Canon EOS 5D Mark II

I agree. The footage I've seen is fantastic! The low light capability is a huge benefit, too. I've heard some people mention "skew", but that is the nature of rolling shutter cameras, which seems more prevalent on the Nikon D90. I would use the Canon in a heartbeat. If I didn't already have an HD camera, this would be my next purchase.
 
I'm going to get one Sunday. I've been talking back and forth with a direct who just shot a feature with it. He loves it and the footage looks great. They used it for part of the new Harry Potter movie and the upcoming Iron Man. Hollywood is grabbing onto it.
 
All I see is a very sharp video-looking highly color corrected (lots of oranges, blues) clip.

Sorry, not impressed (for filmmaking).

:)
 
Thanks for the link. Seems like extreme shallow depth of field is in vogue these days (with those convinced it makes it look like film). I actually found that annoying while watching that.
 
I have a 7D and I couldn't be happier. It replaces my workhorse DVX100a for narrative filmmaking. Just shot a short film this weekend that I hope to get online by early next week.
 
None of those would be the camera itself, but rather the choices made by the shooter.
I'd like to see some real, raw, gritty footage... not the eye-candy that looks like a postcard. I hear ya, but I haven't seen anything impressive. These are DSLRs, and the examples are shallow DOF super-enhanced Photoshop looking images made for postcards. Maybe they are being shot by photographers, and not cinematographers? Or is it the camera, being it's DSLR? Show me some real stuff! Looking forward to your footage. :)
 
Thanks for the link. Seems like extreme shallow depth of field is in vogue these days (with those convinced it makes it look like film). I actually found that annoying while watching that.

I wonder how long that is going to last too. I miss some really good deep focus photography, haven't seen any 5d footage that utilizes that technique.

The saturation and sharpness bother me less, but I wonder how much latitude there is in the camera to control those two items.
 
I wonder how long that is going to last too. I miss some really good deep focus photography, haven't seen any 5d footage that utilizes that technique.

The saturation and sharpness bother me less, but I wonder how much latitude there is in the camera to control those two items.

I also wonder. Not sure why such shallow DOF is desired throughout a film.

I just don't really enjoy the picture these DSLRs shoot, but i have seen some good things come from them.
 
The saturation and sharpness bother me less, but I wonder how much latitude there is in the camera to control those two items.

There are settings that allow you to shoot essentially a flat curve for more details in shadows and highlights. The general exposure range for the camera is around 8 stops.

Also, you can turn the sharpness completely down and adjust the saturation (which you have to do when you flatten the curves).

As for the DOF, the 7D is a 35mm size chip and the 5D is FF35. The camera ALLOWS shallow DOF, but is more or less the same focus as 35mm film. The rest is up to the DP to go shallow or deep depending on lenses and other factors.

FWIW, I agree that many 5D shooters are going too shallow on their test footage. The option for selective focus is nice, but it's not everything.
 
As for the DOF, the 7D is a 35mm size chip and the 5D is FF35. The camera ALLOWS shallow DOF, but is more or less the same focus as 35mm film. The rest is up to the DP to go shallow or deep depending on lenses and other factors.

FWIW, I agree that many 5D shooters are going too shallow on their test footage. The option for selective focus is nice, but it's not everything.

Agreed.

I don't know if too shallow is the term I would use, but I get what you mean. A lot of the footage I have seen has been demonstrative of the low-light capabilities of the 5Dm2 - which will have a great deal to do with the resultant DoF. But I think it is more a current, trendy stylistic choice that was unleashed when lens adapters started becoming more commonplace on HD cameras. Prior to those it was pretty difficult to get shallow fields on video cameras, and now that it can be done everyone is doing it without really thinking about it from a standpoint of expression.

The best shooters will know when to get shallow and when to go deep - in service of the story. Folks will back around to this using these cameras - it's just excitement over the option of going super shallow that has people itching to use it.

It reminds me of being in film school and discovering single-frame shooting with the bolex. I made up reasons to use that feature because it was technically interesting to me, never really helped the stories much, although I did get a cool set of titles that way once.
 
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