Every year in the Autumn downtime before winter I sit down and try and teach myself a new skill.  Up this year was naturally DSLR video shooting and editing with Final Cut Pro.  There’s a few things you need to be aware of, and a couple of problems to solve when shooting with the 5d so i’d better write it all down so you guys can give it s shot too.

The 5dMKII generates 1080p video files at 30fps in h.264 codec.  Only one out of these three things is actually a good thing.  Video people will look at 30fps and assume that I mean the NTSC standard of 29.97fps because it’s often shortened to 30fps when talked about. Wrong.  For some reason Canon decided to use an actual 30fps so that is something you need to bear in mind if you are shooting with any other cameras that shoot at 29.97 and intend to mix footage and audio together.  For me though, right now that wasn’t a huge problem and 30fps is just fine for web content which was my initial goal.

What was a problem though was the h.264 format of the files.  H.264 is typically used as a finishing format, it’s a codec used to compress movie files when you export them from an editing program like Final Cut or Avid (if you are on a PC).  The codec is NOT designed to be edited with and Final Cut will not handle it very well if you try.  Importing native h.264 files into FCP will have it breathing like its having a heart attack in no time.  Nothing renders in real time and a few seconds of footage requires a 5 minute render every time you make the smallest of changes.  This is what put me off the most when i first experimented with the video back in the winter.

First what you need to do is become familiar with some sort of transcoding program that will convert all of your h.264 video into a format that will Final Cut can handle at speed.  If you have Final Cut then you should also have Apple Compressor and this is certainly one program that can handle the task.  Another option though is a fantastic piece of freeware called MPEG Streamclip.  You can download it from their website HERE.

For batch processing a large number of files, I actually preferred using MPEG Streamclip for the job and it’s not at all as daunting as it may sound.  Which format you convert to will depend on your intended output for your project.  Are you aiming to make production quality TV shows, DVDs or just simply some web content at a scaled down size?  If you want to make the highest quality available to you, it is generally considered that converting to Apple ProRes 422 is the best option.  You will need Final Cut 6 or later though to have access to this codec.  Converting all the h.264 files is more or less a case of just dragging and dropping the files into Compressor or Streamclip and selecting the relevant setting from the menus.  I wont go into detail about that as its fairly self explanatory once you have the program in front of you.  Converting to ProRes format will roughly quadruple the size of your video files though, so if you go down that route, make sure you have some serious disc space available and a powerhouse of a computer to edit with…

If you are looking for a smaller file size then converting to AIC (Apple intermediate codec) is a great option.  File size is roughly half that of ProRes, it is very very hard to tell the difference between the two and AIC files are handled very quickly in Final Cut.  This is the option that I chose to work with for my project.

At this point i’m going to leave it here for now as this is getting quite long.  I have just finished editing a quick 5 minute short that I shot while I was going through this learning process and I will upload that to the web shortly, along with some more information on things I discovered whilst learning to shoot video with the 5d.

A couple of months ago I was invited to take part in the Deep Winter photo challenge here in Whistler, BC.  The idea behind the competition is that 5 invited photographers assemble a team of riders to shoot with for 3 days and the resulting photos are combined into a slideshow of approximately 3 minutes.  The shows are judged by a panel of photo editors from various magazines and all the shows are played to a crowd of hundreds of people at one of the hotels in Whistler.  We shot the photos between the 6th and 8th of January and predictably for whistler, the conditions were incredibly challenging.

The first day was blowing a blizzard, quickly resulting in a lot of very very wet camera equipment.  On the second day the freezing level went up to the alpine leaving all the fresh snow feeling like you were skiing through custard  on top of that it was raining at some levels. The third day was somewhat nicer, a few rays of sunshine poked through but snow conditions were less than stellar and the alpine areas of the mountain remained closed due to avalanche danger.

Before the competition began i was somewhat apprehensive.  Normally its a good days shooting if you get one or two great shots but to get enough shots to fill a 3 minute slide show in only 3 days was going to be a challenge.  Add to that the unknown weather conditions and well…. you get the idea. It’s TOUGH!  By the end of the third day we were exhausted and I only had a few hours to put together the show.  In the end I was driving to the hotel to deliver the DVD while it was still burning in my laptop on the seat next to me!

I picked a couple of local skiers for my team , Leigh Powis and Pierrot Bernier.  A bit of local knowledge was going to be a much needed asset for this comp.  When it was all finished up I was pleased with what we achieved.  The winners crown on the night went to Jordan Manley, with some incredible lifestyle work in his show and some great skiing by Chad Sayers.  As part of my show I tried out a new rig to provide a different perspective on things.  Mounting my Canon 5dMKII on a Manfrotto Magic arm and firing it remotely with a pocketwizard gives an interesting close up view of things.  See below for the setup and example photo.  This was certainly the toughest few days photography of my career, the atmosphere at the show in the evening was incredible. Its a great feeling to see a huge room full of people get so excited about photography!

I have been pretty busy the last few weeks so appologies on the lack of updates but expect a few more this coming week as I catch up on things!

The shoot was to take place in Whistler, BC.  It was of a snowboarder and there was a very specific shot list given to me by the client.  Easy right?  No……  Unfortunately Whistler, normally one of the premiere ski and snowboad destinations in the world, has been hit with some fairly warm weather lately.  Instead of fresh snow and endless terrain, we were left with sheet ice and only a couple of runs open in the whole resort.  Time to apply some creative thinking and some interesting lighting to detract from the far from perfect snow conditions……

This shot was lit with an Elinchrom Ranger at full power coming from the left held up high by my assistant who was wearing a backpack containing the ranger kit.  The Ranger’s 1200 W/S let me shoot right into the sun and turn what was an icy, bleak looking day into something dramatic.  We did a couple of takes on this but this was the first one, and probably my favorite one.  Then we moved onto some portrait stuff and a bit more action at the end of the day when the clouds started to look cool.

If you click here you can see a 100% crop from one of the portrait shots to give you an idea of just how big the photos are from a 21 megapixel shot!

At the end of the first day a video production crew was also interviewing the snowboarder from the shoot.  The interview took place under tungsten lights in a dimly lit room.  Perfect for viewing the high iso ability of the 5DMKII.  This shot was taken at iso 2500, there is also a 100% crop from the sleeve of his shirt.  I think the quality at that iso is stunning!  As I said my aim wasn’t to test the iso, so I only shot at what I needed and that was 2500.  I think the result is pretty stunning, even the grain that is produced has a nice look to it and I don’t mind it at all.  Especially with such large files, at 21 megapixels the grain is unnoticeable when printing at smaller sizes.

Another thing that struck me was the battery life, it has been significantly improved from the original 5D.  Cold weather usually sucks the life from batteries but after a whole days shooting I wasnt even down to 50% and my spare battery never left my bag in 2 days shooting.  The screen on the back is also incredibly bright, comparing it to my 1D MKIIN it’s like night and day, I could actually see images on the back of it even in fairly bright sunlight.  Zooming in on images on the new VGA screen it is now also possible to tell if you actually nailed the focus or not.  The body of the camera also seems to be a little sturdier that the original.

Next up i’m looking forward to experimenting with the video capabilities of the camera.  Next week i’m off to Revelstoke with the Poorboyz crew for some snowmobile access backcountry skiing so I will play with that while i’m away.  Stay tuned!

So how does a video head differ from a photographic one and which ones are people most likely to  find useful for the 5DMKII?

A photographic ballhead is designed to be easy and quick to position in one place and then lock solid while you take your shot.  A video tripod on the other hand has 2 jobs.  It needs to lock solid should you wish to to shoot something statically but also move smoothly should you wish to shoot a panning shot horizontally or vertically.  As with photographic ballheads you can spend as much or as little money on one of these as you want.  I asked around several film guys that I know and it turned out that all of the use the exact same head, the Manfrotto 501HDV.  Further investigation showed this head to be extremely popular and surprisingly good value for around $200.  It weights 1.6kg and will hold a load of 6kg.  But 6kg is a lot more than I am going to need to hold, the 5DMKII only weighs 810 grams and I dont have any lenses that weigh 5kg!

Manfrotto offers a solution to this though….. the 701HDV.  Introduced in May 2008 as a replacement to the 701RC2, this is the most affordable true-fluid head on the market today and looks just like a shrunken 501HDV.  It has a capacity of 4kg but weighs half the weight of the 501 which is also useful if i need to carry it around as well as all of my usual photographic gear.  I ordered a 701HDV along with my 5DMKII which arrived a few days ago and  so far I have been very impressed with it.  The panning base locking knob is somewhat crude but it does the job and pans very smoothly with an easily adjustable resistance.  The vertical panning relelase is via a large knob on the side (see photo) and it locks solidly when you dont want things to move around.  Construction is also impressively solid, and feels like it will stand up admirably to the harsh environments that I use my equipment in.  A spirit level is included on the base and the panning handle is switchable to whichever side of the head is most comfortable.  All this for $170!  I’m a big fan of this head, for the price I don’t think you can beat it.  Considering the relatively light weight of the 5DMKII compared to most other video systems, I think this is the perfect solution.

As well as taking still photos, the 5DMKII can also shoot 1080p HD video with its 35mm sensor allowing you to capture incredible quality video at a fraction of the cost of other camera systems that produce a similar “look”.  With the 35mm sensor and ability to use Canon’s vast array of quality lenses, this camera is quickly breaking down the barrier between two industries.  Look no further than Vincent Laforet’s website to view an incredible short film shot with the camera.

For a stills photographer such as myself it poses some interesting questions, until a couple of weeks ago I knew very very little about video production and what tools are needed to get the job done.  I’m sure that I am not the only photographer going through this learning process right now so I’m going to keep track of what I am learning on my blog here. I should also point out that at this time I do not know if video will play a part in my business, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared! The question that I am primarily covering with this post is “What accessories are we going to need to shoot quality video productions with the Canon 5d Mark II?”

Initial tests from various photographers indicate that the video quality is excellent, but the sound quality from the on board microphone is poor, not only that but it also picks up noise from the camera mechanisms such as the IS, aperture and just simply touching the camera body.  Not to worry though, the 5DMKII has a separate 3.5mm mic input so that you can attach a much higher quality external mic;

Sennheiser MKE 400:  This microphone comes highly recommended from several sources.  Features that are useful for us are the hot shoe mounting capability and also its relatively small size, easy to stash in your existing camera bag.  The casing is all metal so it should be rugged and it has the 3.5mm jack that is necessary to plug into the 5D.  This type of Mic is known as a “Shotgun” style mic and is very directional.  Another interesting feature is the rubber mounting points above the hotshoe which help to isolate noise from the camera.  Also available for it is the MZW400 wind muff kit which fits on the mic for use outdoors to eliminate wind noise.  The mic and the accessory wind muff can be yours for about $250 which seems like a decent deal to me and I will be ordering one soon to play with.

UPDATE: Now that people have taken delivery of their 5dMKIIs it seems there may be a problem with using the Sennheiser MKE400.  I haven’t had a chance to play with one just yet but several people have reported hearing a considerable amount of hiss.  This is somewhat strange, the mic itself works fine with many other video cameras so it would seem to be a compatibility issue with the MKII, perhaps something to do with the impedance?  I’m not sure but you can find info on the problem on the Cinema 5D forum.  Perhaps a workaround will be thought up soon and I will update this with new info as it becomes available.

In the meantime, several people have reported much greater success using the Rode VideoMic instead.  Similar in design to the senheiser but powered by an onboard 9v battery.  There is an interesting comparison video here on Vimeo.

Some microphones do not have a 3.5mm jack on them, instead they use a plug called an XLR.  The XLR plug is generally used in professional audio applications so I can forsee a lot of people wanting to use XLR terminated mics for the 5D.  To do this you will need some sort of converter and the perfect solution is manufactured by a company called BeachTek. The DXA-2s compact XLR adapter allows 2 XLR microphones to be plugged into it and the resultant signal is output through a stereo cable with a 3.5mm jack right into the 5dMKII.  The small converter requires NO batteries and also has a further auxillary 3.5mm input so you could still attach a mic like the Senneheiser MKE400 to it and balance that with an XLR mic.  This little box will allow you to record 2 audio inputs onto seperate audio tracks in the video so that they can be edited individually on your computer.  I also have word from the guys at BeachTek that they are in the process of designing a NEW model specifically for the 5DMKII!  This product will be called the DXA-5D and will include a headphone monitor output to allow you to check on your sound levels, as well as an LED level meter for both channels so that you can check input levels at a glance.  The new product is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2009 and if you contact them via their website they will put you on a mailing list to keep you up to date on developments.

If you are looking for a good way to mount various audio devices to you DSLR then you should also check out my review of the IKAN Cheese Stick JR and 10″ Articulating Arm HERE.  With these 2 products you can easily mount a shotgun mic or lavalier receiver to your camera, as well as LCD monitors.

In upcoming posts continuing on this topic I will be looking at more accessories that will be useful for the 5dMKII as I discover them!

UPDATE : Check out another cool accessory for the 5d – the Glidecam HD-2000