We thought they might, we hoped they might…… and they did. Canon have just announced that their new flagship digital cinema camera, the EOS C300, will launch at a price of $15,999. This is $4000 less than they originally told people, due largely in part to the backlash of the film making community. Only 18 stores will be stoking the C300 and you can bet that there will be a HUGE rush to get these in the early stages. If your company is considering purchasing one then I would urge you to place a pre-order with B&H Photo HERE. You can cancel anytime prior to it’s shipping, which is listed as after January 30th.
If you want to look at more details about the C300 I have written several articles about the camera, including being able to interview one of it’s technical developers:
At CES this week I was able to catch up with Craig Yanagi, Marketing Manager for JVC’s professional video division and he went through the features of the new 4k GY-HMQ10 camera as well as showing me a prototype version of a previously unseen interchangeable lens, large sensor 4k camera which they are developing.
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 rarely publish rumors here, but this isn’t really a rumors as invitations are out there. On November 3rd Canon will make ” An Historic Announcement” at a location in Hollywood. The location of the event obviously implies that this is related to the film industry rather than anything photography related. Will we finally see a large sensor video camera from Canon ? Ef mount or PL mount with a Super 35 sensor ? Or will it have a 4k sensor ?
It’s always seemed odd that Canon didn’t jump head first into the large sensor wars with the Panasonic AF100 and the Sony F3 and FS100. The technology was there already in the Canon DSLRs so it made sense. Yet Canon never unveiled anything…… perhaps because they knew that 1080p is a standard that is on it’s way out ? 4k will be the new standard, of that there is no question so perhaps Canon spent the time working towards 4k in a more affordable package than something like RED Epic of the new Sony F65 ? At photoplus Expo last year they did show a working 4k sensor in a camera that was deemed a “concept” only. At IBC last week in Amsterdam JVC showed the first camcorder with a 4k sensor as well, so 4k will be coming to the masses, it’s only a matter of time.
Browsing some websites and forums this morning I noticed a lot of discussion about the new Canon 60D and how it compares with the 7D. I can understand this, at first glance it might seem like the 60D has made the 7D somewhat obsolete but that really is not the case. A closer look at the specs reveals a camera that more carefully fits into the “advanced amateur” category than previous XXD line cameras because of course the 7D did not exist when the 50D was released. The camera that is best for you will depend partly on your budget (there is a $400 price difference) but also partly on your intended shooting medium. Video or photos ? This question is a new one that has to be considered with all of today’s cameras, as if we needed more right?! Many potential buyers will want to shoot both but I would wager most have a preference for one or the other. There is also the consideration that these days there are plenty of film makers who are looking to add HDSLRs to their shooting and often they do not care for the photo features. UPDATE: B&H has the 60D in stock right now while they last!!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 »
Adobe release Photoshop CS5 a couple of days ago and one of the most talked about features is the content aware fill tool. I recorded a quick demo of it this morning with a couple of potential uses. I don’t think its quite the “black magic” that it seemed to be when Adobe demonstrated it but it could be a time saver in some situations. Just using the tool on its own though rarely does the job, it still needs considerable touching up with the healing tool and brushes but at least it can get you in the ball park pretty quickly. If you want to try it out yourself head on over to the Adobe website and download a free 30 day trial. I didnt have a chance to play with many other features but there seemed to be a slight speed increase and I also really like the mini Bridge module.
Almost exactly a year ago I posted some information about the RED Scarlet Camera. Since that time there have been a number of “announcements” from the company but most of them have said more or less the same thing. “ The cameras are delayed , but here is some more computer generated graphics of something that might possibly look like the camera when it finally arrives”. I would imagine that Jim Janard and his crew at RED have had to re-think a few elements of their designs in an attempt to combat the surprising success of Canons DSLRs in the video field.Continue reading »
When I decided I needed to get this video stuff dialed, I needed something to shoot. There’s no point trying to figure this all out unless you have a purpose and some footage to play with. Leigh Powis, a local skier from Whistler, told about his crazy plan to put a trampoline on top of a cliff to help him practice a few new tricks before the winter. This was the perfect chance to try filming some action AND some lifestyle.
So below is my very first ever video with the 5dMKII. We shot it on 3 different days for about 2 hours on each day. Please click through to the actual Vimeo page if you want to watch the video in HD. But come back to find out more about the video!!
The lenses I used to shoot it were the 85mm1.8 , 17-40 f4, 24-105 f4, 70-200 f4,45mm 2.8 Tilt Shift, 15mm fisheye and the 50mm 1.8.
There are many people out there shooting videos with the 5dMKII right now. The new intro for Saturday Night Live was even shot with one last week! A lot of these video pros are attaching all sorts of accessories to the camera to make it easier to shoot video. External monitors, follow focus systems, matte boxes, shotgun mics and all manner of crazy rigs to hold them all together. This video though was shot with a 5dMKII on a tripod. Nothing else.
The tripod had a manfrotto 701HDV video head on it but that’s about the only difference to what I would usually carry for shooting photos. That’s not to say that all those potential accessories don’t make a difference, they undoubtedly do, but they are not a necessity if you want to travel light.
The whole video was shot in full manual mode so that I had total control over the aperture. In order to shoot at very wide apertures and keep the shutter speed down to something normal, I used a 2-stop neutral density filter on some of the lenses. Occasionally I also put a polarizing filter stacked on to the ND filter which has the effect of cutting down the light even more. This did produce some vignetting which you can see in a couple of the shots, but it actually looks like a nice effect! A 2 Stop ND is going to be the absolute minimum you need to get a nice looking DOF on a bright day though.
For a couple of shots I attached the camera to the end of a Manfrotto studio lighting boom arm. Not what it was intended for at all!! But it produced a dramatic angle. The panning shot right before the action starts at 2min08sec was shot like this. The camera fixed to the studio boom with a manfrotto magic arm and then panning on the mount on top of my regular Benro tripod. Again, a nice video boom would have been great, but I wanted to make this with just the gear I had access to. If you have read much about DSLR video before ,you will probably be aware of what “rolling shutter” is. You really have to be careful with your panning to avoid this. Slow and smooth is absolute necessity or you will get the jello effect. I also found that the visibility of this effect was somewhat dependent on what shutter speed I was shooting at. With a higher shutter speed it seemed to show up a lot easier.
Speaking of shutter speed, I experimented with that a bit too. My preference was for the footage that was shot between 1/120 and 1/250 for the action stuff. Anything faster than that and it gives it a sort of weird digital jerky effect. For the lifestyle shots and interview shots I think I used it down at around 1/60 though. I basically set the shutter speed I wanted, then used the filters to get to the aperture I wanted and then dialed in the ISO speed to get the correct exposure. Incidentally, that is something that I found frustrating. Its VERY easy to miss your exposure by a 1/3 of a stop because the “blinking highlights” feature is only available in playback. Most times I would shoot a quick 2 second clip to check exposure before shooting the shot. It would be great if there were some zebra lines to show overexposure. They are available int he Magic Lantern firmware hack but I haven’t ventured that far yet….
One thing that I was pleasantly surprised about was how easily I managed to nail the focus in the shots even though it is fully manual. The screen on the 5dMKII really is great and considering I wasn’t using any type of screen shade or eye-piece, I found it quite easy to get the focus right first time. Pulling focus between 2 subjects takes a bit of practice to do smoothly, but its possible.
