Is the 5D Mark II a 30 fps still camera?

So are you dreaming of shooting sports at 30 frames per second at 1/4000th shutter speeds? Well now you can with the Canon 5D Mark II and the updated firmware 1.1.0 which allows for manual exposure control in video mode. The tough part will be finding the balance between using a high enough shutter speed to freeze the action and trying to keep your video smooth which is accomplished at the slower shutter speeds. But what if you don’t care about the video and only want to frame grab? Might be good cases for that. Like maybe the backswing of a golfer? Tennis? Baseball (at the plate)?

What else might this be good for? You can’t count on the auto focus tracking a subject while shooting in video mode, so I wouldn’t expect football, soccer or basketball to work well.

Ah, but it’s cheating, you say? I say no. It’s using a tool. If a Mark III could shoot 30 frames per second, I’m betting no one would complain.

I shot a little test video of my pigeons being released in my backyard using two 5D Mark II’s shot at slow and fast shutter speeds. Hopefully you can see the difference in the video quality: The higher shutter speed producing jumpy, flickery video and the slower shutter speed providing a smoother look.

Canon 5D Mark II frame grabs at high shutter speeds from David Stephenson on Vimeo.

You can download the frame grabs to see the difference up close. They were captured in Final Cut Pro.

Testing the manual exposure controls for Canon 5D Mark II firmware update

Canon released a major firmware update 1.1.0 for the 5D Mark II on June 1, 2009, which will finally allow users to have manual exposure control while recording video.

I tested out the new controls and have found them to be easy to use and very functional. One interesting surprise is the increase in available shutter speeds. Previously, the camera limited shutter speeds from 1/30th to 1/125th. Now, shutter speeds up to 1/4000th can be used in manual exposure mode. It’s unclear where the shutter speeds will top out when in one of the automatic modes since you can’t see your exposure settings in those modes.

To use the manual exposure while recording video, you must have the camera set in Manual (hello Mr. Obvious). I use the top control dial to change the shutter speed and the rear control wheel to change my aperture. You can see your exposure changes on the LCD screen and you can see your shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings as well.

If you have your ISO set to AUTO, though, then the camera reverts back to a kind of automatic exposure setting even if you are in Manual exposure mode. What happens is this: if you are setting your aperture and shutter speed and you have ISO set to auto, then the camera automatically adjusts the ISO up and down to give you a correct exposure. This will not allow you to over- or under-expose your image until you max out the range of the ISO. And you won’t be able to use exposure compensation, either. So I would advise NOT using the ISO AUTO setting while in manual exposure mode – kind of defeats the purpose.

Here are some other tips I have found to be true with this firmware update:

• If you use the shutter or aperture priority modes, the camera will go into a modified auto exposure mode – you won’t really be giving priority to the shutter speed or aperture. It appears that it reverts to the old way of auto-exposing but it’s hard to verify that.
• If you set the ISO to “AUTO” and are in manual exposure mode, you can see the ISO numbers on the LCD by pressing the AE lock button (asterisk) or tapping the shutter button. By default, it appears that the display will show ISO AUTO until you press one of those buttons.
• When using manual exposure mode, AE lock and exposure compensation cannot be set (’cause, well, your manual settings are doing that for you).
• If you set the ISO to “AUTO” when shooting movies in manual exposure mode it is possible to set the aperture and shutter speed and the ISO will adjust for the exposure. So this amounts to having combo Aperture/Shutter Priority mode.
• When ISO is set to “AUTO” the range will be 100-6400 even if the ISO expansion is set.
• When manually setting the ISO and enabling ISO expansion range will include H1 (ISO 12800).
• Shutter speed range will be 1/30 – 1/4000 sec.  The faster the shutter speed the less smooth the subjects movement will appear to be.
• If “screen setting” is set to “stills display” or “exposure simulation” manual exposure for the movie mode will not be possible.

Q & A: The Canon 5D Mark II

I recently had a few questions about the Canon 5D Mark II from Ethan Magoc, who plans to upgrade his camera body this summer.

“I’m going to be photo editor at a small college newspaper in the fall and would like to develop a better multimedia presence on the Web. I’m looking at upgrading bodies this summer and the 5d Mark II is the front-runner at this point. Since I already have some experience as a videographer, the HD video feature intrigued me.” – Ethan

Q: Obviously there are the concerns about the lack of manual control, but have you found that to be a major hindrance?

A: I have found it to be a minor hindrance. I think that the attitude you bring to the table will determine how positively or negatively you react to the camera. If you are willing to adapt, learn, compensate and accept the camera for what it is, you’ll be fine. I have found that the disadvantages of the camera are outweighed by the advantages for my circumstances. While the camera will help you shoot video much like you shoot still photos, you absolutely have to work differently. You have to anticipate and plan more than ever and you have to get used to sometimes tricking the camera to get it to do what you want.

Q: What is your main audio set up? I saw that you use a Sennheiser MKE 400. Would you recommend that?

A: I really have come to appreciate the Sennheiser MKE 400 as a catch-all mic. If that’s all you can afford, I’d start with that. Some folks have reported some hissing, but I have not experienced that. I have heard white noise when the room is very quiet and the auto gain control in the camera has pumped up and is listening for something. I blame the AGC for that, not the mic. An alternative is the Rode video mic.

Next I would add some kind of wireless mic to your kit. While I use the Sennheiser Evolution G2 100 series, you might want to look into the Sony UWP v-series as it has an option for headphone monitoring. The Canon 5D Mark II does not allow for monitoring of the audio – one of the major complaints about the video side of the camera. Beachtek has just recently added to their line a box specifically for the Mark II. It compensates for all of the issues that the camera has regarding audio. It allows for xlr inputs, sound level control, and it disables the auto gain control built into the camera.

All of this costs money and adding all of these could easily cost more than $1000. But starting with the $200 MKE 400 is a good beginning. It will work well in most situations unless your audio source is far away. You will have to perform interviews relatively closely. All of the audio in the Road to Recovery video was recorded completely with the MKE 400. The audio in the Lessons in Life and Basketball video was all recorded on wireless.

Q: How does your post process work? I’m also looking at upgrading from my PC laptop to some sort of Mac editing system. What do you use? What seems to be the minimum setup for editing the 5d’s .MOV files?

A: I have a two-year old MacBook Pro 1.33 Ghz Intel Core Duo. Most of my video from the 5D Mark II has been edited on this machine. If you are buying new, just make sure you are buying the most current machine you can. I’m really not sure if a MacBook could handle it. Perhaps you could take a CF card to an Apple Store and try it out. I’d recommend buying a new MacBook Pro. I’ve listed my system and software versions here. Absolutely make sure your software is up to date (FCP, OS 10.5.x).

I don’t want to undervalue the process of transcoding your video before you begin editing it. While that’s not something I do regularly, it comes highly recommended if you have time.

Q: I shoot a lot of sports videos. I watched your piece on Coach Sallee and liked some of the game shots. Have you tested video much while shooting sports?

A: I would not recommend this camera for shooting sports action. You essentially have NO auto focus, and follow focus is not practical given the way the lenses focus. The LCD monitor is a bit awkward, too. I have shot a bit of horses and basketball, but I always had to pre-focus and/or shoot wide. It’s certainly possible to shoot some feature pieces on an athlete, but don’t count on it for game coverage.

Q: Any lens recommendations? Especially for wide angle and general use purposes. My current line up includes a 70-200 f4, 300 f4 and a 50 1.8, plus an EF-S wide angle for a Rebel that wouldn’t fit on the 5d. Did you get the 24-105 to go with it?

A: Those lenses will work great on that camera (minus the Rebel lens). I highly recommend the 24-105 f/4 IS. I use it all the time now and so far do not miss the f/2.8 of my 16-35 f/2.8. The IS on the 24-105 is a huge help when hand-holding the camera. The unbelievable quality at the high ISO range helps out the lack of the wide f/2.8 aperture. What you may miss with the f/4 lenses is the shallow depth of field which is one of the key factors in creating the cinematic look of the 5D Mark II.

Q: My tripod is on its last legs, so to speak, so would you recommend your Gitzo setup?

A: So far I love my Gitzo tripod. With one exception: It’s price. I bought a Gitzo GT2540LLVL carbon fiber leveling tripod and put a Gitzo 2180 fluid head on it. That’s a $1000 investment. I last bought a tripod 25 years ago. If this one lasts that long, then it will end up being a good buy. I highly recommend buying a tripod with some kind of leveling head. It’s great for quick setup.

A couple of other accessories I have added:

• A Glidecam 2000 HD steady cam.
• A camera and lens plate system from Really Right Stuff that allows me to quickly switch between the tripod and the steady cam.
• A set of Neutral density filters to help cut down the light (and open up the aperature) in bright light.

Tutorial: Using QuickTime to build your time lapse

Our first-ever video tutorial! We dubbed this one a tuTORYal in honor of our beloved voicer.

In this video, you’ll learn how to take your hundreds of still images and make a .mov time lapse out of them using QuickTime and the Image Sequence function.

You can see the result of this particular set of images below:

Review: First take on the Canon 5D Mark II

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: This is not a video camera. So don’t expect it to do the same things your video camera does. It is, however, one killer full-frame DSLR that shoots some spectacular hi-def video. And that’s enough for me.

As a staff photojournalist at the Lexington Herald-Leader, I plan for the 5D MK II to replace my video camera. The advantages this camera will give me outweigh it’s weaknesses.

Our Canon rep, Mary Mannix, was in town and let me take the camera on a shoot for an evening. Many of us have seen sneak peeks at the capabilities of the camera in video mode, but I wanted to see what it could do with a typical assignment for our paper and website.

[view larger version]

Now, obviously we’re all interested in this camera for it’s potential to serve our two masters (web and print). We not only want to use one kind of camera, but also want high quality video and the ability to use lenses we already know and love. We want speed, ease of use, and to be comfortable with the gear. It’s enough of a burden to learn how to tell our stories in video – but learning the very different language of video (as it relates to equipment) gives me a brain overload. I just don’t want to go there.

And that’s why I like this camera – I’m comfortable with it. And with the shallow depth of field, brilliant color and great blacks even in terrible light, it has me excited about shooting video for once. For those of you who know me, you probably sense that while I’ve embraced the web as a great publishing tool, I’ve been somewhat reluctant to embrace the video camera. I often shot video because I had to, not because I wanted to. This camera, for now at least, has turned that around 180 degrees.

Now, understand that I’ve really only used it in the video mode. I can’t speak much about the still image capability or quality, but what images I did see were most excellent at the high ISO range. I did pull some frame grabs and they looked fantastic compared to the XH-A1 I’ve been using. But more on that below.

The nitty gritty.

I’ll try to outline the pros and cons I discovered in the short time I had it. My opinions, though, are based on limited instructions and no user manual. That’s kind of a good thing since I could get an idea of how intuitive it is to use. But, some of the disadvantages I found might be user error or just lack of knowing the capabilities.

Camera Operation

It’s an easy camera to use. It’s just like the 1st gen. 5D. To use the video mode, you simply press the live-view button and press the set button to begin recording. Some things to note, though: You can’t see anything in the viewfinder while live-view is active (mirror is up), so you have to monitor your recording using the LCD display. Not necessarily a terrible thing, but it will affect stability since the usual third point of contact (our head) is gone. I will say that image stabilization is going to be a big help. In this video, I only used the tripod for the interviews. I hand held all the rest. Everything was shot with the 24-105 f/4 IS lens. More on using video mode at Canon’s site here.

Battery gets drained super fast when shooting video. And CF cards fill up fast. Make sure to have an extra battery and some 8GB cards at the minimum.

DOF and Video Exposure

Gotta love that shallow depth of field. It’s something that really drove me crazy with my video camera. There are limitations, though. The video shoots at a maximum of 1/125th of a second. That means that if you are shooting in any kind of bright light, then you’re going to find it tough to be shooting at 1.8. Try keeping some ND filters in your bag. I’m hearing that you may be able to put a 52mm screw-type ND filter into the “Drop in Screw Filter holder” or a ND gelatin filter into the “Drop-in Gelatin Filter Holder II” into a 300 f/2.8.

The exposure while recording video is automatically chosen by the camera. That’s going to drive a few people crazy. But remember, it’s NOT A VIDEO CAMERA. The camera chooses how to make the exposure based on three things: ISO, shutter speed, and aperture (in that order, if I remember correctly). So if you set your aperture at 2.8, the camera will change the ISO first, then the shutter speed and try to keep you at 2.8 or as close as possible.

So you want to have some manual control over the exposure? Well, you have to do that using the exposure compensation buttons. And to keep the exposure stable, you must use the exposure lock function. Otherwise, when someone with a white shirt walks through your frame, for example, the exposure will change while you are shooting.

So again, while you can’t have complete manual control over exposure, you can use a combination of ND filters, exposure compensation and exposure lock to get you where you need to be.

Autofocus

The autofocus is going to be the subject of much debate with this camera in video mode. Frankly, we’re just going to have to learn how to work around it for now. While it is possible to autofocus while recording, you really don’t want to do that. Focus first, then shoot.

Audio

I didn’t shoot any video using the on-board mic, so I can’t speak to that. I did use a Sennheiser mini shotgun mic MKE 400 that slid on the hot shoe. I didn’t care for the sound quality too much and I plan to test out a few more like it before buying one. What I was pleasantly surprised with was the Sennheiser wireless lav mic.

While you can’t monitor the audio (one of the biggest shortcomings of the camera, IMO), I guess I got lucky with the settings on my lav. It sounded a bit hot to me at times and it appears like there is some automatic sound leveling going on in the camera – I may turn down the mic the next time I use it.

The BeachTek adapter may be a good answer to these problems, but I don’t have one and haven’t tested it myself.

Handhold vs. Tripod

I am a late convert to the sticks, people. This camera is no worse and no better than a regular video camera, so stability is crucial. You are NOT going to be able to go hand held all the time. I found the IS lens I used to help tremendously, but will only go so far. But what is going to be a lot of fun down the road will be mounting the camera in various locations.

Workflow

Well, this one is going to be a major stumbling block for some. Eliminating tape is certainly appealing to me. Who doesn’t love drag and drop file transfer? But if I have to transcode the files into something more editing-friendly, then I’ve lost that convenience. Apple, Canon, someone, please help us out here and do something to make these files easier to edit!

Here’s the deal, as best I can understand it: The files from the camera are in h.264 format (in other words, they appear as a .mov file and are encoded using h.264 codec). Well, h.264 is a great codec for display and distribution, but not for editing. Once I finally got my Final Cut Pro working with the files, I still am having to tolerate some dropped frames on playback. I won’t be exporting out of the timeline in the h.264 format, either.

I’ll run through my setup and what I had to do to get it going so far. I have a Mac Book Pro that’s about two years old. It’s a 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM. My hard drive has been upgraded lately to 360GB, 7200 rpm. I was running Tiger and finally realized that the 10.4.x OS wasn’t getting it done for me. I couldn’t even play two seconds of video before it would stall. After upgrading to Leopard, I’m finally able to use my laptop. It’s important to make sure that your FCP and quicktime are up to date. We ran a quick test on another laptop in the department and found that the files were mostly editable in Final Cut Express as well.

Now many folks who have been testing the video files from the 5D MK II are suggesting that they be transcoded/recompressed before you begin editing. Again, I find that a ridiculous concept for me and completely negates the gain of shooting to a compact flash card. I want ease of use, speed, and simplicity. I want fewer hoops to jump through, not more. I want things to work fast and I need to be as mobile as possible. External hard drives are a luxury.

If you want to learn how to transcode the files before you edit, here’s a good link for you (with a very thorough review). I may make recompressing part of my workflow on medium to long-term pieces, but I think it’s essential for daily work that I be able to edit in h.264 on my laptop without an external hard drive.

Here are some tips that might help if you chose to edit in h.264

The first time you drag a clip into the timeline, you may get a message from FCP suggestion that you change the timeline settings to match your clip. You should agree to that and let FCP change it for you.

Then, go into User Preferences/General and UNcheck the box next to “Report dropped frames during playback”. If you get a notice every time a frame is dropped, you’ll never get anywhere during playback in the timeline. Expect to see some skipping and dropped frames while editing, but I found it tolerable and they weren’t there after export. Most of the dropped frames happen for me at the beginning of each clip – in other words, when the playhead has moved to the next clip there is a bit of a stutter.

In System Settings/Playback Control, I have the following:
RT: Unlimited
Video quality: low
Frame Rate: Dynamic
Pulldown Pattern: 2:3:2:3
Gamma Correction: Accurate
Frame offset: 4
Record: Use Playback settings

I initially had some trouble with transitions and lower thirds. They would play fine in the timeline, but on export, the video would just completely wig out on playback when it would hit those spots. Originally, I was exporting to quicktime movie, using current settings. So that amounted to taking an h.264 video and coding it again in h.264. Apparently that wasn’t a good thing. After I exported again to quicktime movie, but this time changing current settings to the Apple ProRes 422 1920 x 1080 60i 48kHz (not the HQ version), the transitions came out fine. I used that big file (2.5 GB for 3 minute of video) as my master to encode further for the web.

Frame Grabs

The frame grabs from this camera are really quite nice. I did a couple of tests in our office before I went to the boxing gym and they appeared to me to be quite an improvement over the Canon XH-A1 video camera. The frame grabs from the gym displayed here are pretty much a worse-case scenario. The light was mixed, it was dark, and there was some movement by the subjects. The ISO was in the 3200-6400 range. I would have never expected to get a usable frame grab under these circumstances with the XH-A1. As you can see, though, there is little-to-no detail in the blacks.

If you are shooting video and want to shoot a full-res photo (you know, the real pictures the 5D MK II is built to give us), you can do that simply by pressing the shutter button. But, here’s what happens: the video is recording, you shoot a photo, the camera stops recording video, captures the photo and writes it to disk, then the video continues to record. You are left with a one second gap in your video.

Couple other quick notes that people have asked about this video: The light on the interviews was from a couple of halogen industrial/construction lights that were already in the gym. I turned them to face the wall to give me a 12-foot soft box of sorts. The flickering light occasionally visible in the background is from a florescent tube in the ceiling that was going bad. I used auto white balance on the interviews and wish now I had set a custom white balance. The other shots were on the florescent white balance. The footage in this video has not been color corrected, graded, etc.  in any way.

Having said all that, please remember that this is just my experience during the last week or so. I’d welcome further tips and news that would speed up or smooth out the workflow, the audio in the camera or anything else people can come up with.

Many thanks to HL reporter Amy Wilson who wrote and narrated the piece – she broke her voiceover maiden on this one and did a fantastic job.

Ringflash: The Rollergirls next door

I love the look of the ringflash. Who doesn’t really, but I’ve never had access to one until Tim Gruber let me borrow his for a freelance gig. He had the Alien Bees ABR800, which is both compact, relatively inexpensive, and easy to use on location.

I discovered our local Rollerderby team quite by accident. They had been around for a couple of years and we had never done a story on them! I couldn’t believe it. But, I didn’t want to do the story I had seen so many times before – you know – fast action in bad light. I thought it might be a good time to try out the ringflash (borrowed again but from a different friend), so I concocted the idea of diptych portraits of the women.

Most of the time I used the Vagabond battery pack (also borrowed from yet a different friend. OK, so I don’t like to buy things before I try them). I’d have to say I like them both and hope to use them again when the time is right.

So to make the package a little more complete, I did really quick 5 minute interviews, condensed to 30 seconds or so each, and put it all together in Vuvox (I’m a big fan of Vuvox, btw).

The Rollergirls of Central Kentucky are a diverse group of women (and men) who enjoy the aggressive competition and comraderie of the sport. For some, it is an extension of their everyday lives. For others, it is a chance to be someone else.

Infrared conversion: Keeneland in another light

One of the things I enjoy most is showing people things they don’t normally get to see. The infrared camera is another way to do that.

We all know what horses look like, and most of us in Central Kentucky have a good idea what Keeneland race track looks like. But I’m pretty sure none of us have ever thought about what Keeneland might look like in the infrared light spectrum.

About a year ago, I converted an old Canon 10D digital SLR camera so that it shoot only infrared photos. Infrared film used to be the only way to do this and it was always so finicky and expensive. But with a camera dedicated only for infrared, I’m able to check what I’m doing on the spot and I can use any of my lenses.

I spent $100 on a filter that had to be installed in the inner guts of a camera I didn’t use much. I decided to try the installation myself, using instructions provided by Lifepixel. When completed, the camera only records infrared light, which is at the end of the visible light spectrum.

Now, Lifepixel will offer to convert your camera for you for a fee, but since I’m cheap and a relatively bold DIYer, I thought I’d follow their free online instructions on how to install their filter.

Not for the faint of heart. I’ve never opened up a digital camera before, and I certainly wouldn’t do this with one of my better cameras – I considered my 10D an acceptable risk. Their instructions are quite good and the conversion went well with only one rather large hitch. I went to Radio Shack to get my supplies and was sold some black lubricant instead of the black epoxy/glue. I apparently didn’t notice the difference and ended up with a major mess on my new filter that was nearly impossible to clean off.

Take good care to keep things clean and organized. Don’t be in a hurry. I printed out the instructions, which came with nice photos, and placed the screws that I removed on the photos as I took them out. That way I could put them back in the correct places when reassembling the camera.

And then on to the fun part! Shooting infrared photos has the most impact outdoors where there is plenty of foliage and partly cloudy skies. Infrared light reflects off of leaves and grass and such intensity that it makes them appear white. And blue skies turn dark and the contrast between the clouds and sky is enhanced. This gives images a very dreamy, other-world look.

The photos above show what the paddock looks like in the normal light spectrum and in infrared.

I did not have my camera/lens focus calibrated which made things a bit more difficult for me, especially on an overcast day. I had the best luck in strong light so I could shoot at f/8 and higher. Exposure was critical, so bracketing is a good idea when possible.

Overall I really like the 10D infrared conversion, but I’m not a big fan of the 10D anymore. After using the 30D, 5D, MKII and MKIII, the 10D powers up slowly and reviewing the photos is painful. There is also quite a bit of noise in the images relative to what today’s cameras are doing. Having said that, I think a 20D or a 30D would make a great converted camera if you have one to spare.