Canon 7D & 5D Mark II

[SYLRENAUD]

Awesome tutorial by STILLMOTION from Toronto... these guys rock !!! they started off as students and now shoot stuff for the NFL !!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting how I was already doing some of the tips they give but learned so much more watching this video

http://vimeo.com/15030910

Here is the NFL stuff

http://vimeo.com/15124825

[ASHampton]

I really wonder why Cassie folks are not adopting this tech? For me its a no brainer! This is a great thread Syl! We really need to get together!

[Volker]

Well, I got my Sony Alpha33 a few days ago. I shoots AVCHD video in 1080i. I will post some samples and impressions in a few weeks, I guess.
The Sony is not as expensive and it is a lightweight compared to the Canons which I prefered first when I saw the sample videos in this thread...
And it seems to match well with my AVCHD camcorder.
Exciting times for us... More later.

[ASHampton]

More Canon Info.

Canon HDSLRs Used to Shoot "Iron Man 2" (September 29, 2010) DMN Newswire--2010-9-29-- Canon?s 5D Mark II DSLR Shows its Mettle During Production of Iron Man 2



Movies featuring comic-book superheroes are among the most popular films today, with the spectacular exploits of these colorful characters rendered more convincing than ever thanks to today?s digital imaging technologies. Among the many advanced filmmaking tools recently used by cinematographer Matthew Libatique to shoot the blockbuster hit Iron Man 2 were Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR?s. Libatique, an accomplished member of the American Society of Cinematographers, explained that the Canon cameras were indispensable for capturing crucial images in a key action sequence.



?Without a doubt, we couldn?t have gotten the shots any other way,? Libatique says. His comment refers to a scene in Iron Man 2 in which the titular character?s alter ego Tony Stark drives a race car in the Historic Monaco Grand Prix and is attacked by super-villain Ivan Vanko. Canon 5D Mark II Digital SLR?s served multiple roles in photographing this important sequence. One was to capture moving background plates on location in the famous European racing city; another was to provide crash-cam footage amid the scene?s high-speed auto race.



Impressive Shots

Libatique brought his film crew to Monaco for authenticity in shooting their background plates, which were later integrated with live-action footage of racing cars shot in Hollywood. The plates were captured using a motion-picture camera and several 5D Mark II Digital SLR?s mounted on a chase vehicle that kept pace with the race cars as they sped through Monaco?s winding streets.



?We mounted the Canon cameras on all four sides of the vehicle to get background plates for Tony Stark driving on the race track,? Libatique explained, noting that the small size of the 5D Mark II Digital SLR?s enabled his crew to obtain more coverage than would have been possible with an equal number of (larger and heavier) film cameras.



?There is no other camera that can really get into some of the tight spots that the Canon 5D Mark II can, and with the ease that it can,? he added. ?We got extra angles in spots that we wouldn?t have been able to get in 35mm without a lot more effort.?



Libatique?s comment applied even more to the crash-cam shots he and his crew captured for the racing sequence. ?We had extremely dangerous circumstances, but traditional crash cams are cumbersome and they take time to set up,? he explained. ?With the Canon cameras we were able to easily change lenses and make quick decisions. The set-up time was 10 times faster than with a film camera, and we could mount the 5D Mark II cameras in all sorts of places.?



Libatique and his crew sealed several Canon 5D Mark II DSLRs inside heavily padded Pelican cases with holes cut out for the lenses. These were then placed at strategic locations around the track to capture dramatic footage of the race cars zooming by.



?We set 5D Mark IIs down on the race track and had the vehicles pass by them, crash near them, and run right into them. It was very impressive to have the 5D Mark II cameras hold up and then pop-out their cards and get the shots we wanted.?



Canon 5D Mark II DSLRs were also mounted directly on some of the cars for additional point-of-view shots. These included Tony Stark?s car, which was destroyed by Ivan Vanko?s Whiplash weapon.



?The camera is mounted in the front of Tony Stark?s car as it flies up into the air,? Libatique said. ?It?s probably the most impressive shot in that sequence, and it was captured by a 5D Mark II camera.?



Exceeding Expectations

?The new manual exposure firmware introduced during the shoot enabled us to expose 5D Mark II imagery more similarly to the film we were shooting,? Libatique noted. ?That was the sealer for us. Once that manual firmware was installed we knew that we were going to be using the 5D Mark II.?



Subsequent workflow tests at a major Hollywood digital intermediate facility confirmed that motion sequences captured using the Canon 5D Mark II could seamlessly match 35mm film.



?We did our exposure tests and the image quality exceeded my expectations for cutting into a 35mm sequence,? he said.



New Production Applications

Although he has lensed Iron Man 2 and other major Hollywood features, Libatique began his career shooting independent films, an area he says is particularly well-suited for the Canon 5D Mark II.



?I?m interested in low-budget filmmaking, and in what it can provide,? he said. ?If I were shooting an indy film of any narrative length, I would probably choose to shoot it with the 5D Mark II, as opposed to one of the small HD video cameras offered by various manufacturers. I think we?ve always been in search for a smaller camera, and ? right off the bat ? you can?t get much smaller than a SLR. This is an ergonomic advantage. On my last film I shot subway scenes in New York, and because the 5D Mark II was so much lighter to carry around in the subways, it didn?t attract a crowd.?



Although compact, the Canon 5D Mark II features a full-frame 21.1-Megapixel CMOS image sensor for exceptional sensitivity and low-light performance. The camera also can be fitted with Canon?s full line of EF lenses. Libatique noted that he favored the wide-angle 14mm and 24mm lenses and the ultra-wide 16-35mm zoom lens for Iron Man 2.



?I?m a big fan of Canon lensing, and I like the focusing and the depth of field that it creates ? or lack of it, in some cases. It just feels more cinematic. The correlation of the 5D Mark II, and its chip size, and the Canon lenses all keep things in a sort of a ?35mm language? for me.?



Libatique sees the Canon 5D Mark II camera as a still-evolving motion-image capture tool with more production applications yet to be explored. ?It definitely has the ability to have its own look,? he said. ?You can integrate it with film, but I also think you can use it to make disparate-looking images. With all of the 5D Mark II?s manual functions, detail settings, contrast settings, and saturation settings, it?s like having another film stock at your disposal to create a different look. I?m considering using it for flashback sequences on the next film I?m shooting.?



?As for Iron Man 2, I was very impressed by the Canon 5D Mark II shots we were able to cut-in with the live action,? Libatique concluded. ?The camera was invaluable for shooting the Monaco sequence, which was vital to the storytelling of the entire film.?

[ASHampton]

Well....I had to do it. I finally went and got myself a Canon 7D. I am so excited to start using it!

[SYLRENAUD]

Give 'er & share the footage Seth !!!

[SYLRENAUD]

http://vimeo.com/15788396

Latest wedding recap shot on October 10th, 2010 for Towfiqa & Nafees. A very royal setting indeed !!

Produced by Reno Video Productions

Videographers: Sylvain Renaud, Caroline Renaud & Raheel Agha

Edited on a S-4100 by: Sylvain Renaud

Song: "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles
New version by Dana Fuchs & Jim Sturgess from the album "Across the Universe".

[erictom]

Hi Syl...Looks like you've mastered the DSLR technique to the tee. Your highlights on Vimeo are awesome and the contents are concisely creative. I believe you mentioned in your initial post that you are editing on the S-4100. Does it have a built-in card reader? (I haven't even checked closely if my S4Kpro has it). If not, are you using an outboard card reader to input your footage to the editor from the Canon camera?

Your images are crisp, even though perhaps most are if viewed on the comp screen? Somehow I attempted exporting clips from the T2i (supposed to be identical in resolution as the 7D/5D) on the Mac, but it looks a little "softer" than my video camera footage. Is it likely the camera settings or the camera glass? I am using the kit lens 18-55mm.

By the way, you mentioned you ordered the Cyclops from Cinevate. I probably was one of the those who pre-paid an order when it was first announced. The demand must be so high, because they said they ran out of their first batch and I still haven't received mine Maybe I should have ordered the less expensive Hoodman instead. Now wondering if they are giving Canadians first priority Did you get yours yet?

Please email me directly if you have added insights you'd like to share about this new style of videography.

Thanks.

[SYLRENAUD]

Hi Eric... I don't know about "mastered the DSLR" lol there is a lot of amazing stuff on Vimeo shot with these cameras but thank you for the kind words.
I discover new things every time I use them... little things like proper f-stop in specific situations,
The right lighting to give you that extra f-stop while being unobtrusive, framing shots properly etc...

You will need a card reader to import your footage... any all purpose card reader will work I have an Acumen & Sandisk. While I'm importing
into the S-4100 with one reader I use the other one to save RAW MOV files into an external HD.

Yes your Glass/Lenses make a difference in the quality of your image. I have not tried the 18-55mm but I own both L-series & EF lenses made by Canon.
I didn't think it would make that much of a difference but it does !! There is a reason why they are more expensive...
Photographers I've worked with who use Canon Lenses have told me the same thing.
This being said my stuff does look a little softer on my MAC compared to my S-4100. Maybe a monitor resolution thing ?

Yes I have received my Cyclops... yeah maybe there is a Canuck preference here all I know is I ordered it as soon as I got an e-mail from them
advertising it. It's definitely a great product but I am unable to line up the Cyclops properly...it sits a tab too high and I have to tilt it down.
I will call and ask about this because the promo video shows it lining up properly.
It works well on a tripod or a monopod but I still prefer the Z-Finder when I use the support gear for my floating camera stuff.

If you have more specific questions or even want to discuss on the phone thats cool... no problem.
write to me at video@renovp.com

Cheers,
Syl

[ASHampton]

Here is an amazing video link. It was shot with the 5 and 7D's...with the new fisheye lens. Sorry if you have already seen it...but its still pretty damn impressive! http://blog.planet5d.com/o3h