Full HD on Canon EOS 5D Mk. II -- officially announced

[Jacob Mason]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

If Canon were really competing with Nikon, they would have put HD video on their 50D, which is more evenly matched price-wise with the D90....

...indeed, and why use that HD video enabled 1.6x APS-C sensor to compete in the DSLR market when you could just drop one into a new XH/XL series camera with an EOS mount to compete in the video market?

We have Zeiss announcing their manual focus lenses for the EF mount being released soon.
Whether Canon intended it or not, they're positioned right now to make some game-changing decisions in the sub 5-10g video segment.

[Vincent Oliver]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

Thanks for your link Vincent.

Could I ask (since you have spent time with the camera) about some of the video features?

The video touches upon this, can one use manual control while shooting in the video mode?

Does the HDMI output a live signal for external monitoring?

Does the video mode use the entire sensor(or most of it) while recording?

Thank you

Tim,

I do not have any more information on the camera, the models being demonstrated were pre-production units, only one camera was actually taking pictures and that was the one Damien Lovegrove was using. I will be taking a closer look at this camera in due course.

I am getting the D90 in today and will do a full "Interactive Review" on this model.

[Tim Polster]

Thanks for your reply.

[Pat Reddy]

Saw a highly compressed 5D MK II clip from Lisbon that was obviously shot handheld. There didn't appear to be any noticeable CMOS rolling shutter wobble. On the other hand, if you look at Canons clip of the geyser (Yellowstone), I think you can see the autoexposure adjusting for drifing clouds of steam and water, making the surrounding landscape brighter or darker in compensation.

Pat

[Jim Giberti]

Which raises perhaps the most salient question (for me anyway.) Is there some inherent reason that both Nikon and Canon have this pretty egregious professional shortcoming with the locked shutter/ISO issue?

[Pat Reddy]

I ran across a Canon marketing video in which they were getting feedback about the 5D MKII from professional still photographers and photojournalists. It seems pretty clear that at least one of the reasons they have included video is so that pro still photographers have a way to capture video content for web use. This is increasingly becoming a requirement for pro still photographers. Maybe the locked exposure is an attempt to keep things simple for that part of the market. If you take a look at some of the major still photography forums, there seem to be many photographers who have very little familiarity with video. Maybe these users will want to quickly capture 10 seconds of video while they are mainly concentrating on the technical aspects of still photography during a shoot.

Pat

[Gints Klimanis]

Originally Posted by Pat Reddy

Maybe the locked exposure is an attempt to keep things simple for that part of the market. If you take a look at some of the major still photography forums, there seem to be many photographers who have very little familiarity with video. Maybe these users will want to quickly capture 10 seconds of video while they are mainly concentrating on the technical aspects of still photography during a shoot.
Pat

You're probably correct. Look, I think we're a little harsh on the video. So far, both Canon and Nikon have provided the equivalent of what they provide on P&S cameras. Many DSLR users resist this new feature. Video users will wait for an entirely new set of features before using it. Very few video users will trade their primary camcorder for these DSLRs, so I can see why Canon and Nikon didn't delay the introduction of their 1.0 feature set. I bet 2.0 is under development. It may also be the case that given the size of the software, it may not be possible to keep both an SLR program and a robust camcorder program in the camera at one time. They may have to increase the internal memory size. Note that many prosumer P&S cameras and many video camcorders (notably every prosumer Sony) requires you to restart the camera to switch between Video Player and Camcorder modes. Personally, I've always found this to be a nuisance.

[Jamey Gigliagi]

I am a film/video student at a local arts magnet school and am in the market for a dSLR and a video camera. However, I currently do not have the money to purchase both so I am looking for opinions on the new Canon dSLR, the 5D MarkII.

Does anyone know anything about the 5d MarkII's video capability. It claims to record 1920x1080@30p for up to 12min (4gb) at 38Mbits/sec. Based on my limited understanding of the video camera market, that is a higher bit rate than most HDV camcorders which record 80min at 25Mb/sec. Considering that it uses a CMOS sensor as opposed to the 3CCD sensor used in most prosumer video cameras, approximately what level of camcorder does it compare to? It records to .mov files which I am unfamiliar with, but they seem to be compatible with Premiere and FCP. Also, its interchangeable lens system and high iso performance should make it a very capable camera in the manual controls section. It has a 3.5mm mic input jack and since it records to CF cards, you would have no vibration/motor noise to deal with.

Sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Thanks

[Tim Polster]

The camera is too new for all of the specs to be known yet.

I am watching if it has live output through the HDMI connector for video previewing and also if the camera can be used in full manual mode instead of auto iris ect... while shooting video.

If these two things are good, then I think it could be a real possibility.

But this type of camera will be best used in a "film" type production environment where there is separate sound and the camera itself is moved instead of panning & tilting.

Focus may be a challenge as SLR lenses don't have the support gear that the video world has for following motion.

But the image quality should be very nice.

[Dan Chung]

Whilst sitting on a long train journey in China on a trip testing a Nikon D90 I've been able to establish the following about the 5DmkII:

As already noted it has no specific ISO or shutter speed lock in movie mode, but it does tell you the shutter speed it's using. You can use the AE lock button to lock exposure in movie mode so that's some form of control at least, but not much. This will lock the shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

Now the good part, movie mode will work with Nikon lenses on adapters (like the 16-9.net ones), so yes, you can use manual aperture lenses for aperture control when shooting movies after locking shutter speed and ISO.

The audio levels are auto only, the jack plug should work with a beachtek though.

Movies use H264 compression, shoots to .mov. Max length of 29min 59secs or 4GB of data. I think any more than that and it legally has to be called a video camera. Apparantly there is little or no rolling shutter effect like the D90.

Sorry if any of this is old news.

Dan

[Vincent Oliver]

Originally Posted by Dan Chung

Movies use H264 compression, shoots to .mov. Max length of 29min 59secs or 4GB of data. I think any more than that and it legally has to be called a video camera. Dan

Only 12 minutes in High Def, 4GB max is correct.

Tried a few more movie clips on the D90 today, my Canon XH A1 is still safe for now.

[Christopher Witz]

I think that the 5d2 will be a fantastic still camera, and also produce some fantastic video.... but.... I feel that it will require some "work arounds" when shooting video. Much like the canon hv20 does when going for a "controlled" shooting workflow.

As an owner of both a 1ds3 and a sony ex-1, I'm accustomed to the way they work and feel more comfortable using each for what they do best.

The 5d2 would be fine for some basic filming, but when you need to shoot longer takes, slow zoom takes, run and gun style takes.... it will be awkward. I would imagine that the "auto only" audio will also require additional expense and workfolw work arounds.

If for the sole purpose of shallow depth of field style filming.... it will shine. But... most money making video projects require more than just shallow dof.

I would guess that 80% of the income I generate from video is done with longer takes, smoother steadicam takes, and wireless lav accessed manual audio.... the ex1 shines here.

If it were me..... I think I would get a 1st gen 5d for stills* and a good 24p solid state video camera with XLR in for vid. Things like "shot transition" and "OIS" are very nice to have in a video camera.

This is all just my opinion.... but I think I would get some strange looks from my clients if I showed up with a 5d2 for a paid video shoot.

* I make most of my income as a professional still photographer shooting print ad work.... which requires tethered shooting and very high pixel count. I shoot with hassleblad and phaseone backs, and canon 1ds3 when speed is needed.

witzke-studio.com

[Robert Morane]

Here is a revolution,
look at those samples:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II

And look at this analysis from Norwegian Television:
Video test clips from Canon 5D Mark II gets analyzed

[Kurth Bousman]

Look at this review of the 5dmkll . He looking for a hoster , Chris . Seems to be elated about the quality of the video coming out of this camera . Ahhh, it's terrible , I can't afford to spend 3k for another camera this year , but I do already own some nice canon lenses , so......

Vincent Laforet’s Blog

[Robert Morane]

And a video presentation of the beast (rather badly produce..)
YouTube - Canon EOS 5D Mark II hands on EXCLUSIVE - EOS 5D comparison