Why do I like Canon 7D so much more than the 5D?

I

Indiefilming

Every filmmaker and DP I consult with in LA insists we use the 5d for this feature we're about to shoot instead of the 7D. They list the standard reasons: full sensor, won't have lens issues, etc.

But I just can't stand the 5D footage (even with 24p firmware update). It's so clean. The footage always looks like a really crisp music video, whereas the 7d has more of a film look. Does anyone else see this?

Here are two trailers for comparison.

Trailer for a movie shot on Canon 5D Mark II:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G5pyFhmAqE

Trailer for a movie shot on Canon 7D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF_jWPJwKIE
 
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I dunno. I think the footage looks pretty dang good from both of those movies.

However, the 5D is really the ultimate photographer's camera. Full-frame gives a 35mm still photographer the same image they were working with, with 35mm film.

But in filmmaking, 35mm film isn't used the same. Only half of the frame is actually used, so with the crop-factor, the 7D actually gets you closer to a more "filmic" look, I think.
 
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I feel the majority of the difference between the trailers has to do with what's being recorded. The 5D trailer is mostly outside in the sun, while the 7D trailer is mostly inside shots. That's making the visuals far more different than the camera itself is.
 
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Having shot and edited footage with both, IMO the 5D totally destroys the 7D. The are barely comparable to the point that it' requires some work to be able to mix footage from the two cameras. The blacks crush much faster on the 7D even using a flat profile. The dynamic range on the 5D is bad, on the 7D it's god awful.
 
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It's better to have the highest-quality footage you can get, and then degrade it, rather than begin with lower-quality footage. You can always filter the crap out of your 5D footage in post, but you can't make your 7D footage better.
 
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Indiefilming said:
I guess that's the better question then. Anyone know how to make the 5D 24p footage look as 'filmic' as 7D footage in terms of frame rate?
Click to expand...

It already does to my eyes. You just aren't looking at the right footage. Footage shot on a 7D by a great DP is going to look better than footage shot on a 5D by a a bad/mediocre DP, every time.

Either way you should be shooting 24P at 1/50 frame rate and lighting the scenes well to give some depth so they don't look flat.

EDIT: Not intended as a slam against your skills, just fact. In the right hands, both look good, but different. I think the 5D looks better personally. The reason 7D gets used more on large budget films is that the sensor on a 5D is bigger than a 35mm movie camera frame. Cinema lenses would vignette on it.
 
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Not taken as a slam. As the links I included in my OP should demonstrate, I'm examining footage from the 5D and 7D shot by skilled professionals. I haven't shot on either 7 or 5, but have been examining hours of footage from both.

Skill level aside, it's a different quality entirely. It's funny because professionals I ask about this uniformly say they can't really see much of a difference but I've screened 7D and 5D clips and trailers to 12 lay people - movie lovers who know nothing about the technical aspect of film making- and every single one of them said they preferred the 7D footage as it looked more filmic (regardless of the skills of the human behind the camera.)

My brain is saying "bigger better camera" and my aesthetic is saying 7D.
 
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Post similar looking clips, then. The differences in the two trailers you showed are mostly due to content, not the camera itself. Also, define "filmic". It tends to be a buzzword no one actually ends up describing.
 
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You can't honestly compare clips from both cameras at two different sets. Beet to find a shoot out. Both cameras, side by side, SW exact conditions.

I'm in the "they're really close" camp. The biggest differences are DOF, at the same settings the 5D is much more shallow. When running wide open, I know a lot of guys prefer the 7 so it's not too shallow, when stopped down the same guys prefer the 5 to keep it shallow.

What I'm excited about it the 5DmkIII they're rumored to be announcing in a few days. Ieant to see what THAT looks like, and fingers crossed for better codecs and longer record times and what not.
 
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Also important: The 5D MkII is at least a stop better noise-wise. Film grain can be aesthetically pleasing, but digital noise is just ugly.

I also prefer the look of the 5D footage. I traded in my 7D after only two weeks to get a 5D because of the quality improvements. Also, the 5D runs Magic Lantern which lets you do fun things like increase the data rate of the video files to reduce compression artifacts.
 
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