A fad or a trend or is this the next thing.

We have all read the blogs and seen the tests but there is nothing like looking at images side by side. Here are some highlights of what ended up being a great day with quite a few eyebrows.

Images to come but here are some. I realize that I used the 5d to take these shots, I will need help from the others for theirs!



Quick round up guys, before we post the videos.

Overall impressions on the kit?
Look and style?
Applications?
Prefrences (as un-bias as possible)

I certainly learned heaps, so thanks to all who gave of their time and gear, etc. Also to Scott at Rocket for the venue.

Looks to me like this little camera is not going to disappear in a hurry.

5D: Likes The size and ease of use in terms of quick draw shooting. The fact that it can be used almost incognito (it's a stills camera!) The cinematic look and feel of what we saw. As for the quality of the the pictures - most impressive on the monitor. I would certainly like to see it after a grade or even when broadcast, which we will see soon enough. I liked that you can shoot stills with it too...

Dislikes Difficult to keep steady in hand-held mode. Lack of control over various settings, which I think is the biggest drawback. We didn't test the audio side, but I would imagine it's not that easy to just hook up to your soundie and 'away we go.' Basically ergonomically not as easy as traditional broadcast cameras.

My conclusion. It appears to hold up in a number of instances to the EX and Letus (which is a pretty cool rig!) and value for money - WOW!

Friend or foe? I own a big rig and would certainly consider this a serious player, so definitely friend...off to go and order one.

Also can't wait to see what they bring out next!

Courtesy Chris Brokensha

Standing in a room with 18 of your peers you equally respect and admire is always a good situation. Talking shop, especially without a beer in your hand.. about emerging technologies is equally envigurating as it can be sobering.

When Hi-8 came out - well you wouldn't catch any of us dead with one, for many reasons and as small format cameras emerged, none proved to offer the professional results that our dinosaur old school trained eyes were looking for.

But HD has changed the rules and I dont think any of us in that room are foolish enough to think that there is only one workflow. Perhaps we create the framework for the "the box" we certaily are all capable of thinking outside of it.

HD is of course changing the rules and individually we have been keeping an eye and finger on what is going on. I applaud the Phil Bloom's of the world, who happily chases the leading edge and shares his results. This is an NZCREWS philosophy we have always shared and adorned, a big factor in our decision to collaboratively going with XDCAM HD in New Zealand.

So where are the rules today? 35mm still camera lenses on video cameras were once a bad idea, in fact the discussion is that it still is. Imperfections, CA and many many other factors amount to a technical nightmare, a technical concoction that amounts to an egg head's omelette. One however cannot dispute that in this time of no standards, pseudo HD and an underdelivering and over promission of a non-high definition world - where everything is down converted to SD, it doesnt matter.

Granted before I get slammed out there, there are disserning clients. But in our market.. in NZ and in many others (as NZ is almost fully HD) - the producer, the broadcaster and the viewer are oblivious to CA and other factors.

So - we chase the look.

35mm still lenses are on. Pseudo ground glass adapters with sex toy vibrating parts are on. 35mbs is on. DSLR cameras with CF cards are on!

In fact its all on. And guess what? It looks good. We hate them all but it looks good. Actually, it looks really really good!


So now what?
Well, we will have a full breakdown of what we did as well as a few videos posted here to show all the differences. We were hard on it and the outcome will blow your mind.

Forget all that you know. And yes, there are many people overseas who have done some amazing things. And completely take their word for it, obviously the final result speaks for itself.

First things I want to say is.. there is a big difference between looking at somenthing on vimeo and taking an image from a 5D and looking at it on a full HD 1080 screen.

Secondly, you wont believe what you see unless its with your own eyes.

You will see we also had a set of proper primes that we put on a 700 (image flip courtesy of Avenger C-Stands) but we decided to can that experiment in favor of pushing the photo primes.

I have been swamped with demands to post this footage so, I am hoping that an editor will be able to squeeze some time and turn it around. We have decided to leave the post for the pros and get their take on its manipulation and make them part of this exercise. The big reason is that all of us in that room can edit but we never do in a practical sense. HD is now a cross discipline and we want their dry comments without prejudice. Taking the footage as we give it to them and let them come back to us with thoughts.

Great day all, more to come.
Yves

Thank you round-up.

Chris Borkensha for putting it together, brilliant!
Jake Bryant for the use and demo of his letus and lenses.
Ben Ruffel for his flash Zeiss lense
Nick Treacy for his ever-expanding fleet of 700 cameras and the use of the primes and converter
Ale Graham for her on-screen presence
Scott at Rocket Rentals for the use of the premises and missing accessories.
Ivars who flew up from Wellington
All who attented, with much more support, it was brilliant and a true testament to what we can do. More to come I am sure.
Yves

More pics

A very valuable way to spend a day.

My observations: Treat these cameras as "effect" cameras, they are not replacing the mainstream shoulder mount cameras anytime soon.

Canon 5D Mk2:
Great versatility with this Canon 5D2 camera. Beautiful HD pictures in a small light package slung over your shoulder. You can shoot great video in circumstances where you don't want to draw attention to yourself, or where you can't take your shoulder mounted camera.
Impressive detail in the shadow area of our test, I guess due to the larger sensor.
A quick way to shoot something that catches your eye.

Sony EX3 with Letus converter and Nikon prime lenses:
Shallow dof makes for very sexy looking images with this setup. Chris and I saw a bad case of it not liking the highlights of the registration card, but this is probably the EX3 camera more than anything.
Its a fiddly set-up and unergonomic to say the least, more like a giant carrot than a lettuce.

Neither camera would be easy to use handheld for an extended time.

The Canon 5D mk2 appeals more as an add-on to my present kit, and has the added advantage of being a superb stills camera. But I'm not rushing out to buy one - I'm happy to wait till they release a model where you can focus through the viewfinder while recording.
The EX3 with Letus and primes does give a great look, but an expensive rig for the way I would use it, primarily as an effects camera.

I forgot to add: The fact that the 5D only shoots 30fps is possibly another kink in its armour, but at the price still a good little beast. I agree Ivars - a good addition to the kit, not a replacement. (Yet!) ..... did I say that!?

Have a look at this - if you were not in the know