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Geek blog for all things hackintosh, dslr video plus tweaking, hacking and modding your gear and gadgets.

28Dec/110

Canon Cameras: 5D Mark III Sooner Than Later, 7D Mark II for Photokina?

canonrumors puts a date on a possible announcement of the long awaited Canon 5D MK III (MK3): announced around the end of March or early April 2012, "availability will probably happen before the summer begins in 2012. No specs were given at this time. This is a very solid [CR2]. The NAB show is April 14-19 in Las Vegas.".

The Canon EOS 7D Mark 2, northlight-images amongst other blogs report, "will be one of the big items Canon shows at Photokina 2012 in Cologne, Germany". Reports about the camera being APS-C are rumored, even though there is some info out there about it being APS-H. (dpreview, canonrumors)

Currently, the Canon EOS 5D MK II sells starting at $1,980.00 on Amazon US and EUR 1.679,95 on Amazon Germany. The Canon EOS 7D starts at $1,298.49 (Amazon US) and  EUR 1.229,95 (Amazon Germany). Since there were recent price drops, it is unclear if the prices will further slide down, once a new product will be introduced. Our recommendation is to get a Camera now, if you really need it, possibly refurbished. The second hand value will still be high, so it's currently a good time to buy, although new models might be around the corner.

19Oct/111

iPhone 4S / Canon 5d MKII Side by Side Comparison

***You can download the full 1080p version of this video for a more accurate presentation.

Here's a "fair" test between the iPhone 4S and the Canon 5D MK II. I made a little rig that allowed me to shoot both cameras at the same time side by side. All scenes are perfectly synced together so you can pause and scrutinize the frames! See photo of the makeshift rig in the photo area.

Exposure, shutter speed, frame rate and picture style were matched as close as possible between the two cameras. (I used the Zacuto Z-finder to help me adjust exposure for both iPhone and 5D)

This test shows that the tiny F2.4 lens and sensor on the iPhone are pretty nice. It even got a little depth of field!

I did not overlay the exact ISO and Stops 5D settings per shot. It was too much to keep track for this simple test. To be fair I matched 5D exposure to the iPhone so no "Cinestyle" / 24p here.

Here are the settings:

iPhone 4S

- AE.AF locked. That's all you have!

Canon 5D MKII

- Canon 50mm 1.4
- ISO 160 ~ 640 (varied per shot to match the iPhone)
- F 7~22 (varied per shot to match the iPhone)
- Shutter 1/60th
- Auto WB
- Standard Picture Style
- 1080p 30

(Source: vimeo.com)

5Oct/110

Nikon D800 36MP Camera Announced. Canon 6D of 5D MKIII to follow as a response?


Nikon Rumors is reporting a 36mp D800 coming in the next 30-60 days at a 99% probability. As Canonrumors pointed out, this can be a great thing for Canon users: New full frame sensor cameras, as well as a 5D MKIII or a 6D could be possible. Well, we are desperately waiting, currently equipped with two Panasonic GH2 Cameras that are hacked to the extreme. See an example Video on Vimeo (66Mbps Hack). If there is no alternative coming out soon, lots of people will stick to their GH2s, as they are currently the best there is, especially when using the Atomos Ninja (see a great Example on the Atomos Ninja with the Panasonic GH2).

[UPDATE] Nikonrumors posted More Nikon D800 bits and pieces: 100% Viewfinder coverage, improved AF with face recognition, SD+CF dual memory card slots as well as a USB 3.0 possibility. The question remains, why not CFAST? On another post, the ISO range is said to be 100 – 6400, ISO LO @ 50 and ISO HI-2 @ 25600. We can only wait and see...

19Aug/112

RAW Video for DSLR with Magic Lantern and Black Magic Hyperdeck Shuttle (vs. Atomos Ninja): 5D MKII, 550D, Rebels

[Update] Black Magic Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 as well as the Atomos Ninja 2 Recorder are already out. We are reviewing them shortly, as we have used both already in production. Both are capable of DNxHD as well as Apple ProRes.

SLR Film making got even more exciting: with the availability of HDMI recorders, RAW Video footage can be recorded to get the maximum out of your Canon 5D MKII or other camera compatible with Magic Lantern. Standard Firmware does not output a "clean" HDMI signal, at least not for Canon cameras; the Panasonic GH2 produces a clean HDMI output, as noted by Philip Bloom (!).

What are currently recommended HDMI field recorders?

1. Black Magic Hyperdeck Shuttle (RAW Video)

Black Magic Design Hyperdeck Shuttle

* Product information page/ manufacturer: Black Magic Design
* Discussion on the Magic Lantern User Group: hyperdeck shuttle

Pro:

  • Very Cheap: ($339.99 in the USA, 299€ in Europe
  • Records UNCOMPRESSED (!) RAW Footage from HDMI Out.
  • Cons:

  • Expensive in usage: 15 minutes uncompressed (1.6 GB/s) = 180GB
  • SSD drives NOT included, so you might need to calculate in some OCZ Vertex 3 SSDs in your budget
  • No Video Monitoring on the device itself. You might need to buy an external monitor, such as the Liliput external HDMI monitor (starting at $169 in the USA and 186€ in Europe)



    2. Atomos Ninja - Portable HDMI Recorder (ProRes)
    Atomos Ninja HDMI Recorder for almost RAW Video (Apple ProRes)

    Pro:

  • Smaller files, since it is no real RAW footage but Apple ProRes: 6 hours ProRes 422 (HQ) (220 MB/s) (16.5 Hours with 750GB Disks)

  • Monitoring included! 4.3” diagonal, 480x270 resolution
  • Cheap usage, since Hard Drives can be used! (though, the initial price is higher:
  • Less storage space needed
  • Supports two Hard Drives or SSD-Disks.
  • Firewire 800, USB-2 and USB-3
  • Continous Battery: two power cells to guarantee uninterrupted usage

    Cons:

  • Apple ProRes and no real RAW footage (this can be a good thing, as you are saving tons of money and storage space)
  • No ProRes for Windows users yet; Apple users might need to get Final Cut, since Apple ProRes is included in FCP Studio


  • Conclusion:
    Unless you are super-rich and have tons of money to spend for Solid State Drives and a RAID Array, you should get the Atomos Ninja. Besides the actual device, you also get a monitoring solution and have a true portable device, that creates files usable with normal hard drives. Overall cost is much lower and there should not be a really visible difference from ProRes to RAW footage. If you are into Bokeh Porn, you might want to spend your money in the Black Magic Hyperdeck Shuttle.

    Keep in mind, there are currently some issues with HDMI out an Magic Lantern: there is a video on the 5D MKII's 1080i out and also some discussions going on in the Magic Lantern Forums, because some processing needs to be done to get actual usable files. Actual resolutionis 12-19% less (depending how you do it) but still the results are awesome - especially in low light situations. Maybe we will get real clean HDMI out with the Canon EOS 5D MKIII.

       
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