House Season Finale Filmed Entirely with Canon 5D Mark II
petapixel.com
petapixel.com
It was just another standard hand-held photographer's camera until some gent got a pre-release version and showed the world its capacity to capture film-like imagery -- beautiful blacks, shallow depth-of-field, that 24-frames-a-second look, etc.
Even with high-end prosumer cameras, you couldn't quite nail the cinema-look without resorting to actual film. But this toy camera came out of nowhere and was capturing images several times better than anyone could have expected!
So each time we see a news story like this, it is validation of the technology and that in a very short time, all of us will have the ability to capture the types of motion images that normally cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And as is often the case with technology leveling the playing field, the winners will be the folks that are daring and creative!
well, not really. You see, camera was never the expensive part. Not even Arri. For example good Cooke S4 lenses cost as much as a fine new Audi. Hell, even Fischer stand costs like a car, and having a good stand+lens is more important than camera itself. Not to mention good lighting, without which shot looks like crap. You can rent RED+S4 kit for about ~600€ per day though - add light, electricity etc.. and it is more cheaper than ever. But this "we can all do it a la panavision, without panavision" is BS IMO.
Not trying to be rude or anything, just trying to put some things into perspective. I do like the trend of cheap good cameras (like RED - which is borderline great), but camera is only one tiny part of the picture.
My point is that we've never seen a leap in technology quite like this one. You could mount this camera on a rock at the beach and potentially pull in film-grade footage. Until now, you simply couldn't, short of renting Arri, buying filmstock, paying for processing, grading and converting it to the digital domain.
That changes things. And it is that shift in power, through technology, that is fascinating.
Right now you have to build a lens factory so you can sell lenses to professionals and indie filmmakers.
As soon as everybody and their parents are buying DSLRs instead of video cameras the price on good lenses will surely fall.
Post-production also is cheaper with the 5dmkii.
http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Lantern_Firmware_Wi...
The main problem is that it's hard to handle and focus the camera hand-held. You really need a good rig and focus ring to get it right. And some of those from Redrock or Zacuto can cost almost as much as the camera body.
Here's a couple videos I shot with the 5DmII (again, handheld and I'm a terrible videographer) http://vimeo.com/10768127 http://vimeo.com/5253857
I think you would do far better to get some good used manual lenses and acquaint yourself with focusing manually.
But people get the canon 5d or the 7d because of the film look. The sensor is bigger so you get shallower depth of field, and also you get wider selection of lenses
you need to shorten the strap and hold the camera at arm's length (so you get 4 points of contact, instead of the usual 2).
http://www.petapixel.com/2010/04/09/the-last-3-minutes-showc...
There’s only like 6bn people on the globe, right? And that’s including feral wolf children and fuel-starved hermits living on sun tea in the Chinese desert. And yet, if aliens did some random sampling of people around Earth, they’d find that more than one in every hundred of us watches House. “The Earthlings’ religion is based on weekly silent observances of medicine-man figure called ‘Dwelling-Place’ in the local tongue. Possessing supernatural powers of observation and an ability to perform healing miracles, this god also suffers from hubris and vanity, and he is susceptible to the temptations of certain potions. Essentially, we are grading Earth’s religious development somewhere between animist and monotheistic. Not yet adequately prepared for Operation Helping Hand. Revisit in 1,000 local solar units.” http://modcult.org/read/2010/4/13/this-is-called-sending-the...
It was also used in a recent Nissan commercial attached to a mini helicopter: http://www.blogmeright.com/?p=1059
/disgruntled D90 user
Vincent Laforet has been at the forefront of this since the 5DmkII came out. See this: http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct...
It has some warts since it is a still camera shooting video, but is still capable turning out some truly stunning results.
http://www.youtube.com/blhack#p/a/u/0/aWfbEfa5Jpk
I have a D90. It is not usable as a motion picture camera at all. You need to evaluate if you're buying a motion camera, or a still camera. The D90 is a fantastic still camera...but if you're just getting into photo and don't have an investment in lenses...get the 5D.
Disclaimer: I use Nikon cameras (though not for video).
Do you have a link? My googling is failing me :(
Why use it this way? 3 reasons.
1. cost - it's dirt cheap compared to equivalent camcorders, and there is a very wide selection of lenses and accessories. Not as well optimized for the needs of moving pictures as other lenses (which have fewer glass elements but are easier to focus thanks to the way they are constructed) but nowhere near as expensive either. for perspective, a set of cine primes (fixed focal length lenses built for film use with industry-standard mounting connectors) can cost $250,000...or more. you can buy/rent and insure good quality still lenses for vastly less, and the disadvantages they impose are not all that serious.
2. Portability. a small indie film crew is 10 people and the camera is very obvious. A small crew shooting with a DSLR and an audio recorder can be as few as 3 people, which means you can shoot a scene in the middle of a busy street without attracting much attention. It is just so much more convenient, and saves even more money and time. the only downside to this is the ego sacrifice required to give up a big important-looking camera and the support staff required to babysit it. Instead you can just get a few of these things and shoot from multiple angles simultaneously which is an absolute godsend for editors, actors, producers, etc. Industry folk do love their high-tech gear but until recently things were at a pitch where the gear had to some extent become an end in itself and one had to spend a lot of money just to set it up every day before you photographed a single frame of the actual subject matter.
3. Light. These newer cameras have big sensors (the Canon 5DII in particular has a very large sensor for the available price) which means they can get a good-looking image with way less light than a typical pro video camera (and in turn that makes it easier to control the focus of the image). So you don't need truckloads full of lights...or the time to set the up...or all the noise of a generator to power them...or a bunch of grips to lift and carry them...and you don't have a forest of aluminum stands with lights and reflectors all over the set: which means you have a great deal more freedom in where you put the camera and how you move it around.
In short, they are awesome. There are some limitations, and some things you have to do differently in order to maintain image quality compared to other methods...but they are not that onerous and the cost savings are enormously worth it. I would never want to go back to the style of a big industrial set festooned with heavy equipment and crews. Small is beautiful.
A couple of examples:
- http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/2010/03/22/johnnie-behiri-sho...
- http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/2010/03/25/into-the-haiti-ear...
I bought a 7D a few months back. It's fantastic, although I haven't made use of the video much yet.
Also note that at $2500 this is by far the cheapest option for shooting feature quality films. There are some issues with audio, so you will have to record it using an external recorder, but with a nice mount, this is an amazing camera.
The RED approaches $20,000-$30,000 all in, no? Compare this to <$3000 for the 5D.
You can use any normal canon/zeiss/sigma lenses on either system.
The Canon is something that "regular" people have; several of my friends have them. You can walk into a fry's and buy one. This is not true of the red.
They're in entirely different leagues.