5D footage and handheld shooting results

[Nathan Troutman]

I had a little time to go through some old footage I had shot with the 5D. Nothing real special about the footage but both videos were shot handheld. However, one video (the NYC video in the park and studio) was shot handheld with the 5D attached to an old shoulder mount (was originally bought for a VX-2000) and the other (the Yankees video) was shot with just my hand on the camera. Both used very similar lenses (50mm NYC, 55MM Yankees).

The results are very revealing to me at least. I found the shoulder mount made the 5D a perfectly workable handheld camera even without IS, which is important for anything run and gun. Now that you can spend more of your time shooting instead of working to get proper shooting settings by fighting the auto it works really well. I'm still just amazed at the footage this camera shoots. I mean these were such basic shoots. Literally grab the camera and press record and it just has such a beautiful quality to it. Makes me want to shoot more.

The HD version of the NYC video hasn't loaded yet, not sure why it's taking so long. Hopefully it'll be up soon.

Yankees meet the 5D MKII on Vimeo

[Chris Barcellos]

Nathan:

I have been saying the same thing about this camera for months. Shoulder mount the camera, and you change the axis of the center gravity. If you are hand holding camera along shakes and dips are much more revealed.

I posted this film about rig I self built: My Rig By Chris Barcellos on Vimeo

I posted this one as a demo using the 100mm Nikon lens, a little shakey at spots cause I was fiddling with a few things while shooting but still showing the promise.:

Canon 5D Mark Ii 100mm Test on Vimeo

And this one was shot with another should mount I had built for my FX1, but adapted temporarily for my 5D.

http://www.vimeo.com/5012132

It is remarkable that the dreaded jello effect almost disappears using a shoulder mount.

[Nathan Troutman]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

Nathan:

I have been saying the same thing about this camera for months. Shoulder mount the camera, and you change the axis of the center gravity. If you are hand holding camera along shakes and dips are much more revealed.

Exactly my theory as well. Your 100mm example is really pretty good and we haven't even factored in the the benefits of IS if you're using a zoom that has it. I've been fighting a small war over on another forum over supposed 5D deficiencies. Like for example: a Full Frame sensor supposedly has too much DOF to be useable particularly in handheld or run and gun situations and certainly film is not shot Full Frame so you shouldn't use Full Frame if you really want to be a real filmmaker. Here's another one: pulling focus on a Full Frame sensor is very very difficult if not impossible in many situations however so much easier, of course, on an APS-C sized sensor. And in conclusion, naturally, an APS-C sized sensor or more importantly a micro 4/3rds sized sensor is clearly a better choice.

I don't know why I get involved in this stuff but I can't help myself sometimes. You can easily see from my footage there's no razor-thin DOF in any of it. You don't have to ONLY shoot razor thin DOF with this camera - with the right lens and F-stop it does what you want it to. I just think you've got a whole lot of creative choices because of FF and the larger sensor makes it so great in low light which also opens up a huge world of shooting that was really hard to do in the past - especially with a film adapter.

Of course it wound up with the usual, "who are you," "do you even own a 5D," "maybe you should post some of your work," stuff. So it finally got me around to cutting some old stuff I had lying around. I thought the difference in my two videos shows you just how bad it could be in your bare hand but how, on some kind of shoulder mount, it works really almost as good as any other video camera I've shot with.

[Chris Barcellos]

Interesting how people are dissing this camera before they use it. I think it comes down to investment. No one wants to say they put $10 k into something that won't do as well as a $3,500 DSLR. I really think, using existing tools you can get stunning images, and now that we can do it with the Magic Latern fireware, get stunning sound in too. And the argument about depth is dopey. I can match any 4/3s camera by selecting a higher fstop. Plus if I really want it, I have razor thin stuff at f1.4. Plus the light gathering capability of the chip is fantastic, too much for daylight unless you use ND.

I use a PC and Vegas, and it is amazingly nice working with Cineform (NeoScene) Handles conversion to highly editable codec very well.

PS By the way, you are sick like me cause you take pictures of cameras taking pictures :)

[Yang Wen]

Not sure what result you guys are after.. but I find the 5D2 perfectly hand holdable for run n' gun shooting if you stay below 85mm. wide FOV obviously also makes it more hand holdable..

[Nathan Troutman]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

PS By the way, you are sick like me cause you take pictures of cameras taking pictures :)

I am even worse than than because I couldn't help myself, not only did I shoot the guy with the nice big camera I had to let him know I was shooting him in 1080P on a DSLR. He laughed and kind of gave me that "what a geek" look:)

[Nathan Troutman]

Originally Posted by Yang Wen

Not sure what result you guys are after.. but I find the 5D2 perfectly hand holdable for run n' gun shooting if you stay below 85mm. wide FOV obviously also makes it more hand holdable..

And I agree but you'd be surprised in the outside world that swears it can't be done. I've just found that a simple shoulder mount really makes it money. That's what you can see in the two different videos I posted. The Yankees video was just my hand and the NYC was on a shoulder mount. The NYC video is much more stable and lacks the endless tiny jitters of the Yankees footage - no matter how hard I tried to hold it steady.

[Ben Syverson]

It all comes down to taste... for me, the rolling shutter on the 5D affects motion too much to go handheld.

[Tom Daigon]

I do all my hand held stufff with the Glidecam 2000/X-10 rig. Whether static or moving its smooth as butta....

[Yang Wen]

Originally Posted by Nathan Troutman

And I agree but you'd be surprised in the outside world that swears it can't be done. I've just found that a simple shoulder mount really makes it money. That's what you can see in the two different videos I posted. The Yankees video was just my hand and the NYC was on a shoulder mount. The NYC video is much more stable and lacks the endless tiny jitters of the Yankees footage - no matter how hard I tried to hold it steady.

Yes a shoulder mount helps but I've shot with just the neck strap and it works fine.. the trick is to push out so the neck strap is kept taut.. that will help tremendously in keeping the camera steady.. or you can pull the strap back with one hand and the camera in the other.. still keeping the strap taut...

Ben: Then you must been shaking the camera way too much.. moderate shaking + proper camera move goes a long way in masking the rolling shutter effect.