5D Review For Big TV-Station, Conclusion…

Here’s a video review of the 5D Mark II for the biggest TV-Station in Switzerland.
The conclusion at the end of the video: it needs full manual control!!!

We hope Canon sees this and acts!

Everyone Let’s Rate The 5D

This is another chance to give Canon a rating for the cam.
We need you to rate the product and mention the lack of full manual control.

Link: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/contr … user=false

Canon 500d

There is no sign of a Canon 500d coming at the PMA 09.
(too bad)

Another Canon With Movie Mode

At the PMA 09 the Canon 500d (or XRi, or TSi) might show up. It would be Canon’s second cam with movie mode.

Here the rumored specs:

• mp: 15.1
• ISO: 100-3200
• Proc: DIGIC IV
• LCD: 3″ VGA LCD
• crop: 1.6
• FPS: 3.5
• AF: 9 Point AF
• AF: Face Detection
• Battery: LP-E5
• Feature: LiveView
• Feature: Movie Mode w/contrast detect AF

I think this could mean: a lot more new customer who won’t be satisfied by the movie mode!

(more info here)

Facebook Group

If you want full manual control you might want to add this group on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120624885577

(Thanks to Marco)

Neutral Density Filters (Part III)

Here’s a nice video from Vincent Laforet about ND-Filters:

Click here to see the video.

24p Rumor

There is a rumor going around that Canon may release a 24p firmware update.

Personally I don’t think this is going to happen in the next time but lets hope and pray.

@Canon: a 25p update would also be great!

Mail To Canon

Here’s another nice mail someone wrote to Canon:

Hi there.

I have a simple question that I would be very grateful if you could see your way to answering.

In the Canon 5D White Paper the following claims are made:

“. . . videographers can capture high definition video with depth-of-field control found only in professional video models . . .”
“. . . The EOS 5D Mark II . . . provides amazing depth-of-field control . . .”
“. . . and none that had the depth-of-field control found in the EOS 5D Mark II . . .”

I have made a few enquiries (ref: ********************) and have been told by more that one Canon customer support staff that the only available depth-of-field controls are – walking towards or away from your subject and changing the lens (or focal length) to force a deeper (or shallower) depth of field.

So my question is: does Canon consider this kind of control the sort found only in professional video models ?

At this stage I would be more than happy with a simple ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.

Summary Of Facts (Part I)

• You have NO MANUAL CONTROL over shutter speed or ISO. You can trick the camera into choosing some value, but it’s only a trick, and it’s pure chance. Aperture is out of control too, unless you use non-EOS lenses with a (physical) aperture ring, or twist an EOS lens to break camera-lens communication after choosing the desired aperture value.
• You can’t choose an exposure mode to shoot videos, no matter what mode the dial is in, the camera will use a sort of fully automatic, not easily (and just slightly) shiftable Program AE with auto ISO. Exposure mode is valid only for still pictures taken while filming.
• You can lock exposure with the * button on the back, and you can get a “rough estimate” of the exposure settings chosen by the camera for video capture by half-pressing the shutter release, only when the camera display is set to Movie Display in the custom functions. Just don’t believe what you see when the shutter speed is longer than 1/30 ! these values are really those chosen for picture-taking while fiming !
• You can alter exposure compensation while filming ; after an AE lock it effectively changes ISO, while aperture mostly remains at either f22, f16, f5.6 or your lens’ maximum aperture (example here). Be careful, when you get to the extremes of the exposure compensation scale, the camera will often change the aperture, resulting in dropped frames.

From Vincent Laforet’s blog

Can you share with us any tips/tricks you’ve found for “forcing” a large aperture manually? It would be great to shoot with a shallow depth-of-field without the camera first selecting high ISO and a slow shutter speed if those weren’t necessary (like in daylight).

Vincent Laforet Reply November 26th, 2008 at 9:51 pm – It can be a bit maddening to be honest. But it CAN be done… I wish it were a tad bit easier than it is. Remember that I shot Reverie at night – so it was never an issue. I was always wide open. During the day time – it helps to point the camera at a very dark object/shadow… the aperture will open up… then point it at your subject and lock the exposure down immediately – before it reverts to f11-f22. Sometimes it works perfectly – at other times – it’s doing a bit of weird science. Remember – I’ve been working with pre-production cameras – and I haven’t had a chance to get the final product in my hands – so it’s dangerous for me to say anything for certain.

Luckily the final product covered those lacks. *g*