Filming with the 5D Mark II: Tips

Hi everyone,





I wanted to create one thread about the lovely 5D Mark II's film options. Since it's fully automatic you can't do much, but there are some tips that I wanted to share, as well as make a thread to collect experiences so we can all gather each other's tips in one place and get creative filming.


I was blown away by Vincent La Foret's short 'Reverie' that every Canon fan must already have seen by now [:)] If you haven't: http://www.vincentlaforet.com/





Tips (filming):


La Foret shared some simple but handy tips on his blog about filming with the 5D Mark II:


• Use prime lenses if you want to get the best possible picture quality.


• Use a tripod with a proper video head for fluid movement.


• Use an external mic, Like Rode's Video Mic, for proper sound.


• AE-Lock also works for film (!) Helps if you want to force different exposure.


• If you want to force shallow DOF during daylight: use neutral density filters: they work wonders!


(Example video: http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2009/...the-scenes-ii/ I was amazed how much of a difference something that simple can make: wow!)





Tips (Post production):


• LaForet uses Final Cut Pro to edit (Final Cut Express does a good job too I think but only supports output to 1080i which is a shame in this case since the 5D outputs 1080p)


• LaForet uses a transcoded source (unaltered) from H264 to AppleProres for better editing. Beware that this transcode will produce enormous (and I mean enormous) files.


• LaForet uses Apple 'Color' (part of the Final Cut Pro package) to grade some of his work (Reverie was completely ungraded). (Please note that cheaper options such as Final Cut Express still offer pretty good basic color correction tools).


• The soon-to-be-released iMovie 09 will also work to edit your stuff at 1080p ( am told by Apple).


• Both iMovie 09 and Final Cut have plugins to reduce camera shake [:D]


• Editing HD files requires a fast computer, and a fast and large harddisk.





Links for inspiration:


Promo reel of different shoots all done with the 5D Mark II (very very inspiring):


http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/11/26/7-days-7-shoots-eos-5d-mkii/





Some more tips about remote controls and batteries:


http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/12/05/tips-and-tricks-for-the-5d-mkii-part-i/





Behind the scenes reel involving the 5D Mark II on a boom to create a cool overhead shot:


http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/12/28/behind-the-scenes-i/





Happy filming!


We are in preproduction of a student film ourselves at the moment, so after we cast everybody and find the proper location, we will be filming with the 5D Mk II: Let's see what happens!

You mentioned using primes, but one thing I haven't heard yet is if you can zoom while filming, because all the sample videos I've seen never did this, maybe it's too hard, or maybe the focus can't cope with zooming, I've just always wondered.

[:)] You can I think, but it doesn't look good.


It's a matter of switching the AF on and going with it but it does need work because AF can have a hard time keeping up if your subject is in low light or doesn't have much contrast. I tried it on my cat but I deleted the footage (it didn't look good doing it AF) but I can retry it for you if you like?

There are a number of well-meaning but evidently incorrect blogs which set out some "tricks" that are supposed to give a measure of manual control to aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. So far, my experience matches the party-line from Canon: they don't work! Of course, you can lock exposure and you can adjust exposure compensation +/- 2 stops. But you can't control individual parameters, so don't bother trying to use that to force a particular combination of settings. It's really a shame, because it would be great to have some control over depth of field.


That said, there is one exception that I have personally verified, and that is that you can force aperture-priority manual control if you use a non-Canon lens with an adapter. How ironic. Suddenly, those old screw-mount and Nikon primes become useful again! My careful testing shows that the modern Canon primes really are superior to these older lenses wide-open, but stopped down the old primes are very fine.


I am puzzled why Canon didn't include some even rudimentary Av setting. My guess is that they didn't have time--the camera was late to market and the video was a last-minute addition to make it exciting in a competitive environment. It would be great if Canon were to add the feature with a firmware upgrade, but I feel that would be an unlikely break with precedent.

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Originally Posted by Tim

You mentioned using primes, but one thing I haven't heard yet is if you can zoom while filming, because all the sample videos I've seen never did this, maybe it's too hard, or maybe the focus can't cope with zooming, I've just always wondered.
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You can do this, but it's hard to do for at least three reasons. First, it's hard to turn the zoom smoothly and slowly like you would with a motorized zoom. Second, you're likely to make the camera shake if you try, and that will look bad. Third, the zoom lenses for still photography are probably not parfocal; correct focus at one focal length will be wrong for another focal length. Net result: jerky, bumpy and out-of-focus video...I'll pass.

Ken, surely adding a neutral density filter works. It forces your aperture to open up (see the video on La Foret's blog demonstrating the effect). But to call that 'control' is indeed a bit too much. It does have a great film-like effect when filming in bright daylight when you need a lower aperture though.





I thought that tip was nice. But I agree SO much: a true aperture priority mode for film on the camera would have been amazing. But I guess that's asking too much for 1st gen film tech in photo cameras.

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Originally Posted by Madison

Ken, surely adding a neutral density filter works. It forces your aperture to open up (see the video on La Foret's blog demonstrating the effect). But to call that 'control' is indeed a bit too much. It does have a great film-like effect when filming in bright daylight when you need a lower aperture though.



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Yes, this should work, but only in one direction: opening the aperture up, not closing it down. However, I did check to see how much 79mm ND filters cost and decided to hold off until I'm sure I know what I want.

A few quick tips:


The camera uses the 1/focal length "hand holding" rule to set the shutter speed. Which would make sense for still photography, but is a sick joke for video.


The camera will even override your "exposure lock" in the middle of recording if you dare zoom, just so it can keep the all-important 1/f shutter speed.


Use Nikon lenses so you can get manual aperture control.


The camera skips at least every other row and probably every other column as well. This results in very nasty aliasing artifacts (e.g. moire) on any fine detail. Hopefully we can prevent fine detail with optical diffusion filters, but I haven't found one yet. (Effective resolution with the best filter will probably be around 720p.)


Every program on earth misreads the video files as 16-235, which removes 2+ stops of dynamic range, depending on your picture style. Only Apple's "Color" and CoreAVC can read the values correctly. (Quicktime, FCP, iMovie, Vegas, Premiere, Edius, and just about everything else read it wrong.) I'm using CoreAVC and transcoding to another format in the meantime.

Once this was announced and I saw Vincent's footage, I was sold..then terribly heart broken that we don't get any control over the exposure. I kept hearing mixed results such as, leaving it in Av mode, will keep the last aperture value, but it seems now that even that isn't true.


I suppose in reality it won't matter too much, but there are a few instances that I would have like to have. Shooting outdoors, I like to use 1/500 f/2.8, especially on the 70-200 and 300mm. Given the max shutter of 1/100, I imagine I could open it up to f/6.3 or so and still get a proper exposure, but hearing that it routinely chooses f/22 or something doesn't sound good.


On the other end, 1/30 looks terrible in action, so I'd at least like 1/60 to be a minimum. I plan on doing a lot of macro work, so beggers may not be choosers, but some control would be nice.


Aside from that, I'm still saving my pennies (all 270,000) and can't wait to give it a whirl.

I have just starting my videographer journey, and although the 5D is awesome the lack of control is annoying!


My current thinking for quality video is to shoot on a panning head, with off camera microphone.





tips, don't pan quickly, don't zoomed and if you can turn off IS as its the only sound the camera will pick up!


for proof of this i quote my first two efforts on youtube.





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





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC3YM1cl-Kk





there both shoot out doors on fairly bright sunshine.





Hope this helps someone from the disappointment i had with myself.

There is an indie film that some people are developing called "Searching For Sonny". I think one trick they used were Nikon lenses adapted with an EOS-F mount. This gave them manual control over aperture.