7D or 5D Mk II; and which lens?

[Norman Willis]

I called my dad. He knows nothing about cameras, but he suggested that since I know I will want to take the camera outdoors at some point, but since I am not sure I will want to do silver screen, that I should “get the camera you can take outside without worrying about it.”

So probably I should get the 7D, the 18-135mm kit lens for an everyday walkabout lens, and also the 16-35mm L series lens for the studio work?

[Norman Willis]

OK, actually it looks like the 7D, the kit 28-135mm EF lens, and the 16-35mm L series lens for work in the studio. That should hold me for Home Theater, and I can also take it outdoors with the 28-135mm.

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org

[Bill Vincent]

I have used both the 5D and 7D for video extensively – and I will tell you that I favor the 5D due to the larger sensor and a general sharpness I like more on the 5D. I’ve used the 24-105 lens on both cams, and a 28-55mm and a 50mm prime.

All I can say is that with the 7D I never had a goosebump moment – where I pull the footage up on my HDTV and just am overwhelmed with how good the footage looks right out of the cam. With the 5D I have felt this many times. I really think the larger sensor makes all the difference, but the 7D does have more controllable DOF – so it depends also on how important deeper DOF is for you (and slow motion capability).

I was in a unique situation where I bought a 5D and less than a month later the 7D came out. I thought I’d save money by getting the 7D instead, so I took the 5D back. BIG mistake. I missed it almost immediately. Due to unforseen circumstances and a friend losing my 7D, I was able to replace it with a 5D again. I’m much happier now.

[Norman Willis]

Hi Bill.

>>All I can say is that with the 7D I never had a goosebump moment – where I pull the footage up on my HDTV and just am overwhelmed with how good the footage looks right out of the cam. With the 5D I have felt this many times. I really think the larger sensor makes all the difference

That speaks volumes. Thanks.

I think we need the 16-35mm L series for in studio (on tripod), but may I please ask your opinion of the 24-105mm?

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org

[Maurice Jansen]

hi norman

i hope you did consider some practical issue’s with both camera’s.

remember your record time is limited.
next to that you can get severe aliasing when used on non organic stuff.
focus pulling is hard/different then with “normal” video camera’s.
not even talking about zooming.
although magic lantern can help here.
seeing focus is difficult on the inbuild LCD. so a external monitor is needed. magic lantern edge detect again can help you here.
i hope you in NTSC land because HDMI 25FPS is still not supported.
audio is very limited.

don’t get me wrong.
i own one and i love it(although bought for photography)
the camera can give extreme good results but you must know where to use it and how.

for your field of view i would say.
visit. https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm

i have my doubts for a studio enviroment. (depends on the kind of program you shoot)

please tell us more

greet
Maurice

People saying they don’t make mistake’s often make nothing at all!

[Norman Willis]

Hi Maurice.

Thank you for the advice.

>>i have my doubts for a studio enviroment. (depends on the kind of program you shoot) please tell us more

I am hoping to shoot Infinite White.

https://vimeo.com/789519

Here is a picture of my screen. It is actually white polyester fleece.

Here is a picture of one of my two studio lights, along with one of my two key lights.

In the video they mention extra lights on the feet. I am not 100% sure what I am going to do for that yet. He mentions using clamp lights, so I got them, but the bulb sticks out of the front of the light, which spills unwanted light on the subject (me). I will try to mask it with simple aluminum foil, but it would be nice to make something long term out of white foam core, or something.

My studio space is my living room, so I only have 16 feet total space from focal plane to screen. I plan to raise the camera up to about eye level, and then angle down.

I was able to obtain a Canon T2i to test with, with the 18-55mm stock lens. Zoomed all the way out, I still have to stand about 9 feet from the camera to get a whole body shot, but that puts me into the side-spill of the screen lights (which is no good).

Since the T2i and the 7D are both reduced frame lenses, I thought my best bet would be to get the 5D with the 16-35mm L series lens. That should allow me to stand about 7 feet from the lens, which will clear the spray from the screen lights. That will just about finish my budget, but I secretly wanted the full frame sensor and the L series glass anyway 🙂

I plan to install the new 29.97 firmware upgrade, as well as Magic Lantern and the JuicedLink DN101 on my JuicedLink CX431 (to defeat AGC). The DN101 is less expensive than a Zoom H4N, and if I use the DN101, my editors should not have to synch audio in post.

The basic plan is for a half hour show with a Total Run Time of 28:30. I am planning three main ‘movements’ of nine minutes each, and then maybe a thirty second intro, a fifteen second outro, and a 15 second spot.

I rehearse my presentation when I write it, and then it usually only takes me two or three takes for each nine minute shot in order to get it right. Then I would hand off the footage to my editors.

I will say the test footage took a long time to upload via ftp.

I also have a green screen, if I ever wanted to go that route. The advantage of the white screen is that with a white background, the halo is white; so when presenting in ‘infinite white’ it can save a lot of time in post, because the correction does not have to be perfect.

Do you think the 5D will work with that?

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org

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[Norman Willis]

Basically I just plan to stand in one spot, focus on me, and then gesture to the right or the left, but not move much.

Later, if I ever do interviews, it will probably also be static focus.

Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org

[Norman Willis]

Also, what is the 24-105mm lens like?

Thanks.

[Norman Willis]

I forgot to add that I am planning to use an HDTV via HDMI-mini to HDMI hookup to frame my shots.

[Josh Buchanan]

Hi Norma

I would recommend the Zoom H4n, because the 4 channel recording, if you have more than one person in the frame that you are interview you can have the two mics on the Zoom for a front ambient sound mic, and have two lavalier mics on the people, or some thing like that.

And for lenses, Sigma makes some fairy cheap lenses, they have a 10-20mm wide angel, and if you have the 7D, it will be a 16mm or 32mm. So that could work, and you can always check out Ebay for a deal. I’ve some good ones on there.

Josh