Whilst uploading a new video to my Vimeo channel last week I noticed that the very first video I ever created has now been viewed more than 285,000 times! I can’t believe it ! The bulk of my creative work continues to be photographic but this video is a good reminder to me that I need to get out there and shoot more videos from time to time. No special equipment was used to shoot the video, I simply used the things I already had for my photography business and shot it with a Canon 5dMKII. Apart from being the first video, it was also my first experiment with video editing as well and creating personal projects like this is a great way to immerse yourself in a new experience. I learned so much in the couple of days we took to produce this.
I just received this press release from Canon and I thought it was pretty interesting. It seems that we can now add Captain America : The First Avenger, to the list of Hollywood feature films to use the Canon 5dMKII in their production. The small size of the camera makes it ideal for POV shots and sequences like car chases. The 5dMKII is a few years old now but it seems that nobody has eclipsed it’s video performance yet. Full info after the break.
As winter gets a little closer every day, the ski magazines begin to hit the shelves again. Always an exciting time of year for me as I begin to see the fruits of my labor from last season. The first one I’m posting up here was just published in Powder Magazine (though Australian readers may have seen it a few months ago in some mags over there too). This is the first in a series of ads that I shot in the spring time for the ski resort Whistler Blackcomb. Some of you will recognize Whistler as one of the host resorts for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and many other will be very familiar with WB simply because it is one of the most famous ski resort in the world, and luckily for me also my home mountain.
The first thing that is different about this shot is that it was deliberately not shot on a day with particularly nice weather. Whistler Blackcomb along with their design agency Origin Design had decided that they wanted to achieve a different look this year from the regular bluebird powder day photos that normally fronted their campaigns. They decided to go with a black and white design and so we decided it would be better to shoot on a slightly cloudy day to try and get a bit more character in the sky. On top of the cloudy stipulation we also needed fresh snow on the trees to make the perfect shot. Getting these things to come together was a bit of luck but after a couple of false starts we got some promising looking weather. I shot the image using a Canon 5dMKII. I also had a Canon 1DMKIV with me as backup but the full frame 21MP sensor of the 5DMKII was the best choice for the job for a couple of reasons. Firstly we were shooting at the end of the day so the light levels were quite low and secondly when you are hanging out of the side of a helicopter you need to use a much higher shutter speed than you normally would for a landscape photo due to all the vibrations. The final exposure was 1/2000 , f10, ISO640. 640 is pretty high but necessary to get a fast shutter speed and enough DOF in the low light. The full frame sensor of the 5DMKII produces stunning images even at ISO640. The lens I chose was the Canon 24-105mm f4 L IS because I wanted versatility in my compositions. We had a number of ideas on how we would frame the shot, and when the side of the helicopter has no door, there is no room for messing about trying to change lenses; versatility was key so the 24-105 was perfect and had IS to help with the vibrations from the engine.
Canon 5dMKII , 24-105mm f4 IS, 1/200 f10 ISO640
This is another of my favorite images from the shoot that did not end up getting used.
Prints of the image above are available, please inquire to orders@dancarrphotography.com
You can also view some of the ads that I shot for them last year in this blog post here.
Sometimes I get in the mood to do big technical tests on gear and lenses. I have a few of those in the works right now but for this one I’m going to keep it simple. Teleconverters have a fairly bad reputation and my first foray into their use was with my original 70-200 2.8 L IS. I picked up a 1.4x II thinking that it might be useful for getting me near the 300mm mark on the cheap. Long story short, I tried it a couple of times and then swore never to put a teleconverter anywhere near my beloved 70-200 ever again. Then I sold the 70-200 2.8 and swapped it for a 70-200 f4 L IS. The newer f4 IS was much sharper than its older 2.8 cousin so I tried the 1.4x on that and was a little more impressed, though by that time I already had a 300mm f4 IS , so the 280mm reach of the 70-200 + 1.4 TC was a bit redundant. I also tried the 1.4x on the 300 f4 and was a little disappointed with that combination. So my initial experiences with teleconverters were very mixed and I never found a combination that I would be happy using in anything less than an emergency. Apart from the degradation of the image quality, there was also noticeable decrease in auto focus speed and accuracy. But what about the legendary 300mm f2.8 L IS ? Continue reading »
If you have taken more than a passing interest into the video capabilities of your DSLR camera then you will probably have thought about getting some sort of viewfinder for the LCD screen. With the DSLR cameras lacking the ergonomics of traditional video camera design, such viewfinders are probably the most useful accessory to aid video shooting. Not only do they permit easier manual focusing with a clear view of the screen, but they also add stability to hand held shooting with an extra point of contact to your body. Continue reading »
Today Canon has finally released the much awaited firmware update that adds 24p and 25p recording modes to the 5dMKII. Since the camera’s introduction more than a year ago, Canon has released several firmware updates. The first major one last year added manual exposure control to the video mode, but video professionals around the world were clamoring for more. Since it’s introduction the 5dMKII has been hampered by true 30fps recording (not 29.97) and no other frame rates. Petitions were signed and websites created in order to try and convince Canon to create an update to change this, thankfully Canon listened.
You can download the update HERE
But it goes further than simply adding these new frame rates and you really have to applaud Canon for this. In fact for all of this. They could have sat back and not added this functionality until the 5dMKIII, i’m pleased to see them taking this approach. They were caught off guard by the incredible success of the video recording and initially at least never expected people to be using these cameras to shoot high-end TV commercials and even Hollywood movie scenes with them. The firmware to fix the problem has been in development for many months, and we can assume on many movie sets. There’s going to be a lot of happy film makers out there this evening!
So lets see what this firmware adds then:
NTSC:
1920×1080 : 30 fps (changed – actual 29.97 fps)
1920×1080 : 24 fps (added – actual 23.976 fps)
640×480 : 30 fps (changed – actual 29.97 fps)
PAL:
1920×1080 : 25 fps (added – actual 25.0 fps)
1920×1080 : 24 fps (added – actual 23.976 fps)
640×480 : 25 fps (added – actual 25.0 fps)
- Adds a function for manually adjusting the sound recording level (64 levels).
- Adds a histogram display (brightness or RGB) for shooting movies in manual exposure. This is very useful! Unlike most video cameras, the 5dMKII doesn’t display zebra stripes on over-exposed areas. Canon have now added a live histogram that can be displayed on the screen so you can check your exposure on the scene before you record. The histogram does not remain on the screen during recording.
- Adds shutter-priority AE mode (Tv) and aperture-priority AE (Av) mode to the exposure modes for shooting movies.
- Changes the audio sampling frequency from 44.1 KHz to 48 KHz.
