]

Hi guys!
Sorry if this was already ask before but I couldn't find the answer. We are planning on filming a 3h (+/-) concert with 4 x 5dmk2. I was wondering if there will be issues (overheating, etc.) with the 5dmk2 if we shoot non-stop for that long. I know there's a 12 minutes limit so what we'll do is to quickly stop it and press record again between each songs.
Any one had try it before?
Thanks for your input!
Francis

[Ryan Mueller]

I recently shot a project where we were rolling the cam pretty much non-stop for 10-14 hours a day and although the cam did become warm at times, there were never any adverse consequences. Of course this was a climate controlled green screen studio so we had air. Can't make any promises if your outside shooting in direct sunlight or other warm environments.

We have also shot events where we had two cams rolling non-stop for 4+ hours straight with no problems. We developed a pretty good system for 4GB breaks also. The first shot, one cam rolls for 10 minutes before the operator resets for recording, the second cam breaks at 11 minutes. Then each break after that, both cam operators can reset at 11 minute intervals to ensure that one cam is rolling at all times without having to worry about too much operator communication.

[Nate Weaver]

Wow. That is an INSANE amount of syncing in post.

5x per hour, per camera. That's 60 separate syncs to do!

[Wayne Avanson]

We've done a few plays with three cams, two 5D2s, and one 7D. The plays typically last an hour and a half then have an interval and then another hour or so.

Usually one cam shooting static wide tethered to a laptop, one cam shooting medium (off to the left) and following actors around and one cam shooting close ups (off to the right) for singles and two shots.

Only the 7D ever overheats in these situations but we constantly try to keep at least two cams running at all times for coverage.

It takes some clever stopping and staring to get everything but we can usually shut off between scenes. You will be able to do the same between songs, just not all cameras at exactly the same time or you may miss something!

Audio is done on the Zoom H4n and runs without break for each act.

Each job has its own challenges and we've certainly got better with each shoot.

Good luck.

PS, battery changes are also a bit of a challenge, but we have one cam on an AC power supply, so that's one less thing to worry about.

Avey

[Francis Rene]

Thanks for sharing this with us. We did a lot of commercial with the 5dmk2 but it will be the first time for a show like this. So your inputs are really helpful.

I will definitely look into a good way of changing clips so we don't lose anything. I will also do crowd shots for 15 to 20 minutes so I can use this if something happen.

Question about batteries: how often did you have to replace it when it's non-stop like this?

Thanks again

Francis

[Mike Watson]

Personally, I wouldn't do an extended time like this without shore power.

[Evan Donn]

Originally Posted by Nate Weaver

Wow. That is an INSANE amount of syncing in post.

5x per hour, per camera. That's 60 separate syncs to do!

Not if you let pluraleyes do the work for you. Throw everything on a timeline, one track per camera, and let it sync and generate multicam clips while you get coffee.

[Wayne Avanson]

The batteries were lasting about 50 minutes so you have to have them our and ready for a fast pit stop!


we always had power to the wide shot camera though with the AC adapter.

[Francis Rene]

Thanks again for your input!
I'll let you know how it went.

FRancis