Canon 5D markII is here!

After the announcement of Canon’s 5D mark 2 back in September (rumours had been circulating for much earlier then that, however this was Canon’s official announcement), I was very excited about updating my original 5D.

The 5D more or less totally convinced me that digital photography was really here to stay and for three years I used the 5D on countless jobs. It travelled with me through much of Asia and Europe, the USA – basically everywhere. I used it on various film projects including “Not Quite Hollywood” where I literally used it to photograph every interviewee I was involved with. This included Jamie Lee Curtis, George Lazenby, Gregory Harrison, Stacey Keach, Russell Mulcahy, Barry Humphries etc etc. In total, we interviewed around 100 filmmakers on that project. My 5D was also involved in the making of “Storm Warning” – A horror film, “The Long Weekend”, “The Bank Job” (Australian unit), “Broken Wings” (documentary) and hundreds of Television Commercials. As a working Cinematographer, I would use the 5D as a contrast viewing tool and a quick way to demonstrate to my Client/Producer etc a framing or lighting reference.

Quite often I would shoot high resolution textures for use with 3D, High Dynamic Imagery for Global Illumination renderings in post production and lately, Tone Mapped HDRI’s. Infrared photography using digital equipment was also a recent undertaking with the 5D. Every location around the world, I would try to motivate myself to shoot a few really nice panoramas of the area, using a nodal tripod head and my 5D. So after hundreds of thousands of shots taken, with no downtime at all, I became excited about updating my 12 megapixel 5D with it’s replacement, the behemoth 21 Megapixel Canon 5D markII! To be honest the amount of Megapixels didn’t really cause me the excitement. It was the news that this latest update would include full 1920 x 1080 HD video, better ISO sensitivity and reduced noise!

A common problem for me is the amount of equipment I can take with me to overseas destinations. Tight onboard luggage rules plus general weight restrictions means I often have to decide whether I take a video camera with me on a job. It’s not uncommon for me to have the rushes of a job dubbed to a mini DV tape, and later back at a hotel, I would capture and edit this footage using a mini dv camcorder and my Final Cut Pro laptop edit suit! This was especially true in some parts of the world where the use of the English language was limited. Quietly, I would supply the local editor with my rough cut so that they could see what my intentions were and get a better understanding of the job. Sure it was more work for me, however it often solved lots of problems before they even began. This video camera, although small, still posed a significant weight and space issue with my allotted onboard baggage allowance! The requirement of all the support gear (Batteries, chargers, cables, tape stock, lens cleaning goods etc) usually helped to tip it over the limit. Ultimately it would come down to whether I would leave the 5D behind or the Video Camera! For me, the 5D was an important tool in my Cinematography arsenal. Additionally, as a Director, I would use it for Casting, Location Scouting, Props and Wardrobe and in some cases, the 5D was the primary method of capturing the Television Commercial. For HP in Beijing, Bruce Watt and Myself supplied our 5D’s as part of the major equipment used to capture the commercial. They were setup side by side, one programmed for fast shooting with a very short shutter time while the other was programmed for a long exposure interval. Then in post, we would cut between the 1/2000 of second exposure time shot and another taken at 1/4 of second. The technique was very effective and helped sell All in one printers for HP.

So when Canon announced that the new 5D markII would include full HD video, I became extremely excited about the prospect. Finally I could take just one camera with me and have the best of both worlds. Granted, getting rushes on Compact Flash Cards isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, however I have found with the advent of RED and other digitally acquired mediums, the need to capture from mini DV has subsided almost completely. Rushes now days can be delivered as files on disc etc. But the need for having a video camera still plays a vital roll in pre production, animatics, and behind the scenes activities.

December rolls over, and finally I have the new 5D markII and with only a couple of days experience with it, I can firmly say it’s magnificent!  So much has been improved, from the Menu and general workflow, Noise reduction, Higher ISO (100 – 6400, expandable to ISO 50 – 25600) to the inclusion of full HD video. Initially, the 5D has been released with only 1920 x 1080 30P video which was slightly disappointing coming from a country that thrives in 24/25FPS! However, strong rumours are suggesting a firmware update very shortly will include 24/25FPS at full HD. With that, all my wishes would be complete! More to come!