» Posts Tagged ‘5dmarkiii’
The team over at Magic Lantern continues to make things happen. The camera has barely been released and they’ve already gotten inside the firmware for the Canon EOS-M mirrorless camera (which shares a similar sensor with the Canon T4i). A firmware update is still a little ways off, but it’s another good sign that most (if not all) Canon cameras can be hacked with a little bit of work. Also of note, Magic Lantern has released the 3rd Alpha for the 5D Mark III, which addresses a few issues from the last Alpha. More »
8-Bit is Still 8-Bit, Why DSLRs Are No Match for the 12-Bit Blackmagic Cinema Camera
People have done as much as possible to argue against the test that was performed with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera by Marco Solorio and OneRiver Media. That test compared the 5D Mark III and the BMCC, and even though the superior resolution and dynamic range of one of those cameras should have been obvious, many still prefer the Mark III and complained that a better picture profile or some post sharpness would make the differences less noticeable. Well, Marco is back with a new test, and (in my personal opinion) it’s hard to argue against these results, as he’s pulled out all of the stops to really test the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and show why 8-bit will always be 8-bit, and what it means when you’ve got the capability for 12-bit images. More »
That’s right, Canon is going to be giving users clean HDMI in a future firmware update for the 5D Mark III, and it’s not coming from the hardworking folks at Magic Lantern. Canon has innovated in some ways in the DSLR space, but they have made a clear distinction between their video and photography product lines. Lack of clean HDMI is a feature their competition already has — namely Nikon and Sony, who both have cameras with clean HDMI — with the Nikon D800 being the first full-frame camera out of the gate with a fully uncompressed 1080p. Obviously Canon has a plan for announcing this now, the only question is, when will you actually be able to get it? More »
The first alpha for Magic Lantern on the Canon 5D Mark III added quite a few of the basic functions that were released in the major 2.3 release. The second alpha has just been released, and it brings some interesting features, including clean HDMI, a High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode in video, and gradual exposure, which allows the camera to slowly ramp up to the selected exposure settings, rather than abruptly changing them. Check below for the rest of the details. More »
Nikon has been steadily improving video quality in their DSLRs, but they have mostly lagged behind their competitors until the release of the D800, which had more resolution than the Canon 5D Mark III as well as the ability to record the HDMI output. The one area where the D800 was not as stellar as the Mark III (thanks to the 36 megapixel sensor in the Nikon), was low-light performance. With the release of the Nikon D600, Nikon is hoping to at least match Canon’s offerings (the 5D Mark III and the brand new Canon 6D) not only in video quality, but in low-light performance. CheesyCam, a gear review site we have featured here before, takes a look at the Nikon D600 vs. the Canon 5D Mark III: More »
Blackmagic Cinema Camera Shows the Canon 5D Mark III Who's Boss
It’s hard to really explain to some people the advantages of one camera system over another. There are many people who just glaze over when you start talking about 12-bit RAW and ProRes 4:2:2 HQ. If you are one of those people, then we’ve got a comparison for you, which gives you pretty pictures and hard evidence to compare two similarly priced cameras: the Blackmagic Cinema Cinema at $3,000 and the Canon 5D Mark III at around $3,500. The test was conducted by OneRiver Media, who also recently took the camera for a go in this short film. Click through for the test video. More »
Earlier in the week it was mentioned that Magic Lantern was being developed for the Canon 5D Mark III, and that a version would be released this week. Well, the wait is over, because the first alpha of Magic Lantern on the Mark III is now available for download. While it doesn’t contain all of the features of the major 2.3 release, it does have many essential video functions that make shooting easier. Check below for more details on the release.
Back in August, Magic Lantern, the group working on the very successful firmware hack for Canon DSLRs, released their most impressive and fully featured release to date. A culmination of a few years of hard work has become a true third party firmware solution, and not just a hack. Stability has been increasing steadily with each update, and now Canon DSLRs have certain features (like HDR in video mode), that aren’t even available on any current camera. The one missing camera from the list of compatible options is the full-frame 5D Mark III that was released earlier this year. It was proven that it was possible to boot into the camera’s firmware back in April, but now it’s official: the Mark III will be getting a version of Magic Lantern this week. More »
The Canon 1D X was announced all the way back in October of 2011, and only now is it starting to get in the hands of shooters. We reported on the increase in resolution between the 1D X and the 5D Mark III, but that increase comes at a price. Canon has decided to try to separate its Cinema EOS line with its DSLRs, but interestingly enough the new Canon 1D C DSLR (which is capable of 4K) is basically the same camera as the 1D X (sans 4K), yet it costs twice as much. Either way, it’s looking like the 1D X is the DSLR that most people wanted the 5D Mark III to be (at least in terms of resolution). More »
Magic Lantern, the well-known third party firmware solution for Canon DSLRs that we discussed a few weeks ago, has finally released their newest firmware version 2.3 as a free download. Since it takes a tremendous amount of work to put together these firmware updates, they were asking for a donation in exchange for the download, or you could compile the firmware update yourself for free (which isn’t very straightforward). Check out the video below to see some of the great features that have been added in this version. More »
Magic Lantern, the hack third party firmware solution for Canon cameras, has come a long, long way since its first release. Stability and new features have been the top priorities for the team, and it looks like with the newest release they are delivering on both counts. Even though Canon has been increasing the feature set of the higher-end cameras like the Canon 5D Mark III and the 1D X, they have been trying to differentiate the video and photo product lines as much as possible. For those familiar with the traditional features of a video camera, using DSLR presents quite a few challenges. The goal of Magic Lantern, however, is to introduce in firmware all of these quirks that make shooting with real video cameras that much easier. More »
We’ve been having a discussion about downscaling in another thread about a Canon DSLR (the T4i to be exact), and today we’ve finally got a sample video from the Canon 1D X that seems to show the camera out-resolving the 5D Mark III. Though the 1D X was announced back in October 2011, it may very well be October 2012 before these finally get out in the open in real numbers. It was common knowledge that the launch was going to be a “paper” announcement only, but the 1D X has missed its delivery date numerous times. Either way, the camera is going to be released sooner rather than later, and while its price point is well out of the reach of many readers ($6,800), it looks like all that extra horsepower under the hood gives it a bit more resolution in video mode than the other new full frame Canon camera, the 5D Mark III. More »
We all like to think the latest and greatest high-end cameras will save our production or propel us into stardom…or something like that. Cameras are tools, and just because one costs more than another, doesn’t mean that the final result will necessarily be all that different. I’ve used pretty much all of the popular DSLRs out there, and you can get great results from any of them. The question is, once these videos go to YouTube or Vimeo, how much of a difference will there be? Dave Dugdale from Learning DSLR Video asks this very question as he compares the relatively new Canon 5D Mark III to the inexpensive Canon T2i. More »
Will Nikon Enter the Large Sensor Video Camera Market to Compete with Canon and Sony?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Nikon has been pushing video extremely hard with their latest DSLRs, the Nikon D4 and the Nikon D800, and at least in the case of the D800, they’ve got a worthy competitor on their hands. Somehow the D4 didn’t get the sharpness of the D800, but it still got full, clean HDMI that can be recorded using a number of external devices to get a better codec like ProRes. If you’re curious, that’s not a real photo to the left. It’s what would happen if the D800 and the C300 had a full frame 35mm video camera child. Far-fetched? Maybe not. More »
5D Mark III/D800 Hands-On Part 5: Mark II vs. Mark III vs. D800 - Candlelight Revisited
The candlelight test that got an enormous amount feedback has returned. After a bit of a delay between this one and the last one (thanks in part to the craziness that is NAB), I thought it would make sense to really level the playing field between the two cameras since the exposure for the D800 is slightly brighter at equivalent ISOs. I’ve also done a little bit of color correction and noise reduction, and the results are certainly interesting compared to the last video. The test is embedded below, but be sure to go to Vimeo and download it in 1080p for the highest possible quality. More »
The Canon 5D Mark III, Canon C300, and RED SCARLET Shoot a Nighttime Bike Race Side-by-Side
Remember when video cameras had sensors that were one third of an inch? It was damn hard to shoot anything at night. But now there are a million cameras (well, not a million, but a bunch) with Super35-size sensors. So while you can actually get a decent exposure while shooting a bike race at night now, not all sensors are created equal. Here’s the Canon 5D Mark III, Canon C300, and RED SCARLET filming the same bike race. The first pass of the video has no key (so you don’t know which is which), and then they show you the second time around: More »
The Battle of the Preamps: 5D Mark III vs. D800 Audio Recording
Audio recording internally to DSLRs has been mediocre at best. It’s great for scratch audio when you’re doing dual-system sound, but for the most part, it’s a real pain. I’ve been testing the 5D Mark III and the D800, but one of the tests I wasn’t able to do as thoroughly as I wanted was to test the internal audio recording of both cameras with a proper microphone. I know that many out there would ask why you’d ever plug directly into the DSLR without some other external preamp box, but sometimes (like at NAB), having the least amount of equipment that can fail is best. I met Dave Dugdale at NAB, and in this video he takes the time to test out both the Nikon D800 and the Canon 5D Mark III for the quality of their internal audio recordings. More »
Canon recently announced a firmware update for the Canon 5D Mark III, and that led the way for the great folks at Magic Lantern to begin porting their hack. Already a big hit on the Mark II and other Canon cameras, Magic Lantern could open up specific features many believe Canon should have included in the first place. Chuck Westfall has said that the 5D Mark III and the 1D X might never get a full, clean HDMI, mainly because Canon (obviously) puts more money and attention into the video features on their expensive video-centric Cinema EOS line (though he also says they are always listening to consumers). Most of all, they want to keep the two product lines separate, and possibly the only hope for this feature (and others like it) is for something like Magic Lantern to unlock the hidden power of the camera. More »
That strange light issue I reported on not too long ago seems to have been resolved by Canon. Basically, while taking still photographs in very dark situations, the top LCD backlight would cause the meter in the Mark III to give a false reading, and the resulting exposure would therefore be incorrect. It looks like they are quietly fixing the issue on newer cameras, after they stopped shipments for a short period of time. If you are one of the lucky few who currently owns a 5D Mark III, then Canon has issued a response. More »
Many people have been reporting an issue with the 5D Mark III that Canon has now finally addressed. It seems that when the top LCD backlight is turned on in a dark environment, it’s possible that the camera’s automatic exposure will be affected and the resulting photos will not look correct. For video, this is a non-issue, but the fact that Canon is possibly going to fix or replace 5D bodies out there is a pretty big deal. They won’t go so far as to call it a recall, but it seems that essentially all cameras that have been released up to this point may suffer from the issue. More »
Thyl Engelhardt: Despite some frustration with recent developments, I am still optimistic t… Award-Winning NLE Lightworks Gets a May 28th Release Date -- and It's Stil…
RatVega: I have to agree that the future of the Mac Pro is unclear, but as a 25-yea… Award-Winning NLE Lightworks Gets a May 28th Release Date -- and It's Stil…
Francisco: "Irreversible". Needless to say, the experience was... irreversible. Tribeca Asks Filmmakers: 'What Was the Most Awkward Movie You Watched with…
Tyler: Tim Burton and Adam Elliot didn't use screen capture to make their animati… iStopMotion Update Lets You Turn Your Computer Screen into a Stop-Motion M…
sid: Watched "Spanking the Monkey" with mommy dearest. Worst movie to watch wi… Tribeca Asks Filmmakers: 'What Was the Most Awkward Movie You Watched with…