Cool Cats Canon 5D Mark 2 video

[Badllarma]

Canon 5D Mark 2 in action (video)

Lynx on Vimeo

not me but great shots

[Jim Ford]

Hmm, I've been reading that the 5D MK II is having serious problems. The most serious is to do with black spots appearing alongside highlights. There's been several mentions that it's most likely a hardware problem that can't be fixed with firmware. If true, then I guess it can only be fixed with a camera recall by Canon.

Jim

[GTH]

The video is amazing.......and if there are problems then i`ll wait until they are solved...but a "must have" at some stage me thinks.

Geoff

[Jim Ford]

There's loads on the net about the problems - here's a statement by Canon:

Canon EOS 5D Mark II ‘Black Spot’ statement news - Amateur Photographer - news, camera reviews, lens reviews, camera equipment guides, photography courses, competitions, photography forums

Jim

[PMG]

Re the video - WOW! It looks fantastic - clear, crisp and for some reason far better than other video? I had snorted with disgust at video on stills cameras - I will now publicly eat my words!

Pauline

[MagpieMick]

Amazing quality wasn't expecting that ..!!

[nutmeg]

I'm impressed. One day I'd love to have the means to capture animal behaviour using video. Need to do a considerable amount of saving first though!

[Ukwildlifeo]

Crikey that is great quality. Ive been having great fun recording squirrels on my bridge camera and have even been considering the video route over still photography. Now if I hang around long enough I might be able to get an slr + decent video in one package!

[matt_xyz]

the quality is impressive and better than I expected. I've also been sceptical about video on DSLRs but I can now see that I could be persuaded

Matt

[GTH]

Thanks for that canon link Jim......I`ll be watching with interest for further statements...and Christina will be keeping her money in her purse for the time being. She was going to treat herself and upgrade.

Geoff

[lost in the woods]

Hi
I have 2 friends who have purchased 5d mark 2's and they have'nt had any problems they are pro photographers. High iso shots are superb of this camera i shall be purchasing 2 in the new year for my wedding photography. I have been a canon user since the early 90's and it takes a lot to impress me the 50d Canon released was a average run of the mill when compared to the 5d mark 2. Please don't take the last sentence as knocking the 50d in it's own price bracket it is a good camera the 5d Mark 2 is just awesome for image quality.
Regards
Lost in the woods

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by lost in the woods

the 5d Mark 2 is just awesome for image quality.

I'm not in the market for a 5D MkII, but if I was the current 'black spot' problem would put me off until it was resolved!

Jim

[Toby]

tempting for high quality high ISO performance which means more natural light macros but will wait for the price to collapse like the 1DMKIII did (dropped £500 within 6 months) and get with the firmware fix.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Toby

the firmware fix.

There are folk on the Canon forum of dpreview that believe the 'black spot' problem is at the hardware level and cannot be fixed with firmware. If this is so and Canon produce a firmware 'fix', then at best it will be a 'kludge' or 'workaround'.

Still, we'll wait and see!

Jim

[stephen p]

Faults apart, that is a stunning video and superb quality.
I was a bit curious as to how good this video format would be from nikon and canon, but that is better than i ever thought it would be.

[Bruce Williams]

That's a VERY impressive piece of video - enough to make me consider a move from Nikon. My PC monitor is full HD 1080p (1920x1080) and the quality was very good indeed. Thanks for the tip Jim .

If you're interested in seeing more from the 5D MkII here is a very different example shot in Tokyo by David Michaud. It's quite long and David likes to play with differential focus, viewpoint and low light. I recommend you stay with it as it demonstrates what can be done in difficult conditions.

Don't forget to make sure the HD button is on and of course view at full screen.

Canon 5D Mark II HD Video Test

ps There are two parts to the film so don't switch off when the first song finishes.

Bruce

[lost in the woods]

Hi
Back again bit more news on black spots as mentioned earlier two of my friends have the 5d mark 2 like me they work in raw. The spots and banding reported only seem to show up in jpeg files of long exposures both mike and John have tried to reproduce the same effects using raw file settings with long exposures no black spots or banding shows up. They then used jpeg settings some of the settings used managed to show light banding and on 1 exposure a black spot i have seen light banding on other brands of cameras used at higher iso settings in jpeg with long exposures one being the nikon d3 i had one for a weeks trial before anouncement of 5d mark 2 that camera is also a superb bit of kit in raw could'nt fault it. So if you are using long exposures use raw settings.
Regards
Lost in the Woods

[Bruce Williams]

...if you're considering this camera with a view to maybe shooting off the occasional impromptu video it might be worth checking out this review of the 5D MkII's video mode. It's directed more at the handling rather than the quality of the resulting video and points out some important operational limitations and file handling problems.

Worth being aware of at least.

Bruce

[Badllarma]

I think the 5D Mark II is a great piece of kit the high performance for stills at ISO rating are superb and is a must buy (if only I could afford it ).

For video it also is a great camera but would I use it to film a wedding or corporate event NO, not a chance, as both are about video captured as well as a professional look and filming video from an DSLR will not cut it, handling alone would right it off for both types of jobs. Give my a shoulder mounted HDV camera any day of the week.

But would I use it for wildlife or personal projects I'd say hell yes it's an ideal tool as I have the lenses already for me using it for stills, and (the big one) saves me lugging another complete camera system around if I want to do stills and video (this is usually for wildlife or personal stuff anyway).

[Deer Hunter]

Can I just say have had no problems whatsoever with the 5DMkII it is a first class bit of kit. Just got back from Iceland where I've been doing a film shoot and used the 5D for the stills --- EXCELLENT!

No reason to use it in the video mode, I am a pro cameraman but a few test clips were more than impressive.