5D Video - Cate Harrington

[SimonD]

I've been playing around with the Canon 5D DSLR in video mode, nowhere near as easy as a normal video camera but the results you can get on a 35mm sensor with fast lenes is impressing me no end.

There's a sample of Cate Harrington which gives you an idea of the shallow depth of field you can achieve.



I have yet to try a full smut scene on it yet, quite a steep learning curve and not very handheld friendly but I'm hoping to try something soon.

Appreciate any comments & feedback.
thanks in advance
Simon

[The Toybox]

Volkswagen have been shooting TV adverts with it in Germany apparently.

The problem for porn of course is the sound, your excerpt's a bit hissy/rumbly so steps need to be taken when shooting video with these DSLR's to take advantage of alternative audio inputs, where available.

[SpunkySam]

Great results there Simon, thanks for saying what lens you were using too. Cate looks great were you manually focusing that?

I was pondering this the other day, theres quite a few DSLRs out there doing HD video, they just used a 5D to film an episode of "House" in the states and theres a burgeoning market in rails, Matte boxes etc to make them a little more user friendly as video cameras. Might be a good solution for someone on a budget like me who cant afford both a decent stills and decent video camera together.

[nikonman]

Excellent quality images in the short clip.
And Cate is looking good as well.

What length of video footage can be obtained with the Canon 5D?.
Or will it just be up to the memory card.

I noticed at the Focus on Imaging show that Panasonic now do a 64gb SDXC card.
Very expensive.
What card does the Canon take?.

[Maverick]

Whoa. Excellent results. Cate's looking great too!

[SimonD]

Hi Toybox, yes I'm aware of the audio drawbacks, in camera mic is only any use for audio refs, I have now got an external mic for it.

Thanks Spunkysam )

Yes I was manually focussing, there is no autofocus option on the fly either, it's a real bitch tracking and focussing a moving subject, hence we did the trial stood on the spot, the 50mm lens is great but the focus wheel isnt the smoothest.

Everything was on manual in fact, that's the beauty of it you have control over everything.

Your right the addons make it easier, It all start to mount up with accessories such as a focus puller, shoulder rig, external monitor, audio etc.

The House on 5D used 3 camera operators, 1 was just the focus puller!

It's a great cam and creative but I can't see it replacing normal video cams just yet, early days though and the futures promising )

[SimonD]

Hiya Nikonman

The 5D takes Compact Flash cards, I have been just using 8gigs, 25 seconds of Cate was about 160mb in full HD.

I think there's a maximum shot time of 12mins per clip too which could hinder, but you can work with that I reckon.

Thanks maverick, I couldn't go wrong choosing Cate for the sample.

[Gaslight]

Excellent stuff Simon and it all goes to show what you can do these days with a "one stop shop" piece of hardware...if you know what you're doing! lol

Makes you wonder where it will all end??....

[one eyed jack]

I was going to ask if anyone was using these cams and to what result. Trust Simon. Thanks for the info.

Considering getting one but not for the porno. Far too limiting as you said.

I have pro sound recording equipment and the external mic is probably only best for reference only.

[one eyed jack]

Let us know what the external mic sounds like will you Simon. Ive seen one kitted with a Rode mic but prefer xlr so may record sound externally anyway.