Sunday, May 3, 2009

Canon 5D Mark 2 videomaking

The Canon 5D Mark 2 dslr has the ability to shoot videos along with more traditional still photos. To date, this camera's video capability is unique in that it has a large full frame CMOS sensor which gives superior low-noise, low light performance. The large sensor also allows for extremely thin Depth of Field which can isolate the subject from fore- and background objects; an extremely powerful effect. Additionally, by the very nature of a dslr, videos can be shot using a wide variety of lenses.....telephoto, wide angle, macro, etc. etc.

However, frustrations do exist! Canon opted to hamstring the operation of this video aspect by eliminating the ability to manually control ISO, shutter speed, and aperture; these are all controlled automatically by the camera in the order given. There is manual control of white balance, picture style, and exposure compensation which is a good thing. Rumour in the industry has it that Canon is working on adding these manual features (and more!) in a future firmware upgrade. Those-that-know claim the set of Ironman II actually has several Canon 5D Mark 2's on the set with beta copies of this firmware upgrade that is being tested.

Here is an example of some edited clips I put together this afternoon from footage (right term?) I took last Sunday of the little critters that inhabit our backyard. More on the equipment and workflow I used for this Spielberg-worthy production in my next blog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpBPdJtFbDE

(don't forget to click on the little "HD" icon at the bottom right of the Youtube screen to get the full resolution)