Some timeline stills from tonight's shoot

I'm a wedding videographer primarily. I've done a few commercials and corporate pieces- but the bulk of my work is live events (ie weddings). I recently began production on my first music video. I figured it would be the perfect time to jump in with the 5DmkII and get my feet wet. We finished up the first scene tonight and have 4-5 others scheduled.

These were shot with a 50 1.2L and 135 2.0L. Some people complain about the 50 1.2 being a finicky lens- I found it wonderful to work with! Maybe the issues are more prominent on the super-high res photo side.



Got done shooting the first scene for a music video I'm producing. We have about 4-5 more scenes to shoot but I'm pleased with the results of the first.

Here are some untouched stills directly off the FCP timeline (only down-sized 50%):

[Wayne Avanson]

These are pretty stunning Glen. I did a wedding yesterday (I'm NOT a wedding videographer but there as a guest ) and my 50 1.8 didn't get anything as smooth as this. Beautiful images.

Can you post it on Vimeo when you've finished editing?

I for one would love to see it.

Cheers

Avey

[Nigel Barker]

The 50mm 1.2L is incredible in low light for both stills & video work. We film a lot of interiors & with this lens are now able to just use ambient lighting (windows & room lights) without any need to lug lights along to the shoot. It 'sees' better in low light than the human eye so that when you open the aperture right up the room is brighter on the recording than it appears in real life without looking washed out & underexposed.

[Yang Wen]

Very nice! which picture mode did you use?

[Dan Brockett]

Is this just lit with ambient lighting or did you light this with video lights?

Looking really nice Glen. If your stuff looks this good right out of the gate, imagine how great it will look once you get some more experience under your belt!

Good work, thanks for sharing.

Dan

[Glen Elliott]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

The 50mm 1.2L is incredible in low light for both stills & video work. We film a lot of interiors & with this lens are now able to just use ambient lighting (windows & room lights) without any need to lug lights along to the shoot. It 'sees' better in low light than the human eye so that when you open the aperture right up the room is brighter on the recording than it appears in real life without looking washed out & underexposed.

I rented the lenses for this shoot however I'm thinking about investing in either a 35 1.4, 50 1.2, 85 1.2, or 135 2. Out of those which do you feel is the superior glass?

[Glen Elliott]

Originally Posted by Yang Wen

Very nice! which picture mode did you use?

I just reduced the contrast to 0 and reduced the saturation a few notches.

[Glen Elliott]

Originally Posted by Dan Brockett

Is this just lit with ambient lighting or did you light this with video lights?

Looking really nice Glen. If your stuff looks this good right out of the gate, imagine how great it will look once you get some more experience under your belt!

Good work, thanks for sharing.

Dan

Hey Dan, I brought a full light kit but only ended up using two lights. A tota + umbrella as key, and a pro light on dimmer for hair light.

Thanks for the kind words. I enjoy these types of shoots (ie where I can actually "control" things).

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

I rented the lenses for this shoot however I'm thinking about investing in either a 35 1.4, 50 1.2, 85 1.2, or 135 2. Out of those which do you feel is the superior glass?

To me, the key is a large aperture and a flat field. Looking at the test results, I'd lean slightly toward the 85 f/1.2.

Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM Lens Vignetting Test Results

A quick scan showed the corners to be

35mm -.35 @ f/1.4
50mm -.4 @ f/1.2
85mm -.3 @ f/1.2
135mm -.2 @ f/2.0

The 135 is table flat, but that's 1.3 stops slower than the 50 or the 85. Stop the 85 to f/2.0 and the falloff is only -.1.

But frankly, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these, but my preference would be for one of the three fastest lenses. You should really choose based on field of view and perspective.

If you can back up far enough, you can get your subjects in the frame. But we can't always punch out walls. Is the 85mm too tight?

On the other hand, you can always push the 35mm closer to get the tighter shot. But with that comes an exaggerated perspective.

Then again, there's price. The 85mm costs about 1/3 more than the 50mm.

If I wasn't worried about cash or not being able to backpedal far enough, I'd get the 85mm. If cash and space are tight, get the 50mm. If you buy soon, you can probably get your rental fee applied to the sales price.

BTW, how did you feel jumping from the 50mm to the 135? Personally, I like big perspective jumps, but you need to have enough space to frame things as you'd like. Did you feel the need for an intermediate lens, or did you have enough space to get the shots you wanted?

Needless to say, your still captures look fantastic!

[Toenis Liivamaegi]

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

I rented the lenses for this shoot however I'm thinking about investing in either a 35 1.4, 50 1.2, 85 1.2, or 135 2. Out of those which do you feel is the superior glass?

85mm 1.2 would be if you can get it wide open with electronics still functioning as it has servo focus that does not allow you to use it without power from EF mount.
I personally can't stand messing around with EF/EOS lenses as those are so uncontrollable when compared to other brands manual lenses. So all our Canon lenses stay on the old photography 5D and MKII gets sub par (for 22Mpix) manual lenses that are good for video.
Samyang 85mm f1.4 (with EOS mount) will be my next video lens as it is comparable to my 85mm f1.2 Canon

$300 85mm f1.4 Samyang/Polar pics: Picasa Web Albums - Pepe_203 - Nikkor Polar ...

T

[Thomas Lowe]

These look fantastic. Any chance we could see the full 1080p grabs?

[Michael Rosenberger]

Originally Posted by Thomas Lowe

These look fantastic. Any chance we could see the full 1080p grabs?

That would be nice, but a short 1080p video of the shoot would be great as well.

Great shots.

[Daniel Browning]

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

I rented the lenses for this shoot however I'm thinking about investing in either a 35 1.4, 50 1.2, 85 1.2, or 135 2. Out of those which do you feel is the superior glass?

I'm thinking about a tank, motorcyle, or biplane. Out of those, which do you feel is superior? It depends! If you want to fly, a tank wont be much help. If you want to withstand hits from explosive ordinace, the motorcycle is not going to achieve that. If you want the thrill of high speeds on the open road, a tank is not the optimum choice. Apples and oranges.

In the same way, the choice of what glass is superior depends principally on what you want to do with it. The 35, 50, 85, and 135 are all completely different lenses. None of them do the same thing. The 50mm can't take a wide angle landscape. The 35mm can't take a headshot. The 85mm can't do an environmental portrait. And so on.

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

You should really choose based on field of view and perspective.

I agree with Jon.

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

A quick scan showed the corners to be

35mm -.35 @ f/1.4
50mm -.4 @ f/1.2
85mm -.3 @ f/1.2
135mm -.2 @ f/2.0

When electronic connection is preserved, the 5D2 automatically corrects vignetting for their own lenses.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Daniel Browning

When electronic connection is preserved, the 5D2 automatically corrects vignetting for their own lenses.

I've been meaning to test this. I know they correct it for photos. Have you confirmed that it is corrected for video as well? If so, that's a strong nod toward Canon lenses - even the mid line, such as the 28mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8 and 100mm f/2.0. Each of those cost about $350 - $420, saving a lot, compared to an L lens.

On the other hand, even though these only lose about a stop (1, 0.3, 1 and 1.3 respectively) on paper, if they have dark corners, they will lose more sensitivity with falloff correction enabled. You figure that the camera has to dim the center or raise the gain on the corners to flatten things out. That means the L-lenses are doubly good - they are fast by spec, and even faster when you compare brightness in the corners.

[Daniel Browning]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

I've been meaning to test this. I know they correct it for photos. Have you confirmed that it is corrected for video as well?

Yes, I'm 100% certain. I appreciate it a lot for videos with the 24mm f/1.4 II.