DEAD SEASON: ZOMBIES AND THE 7D
Posted by Peter Marsh in Cameras, Found, Video Nov 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment
Makers of “Dead Season,” a new independent zombie flick currently in production, have snagged up the rights to it being the “first film shot on the Canon 7D.” Although the movie in still in the early stages of production, it appears to be shaping up well.
Up to this point, the camera of choice has always been the 5D Mark II for serious film productions, yet I believe we will start seeing more and more productions utilizing the 7D’s wider frame rate capabilities. Despite the smaller sensor, the 7D still turns out an amazing image and I’d say the real test to measure it’s performance is to see it on the big screen. Hopefully more movies like this will do that for us.
“Dead Season” has put out a selection of first week dailies to give us a taste of what they’ve achieved. Check it out below!
Dead Season Week 1 Selects from enzosauce on Vimeo.
DSLR ACCESSORIES: BEST COMPACT FLASH CARDS
Posted by Peter Marsh in Articles, Technical Oct 24th, 2009 | 2 Comments
This is a pretty important thing to think about, considering video with a DSLR is captured at a higher bitrate. And on top of that, capacity of the card is equally as important (unless of course you’re ok with changing out the card every 8 to 12 minutes). So for those reasons, I’m making a few recommendations on cards that will work best in a production setting.
Now depending on what DSLR you are using, the card type may be different. Canon DSLRs use CF or CompactFlash cards. Panasonic and Nikon typically use SD cards. So the bit rate and price range will vary based on what you’re using. Call me bias if you’d like, but I’m a Canon guy, so I’ll mostly be talking CF cards. That just happens to be my experience level, so deal with it!
FIRST WAVE OF CANON 7D “ISSUES” ADDRESSED
Posted by Peter Marsh in Articles, Technical Oct 18th, 2009 | No Comments
Canon’s newest Video DSLR, the 7D, has only been out for a week or so and, as expected with any new piece of technology, people are already complaining…
The first reported problem with the 7D was apparently a pattern noise issue that showed up even at low ISOs. The issue pissed a lot of people off, but it wasn’t apparent with every 7D. Only a handful of 7Ds had this issue and Canon chalked it up as a manufacturer defect and replaced everyone’s 7D. Since then, there haven’t been any more reports and the camera is working better than ever. Or is it?
SNL USING CANON 7D & 5D MARK II FOR INTROS
Posted by Peter Marsh in Found, Video Oct 17th, 2009 | No Comments
Alexander Buono, Director Of Photography for SNL has recently been turned to Canon’s 7D and 5D Mark II after watching various sample videos online. Philip Bloom is hailed as one of the main contributors to his recent stab at DSLR cinematography.
Most recently, Alex shot new titles sequences as well as bits and pieces of studio sketches on the 7D and 5D Mark II. One fantastic example is “Bladdivan.”
After using the two cameras in a production atmosphere, Alex said he was extremely impressed and even gave some feedback to Canon on what he would like to see improved upon. Personally, I think this is the kind of stuff that needs to happen to make DSLR cinematography a creditable and legitimate tool for filmmakers. Let’s just hope this doesn’t jack up the price on these guys, right?
TIME FOR THE BEST AND WORST DSLR FILM TRAILERS!
Posted by Peter Marsh in Found, Video Oct 10th, 2009 | 7 Comments
VOLUME I:
A HANDFUL OF THE BEST AND WORST DSLR FILM TRAILERS.
This has been a long time coming…
Over the last few months, I’ve been watching a shit ton of DSLR videos out there, and it really saddens me to say that 90% of them have been awful. Just really awful…
BUT! Some of them were fantastic! And more and more people are now realizing that DSLRs can produce amazing films! All you need first is a damn good story. THAT’S IMPORTANT!
Watch my picks for some of the best and worst DSLR film trailers after the jump.
FIRMWARE UPDATE FOR CANON 7D?
Posted by Peter Marsh in Found, Technical Oct 9th, 2009 | No Comments
So the word on the street is that a firmware update has surfaced for the Canon 7D, and several owners in Europe and Japan have already installed it.
The 7D comes with firmware version 1.0.7 pre-installed which holds all the sweet options you’ve all been hearing about. The supposed update is version 1.0.9. Well, for one, that makes no sense… What happened to 1.0.8?
Also, people are saying that the only way to install the firmware update is to have your camera retailer do it for you… Really now? Why is that? If that’s the case, camera retailers are gonna start hating their lives, updating everyone’s camera for them.
Canon hasn’t released any info on this update, and there is nowhere to download the update from their site, so this looks like a hoax to me. And no info has been released either as to what the update is actually updating… Definitely something to keep your eye on. And the 7D is so new that people might just be getting over excited about how they can make it even better than it already is.
My opinion? Don’t hop on supposed “updates” unless you really know what it does and Canon authorizes it. Otherwise you’ll void your warranty and screw yourself in the long run.
CANON 5D & 7D COMPARISON VIDEOS
Posted by Peter Marsh in Found, Technical Oct 8th, 2009 | 1 Comment
These videos have been out for a while, with mixed feelings and torn decisions. I feel the ones we have here are the best summary of the subtle differences between the two cameras. The common trend that everyone has been noticing about the 7D is how well it fairs to the 5D when under 1600 ISO. Once you go higher than that on both cameras, the 5D still outshines. Yet considering the 7D is a 18mp crop sensor, that’s pretty impressive! The thing you’ll really notice in the videos is how rarely the makers can keep the same focal length on both cameras. Is it that hard to line them up? I know the 7D is a crop, so it will be magnified a bit. But really? SEE FOR YOURSELF!
LENS TALK: THE BEST FOR THE 5D AND 7D
Posted by Peter Marsh in Articles, Technical Sep 26th, 2009 | 2 Comments
If you’re as much of a film junkie as I am and spend most of your time cruising through videos on Vimeo, then you’ve noticed that almost every DSLR video out there was made using different lenses. Half the time people are using lenses that have been sitting in a drawer for years that they haven’t found a good use for until now. The other half are usually professionals with seriously expensive glass that produce a mind blowing image.
So what makes a good lens? If I’m making a film, what lenses should I have? These are good questions, but just like everything else in the world, it boils down to your creative preference. We can only tell you what will work best with your DSLR.
GREEN SCREEN AND YOUR DSLR: THEY SHOULD BE FRIENDS
Posted by Peter Marsh in Articles, Technical Sep 24th, 2009 | 2 Comments
Now here’s something I’ve been asked about many times over and it’s definitely something I’ve been interested in for a while, so I’ll do my best to give you the info…
IT ROCKS!
We all know what’s possible with a green screen, and how creative you can get with the subject matter. Such greats like 300 and Sin City showed us that it’s possible to create an entire world without leaving your basement. And such pieces of crap like Superman Returns and The Spirit make us wish it wasn’t so easy to do. But it really is! And with the larger sensor size and light sensitivity of DSLRs, it’s even easier than before.
DSLR STUFF FROM ALL OVER
Posted by Andrew Disney in Articles, Technical Sep 22nd, 2009 | 1 CommentThis morning feels like the quiet before the storm. In one week we have the super secret Sept 29th Announcement from Canon. In a couple of weeks the 7D will start shipping, making all those who waited out on the 5D mark 2 feel superior… And soon, or maybe never ever at all, RED will give us info on the Scarlett.
Canon-Throat
Canon Rumors has a story from their very own Deepthroat who is saying some interesting things.
1. The 5dM2 24p may never actually come. It seems like the rumors are true - the rolling shutter effect on the 5dM2 would be exacerbated by 24p, and even if we did get a firmware update, we’d be sorely let down.
2. The idea of raw video on a Canon DSLR is more than likely FALSE. The CF modules would never be able to feed that amount of data to a CF card.
3. The 1D Mark4 just may blow our mind - it’s super secret and there’s word of a DIGIC V processor. According to Canon-Throat
This will generate an image with almost no visible artifacts or moire. It will still be a step below RAW video but quality will be usable on production environments and on heavily detailed scenes.
Beards Rule
Yeah, so this video has been out for a while, BUT I watch it everyday. You’ve probably already seen it.
