Allen Gambrell » Canon

5DmII Manual Video Control!

Allen — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:31:00 +0000

Canon released a firmware update for the 5d mark II that will allow you to have total manual control over the video!

So you can now get that shallow depth of field without using hacks or tricks to achive it.

I just did some testing and this is going to bring a whole new area to the industry.

PocketWizard MiniTT5 Hypersync

Allen — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:48:30 +0000

PocketWizard just released a new firmware for their new MiniTT1 and TT5. The new firmware includes most support for the Canon 5DmII. I had been waiting on this support to give the new units a try. They will do eTTL and seem to work good after some testing. The range is not that good but I can work with it. The connection meathod beats the RadioPopper, but not being able to control the flash from the camera menu is a bummer.

But the big reason I wanted the PocketWizards is their new Hypersync. It allows you to use studio strobes at a higher shutter speed than you could before.

I tested both a 40D and a 5Dm2 using a MiniTT1 on the camera with the latest firmware. I tried alot of different numbers for the Hypersync offset, but for the test I set it to the minimum of -2500 so I could try to get the most of the shutter out of the image. I used a White Lighting X1600 as the light in the test being fired with a PocketWizard 2Plus.

Here are the results so you can see.

Notice how there is less shutter in the 5Dm2 but the shading at the top of the image is more. After the tests I think you can get to 1/500 with the 5Dm2 and 1/800 (with a touch of shutter) with the 40D.

I am going to go back with the 5Dm2 and change the number to try to get less shading at 500, but thats some trial and error.

Also I tested changing the power on the light to see if it would effect it much (because the flash duration changes with power). But after testing it I don’t think it changes it enough to matter.

I have not see anyone talking about what settings so, if you have any settings that work for you please post them.

5D Mark II Announced

Allen — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:38:03 +0000

The new Canon 5D Mark II was announced a couple of days ago.

21 Megapixel Full Frame Chip
Automatic sensor dust cleaning
ISO 100-6400 with expanded 50 – 15600
3.0 Frames per second
Raw (21mp), sRaw1 (10mp), sRaw2 (5mp)
3″ Lcd Screen
1080p 30fps movie mode
external mic connection
New Battery
UDMA Compact Flash Support
Price $2699

There are some great features to it. First is the price per megapixel. Its hard to beleave that the 1ds Mark3 released last year at $7500 has just a few more megapixels that this camera. Also the ablity to shoot in the smaller sRaw modes if needed is great if you don’t require the big files for a certain job.

The ISO is supposed to make this camera the most low light senitive one that Canon makes. This will be good for some shots like football, but I wish it was a little faster in the fps. 3.9 is ok, but 5 would have been much better.

The video mode looks to be killer. It can shoot full HD video at 1080p at 30fps. This is much better than the Nikon D90 witch is only 720p. The 5D will only record up to a 4gb file in video mode. This works out to be about 16min of full resolution video Canon said. Also you can still fire the camera while you are shooting video. I wonder if this will affect the video in any way. The camera also has a stereo mic input jack. So you can use a beachteck converter to hook up any mike.

The video mode seems a great addtion to the camera and will be great at weddings. The only problem is that it will increase what you need on your wedding bracket. Now you will need the camera, off camera flash, video light, and shotgun mic.

I can’t wait, I got to have one or two! They are saying November for a release on the camera.

DPReview has a full preview of the camera.