» Posts Tagged ‘dslr’
That’s not quite how I’ve been spending my time with the 5D Mark III, but thankfully James Miller was brave enough to try to get the most out of his camera by tearing it apart. We know that the Nikon did not completely remove the low-pass filter on the D800E, because it still requires the IR filter – but the Mark III seems to have two strong optical low-pass filters in front of the sensor. James explains exactly what he did below, and it is definitely giving his 5D Mark III a lot more detail than before – and he’s got some video to prove it. More »
It’s easy to forget just how liberating shooting with HDSLRs can be — you can follow your characters down a crowded street, get B-roll while your crew is setting up lights, and generally have the flexibility that a small camera allows you. Last year’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, Like Crazy , got a lot of press for the fact that it was shot on a Canon 7D and was acquired by Paramount for $4 million – but less discussed was why it was shot on a 7D and what the challenges and advantages of doing so were. In an interview with HD Magazine, DP John Guleserian delves into these questions and more — revealing how shooting with a HDSLR has impacted his way of shooting in general: More »
5D Mark III/D800 Hands-On Part 2: Initial Impressions (D800)
Monday we talked in-depth about the 5D Mark III, and today we’ve got the D800. Nikon definitely surprised a lot of people with this one, and it’s interesting that Canon didn’t really see them coming – or they are afraid to hurt their higher end sales (which could include a possible 4K camera priced below the C300). Either way, you can’t go wrong with clean 4:2:2 HDMI out of the Nikon D800, and still photographs which rival medium-format backs costing $20,000 or more. So let’s get down to it. More »
5D Mark III/D800 Hands-On Part 1: Initial Impressions (Mark III)
The thought occurred to me that the picture to the left is a little boring, and it would be far more interesting to have an animated GIF of sorts with both cameras turning to each other and butting lenses as if they were American football linemen. Kidding aside, I have been using both the Nikon D800 and the Canon 5D Mark III for a couple days now and I am coming to a few interesting conclusions that I need to explore in the coming days. I already talked about my testing plans before, but the idea is that since some of these edits will be time-intensive, the test will roll out in parts over the next couple weeks, culminating in a short film. More »
We’re always talking about new gear, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create something beautiful with old gear. In fact, the older the better! A while back we saw Timur Civan pair a 5D Mark II with a 100-year-old lens, and it produced a technically poor but aesthetically pleasing image. There are times when the image doesn’t need to be perfect, and we might want some wear in our image. Jason Bognacki has taken this a step further and has actually attached a Piccolette Contessa-Nettel folding camera from around 1926 to his Canon 5D Mark II. Thankfully he has graced us not only with photographs, but a video as well. More »
I’ve seen a lot of videos with footage from the 5D Mark III, but not as many with the D800. Most tests are either pretty outdoor scenes, or quick clips showing the improvements over the previous generation. These are certainly welcome, as they can help people decide on a pre-order or a purchase. For that reason, they are a necessary evil (or they can be a lot of fun for gear-heads). Part of writing in this community is having to wade through the dozens, if not hundreds of tests and videos, and it can obviously get a little tedious. More »
There certainly can be more important issues to worry about than the camera you’re using, but as I’ve said, the right camera can make your life that much easier on set. As cameras begin arriving at doorsteps in the next couple of weeks, we’re going to get plenty more videos of the Canon 5D Mark III. We’ve got a couple interesting videos to check out below, and thankfully all of them are available for download from Vimeo so they can be properly tested. If you’d like to try them out for yourself, be sure to download the original. More »
Rather than a new post for every single new video featuring Canon 5D Mark III or Nikon D800 footage, it made a lot of sense to do a weekend roundup of all of the videos we haven’t covered here yet. Some of you are tired of hearing about these cameras, so I really feel like this is the best of both worlds. We don’t have any major tests yet, as the cameras aren’t quite in people’s hands, but if you’re still holding off on a purchase there will be plenty of solid tests coming up in the next few weeks. More »
Of course that’s not quite true, it does matter, but will anyone really buy it? Sony is rarely a company to lag behind and not have an answer to major announcements from competitors. Instead of announcing a high-end product, they’ve announced a replacement to a low-end product: the 16 megapixel APS-C Sony Alpha SLT-A57. Like some recent Sony cameras, it has a translucent mirror instead of a flip-up mirror – so it stays down while recording to allow AF during video. More »
I’ve always been a fan of ingenious designs that are DIY and require some screws and some glue. I know many of you felt that sense of accomplishment when you built that wooden dolly with skateboard wheels and PVC pipe – some of you are still building them (hint: they work!). But thanks to planet5D and Michael Carey we’ve got an interesting Kickstarter project that is DIY at heart and solves the issue of having your camera on a rig, but needing a way to start/stop it without taking it off your shoulder or moving it. More »
As with any NAB event, new devices and prototypes are always being announced. I’m sure we will be seeing even more DSLR products than we saw last year, and Manfrotto is attempting to get in on this popularity by announcing new rigs specifically designed for small cameras. While it seems that we get a new DSLR rig every single day, Manfrotto is also going to be announcing other devices that are far more useful and necessary for Canon DSLR owners. More »
Invitations have been sent out for a special Canon screening happening Sunday, April 15 in Las Vegas. Canon Rumors is reporting that this invitation could be a screening for Canon’s Cinema EOS 4K DSLR. Another thought is that it’s related to a Ron Howard project. Since it’s a weekend, I thought it would be a good time for some speculation about what could be announced, and what it means for the rest of the independent world if Canon does indeed announce a 4K camera at NAB (and why 4K even matters). More »
It seems we’ve now been treated to the first Canon 5D Mark III raw footage directly from the camera. EOSHD was the first to find this footage posted by Tõnis Liivamägi. Keep in mind that this footage is from a pre-production camera and is not necessarily indicative of final results, but at least we can start making some real conclusions about what this camera can and cannot do over the 5D Mark II. We’ve also got two other 5D Mark III videos embedded below. Here is the video and the description, but be sure to download it to get the real quality, instead of the embedded compressed version: More »
The Canon 5D Mark III was only announced a few days ago and many sites and blogs have weighed in on whether this full-frame low-light monster is worth the extra money over the 5D Mark II. Many users have commented that it is far beyond their budget compared to what they already have, or the updated specs aren’t worth the extra $800 over what the 5D Mark II cost in 2008 when it was announced ($2700). Many also say that clean HDMI and 1080 60p were deal-breakers at this price. I’ll give you 5 reasons why the Mark III is worth the price. But first, here’s a video showing the 5D Mark II vs. the 5D Mark III at 12,800 ISO: More »
After a long, long wait, and much anticipation (years, in fact), Canon has finally updated the 5D Mark II. It was a revolutionary camera for video shooters, even if it all happened by accident. That camera saw a couple major firmware updates over its lifetime, including the most important of all, the addition of 24p. It breathed new life into what was already a fantastic camera, and it wasn’t long until people were clamoring for an updated body with improved video features. That updated camera body has arrived, and it’s called the 5D Mark III. More »
In the past year Okii has put out two interesting tools for Canon HDSLR filmmakers – the Okii FC1 USB Focus Controller and the MC1 USB Mini Controller. They are both notable for being among the first camera controllers for Canon DSLRs to use the USB protocol — this means you can keep the live view on, either in camera or via monitor, while remotely adjusting camera settings. Now, although using the USB protocol presents pros, it also has its cons:
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Is the just-announced Nikon D800 the new Canon 5D Mark II? It’s full frame, it’s of a similar size and it’s of a similar price, but it offers a clean HDMI output, and it does 60p (at 720p). The question, I guess, is not how the D800 will fair against the 5D Mark II but how it will compare the Mark III — whenever we hear about that. Thanks to reader Paul, here’s the first (to my knowledge) short film shot on the new D800: More »
The new Nikon D4 isn’t the only new kid on the block — Nikon will also be releasing a second full-frame DSLR, the Nikon D800. As rumored, the D800 has a whopping 36 megapixel CMOS sensor (7360 x 4912 resolution), which may make the D800 not seem optimal for video (smaller photosites). However, the camera features full 1080p HD video at 30/24fps and 720p at 60fps. Similar to the D4, the D800 will also offer a clean HDMI output — except the D800 is half the price of the D4, coming in at $2,999. More »
Canon’s EOS Utility software, which includes the ability to edit picture styles on your HDSLR, has not worked on OSX Lion since Apple released the new OS in July. However, Canon has just released version 2.10.4 which remedies this problem. Here’s the deal with this new version: More »
I’ve always thought Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and other crowdfunding platforms are actually “best” suited for gadgets and technology products where you pre-buy something out of self-interest (as opposed to helping someone make something, as you did with me). Despite this, on Kickstarter Film & Video was the largest category in 2011, which is a testament to the generosity and connectivity of the filmmaking community. Here are a couple of filmmaking-friendly products for DSLRs on Kickstarter, both of which are looking to lower the price point for follow focuses and remote-control helicopters: More »
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