-
Canon 5d MKII package? Or 7d?
I just sold my panasonic hpx-170. I liked the camera… ish. I just wasn’t willing to drop another $1500 on P2 cards so I could shoot longer than 15 min intervals. The workflow was going to be too expensive. I also wasn’t fond of the what-you-see-is-not-what-you-get in terms of color balance and exposure from LCD screen to imported footage on a monitor.
Ok. I’m not a traditional film maker, I’m an artist. I come from a still photo world, so when I got my hands on the 5d MK II, I was impressed. However, I have a couple of questions:
1) Is this going to be a good run and gun camera? With the constant attention to focusing? Can you crank it up to 3200/ 6400 ISO and close your lens down to say f9, 11, 16 to get a greater depth of field?
2) Lens – thinking about going with the package lens 24 – 105 IS f4. Seems sturdy and good for video.
3) Sound – this is the big issue. Not sure what to do here. Do you Go with the Beach Tek DXA-5da, the Beack Tek DXA-SLR, or a Zoom? I will be using mostly lav mics and a battery powered Audio Technics shotgun, so I am in no need of phantom power. Beach Tek DXA-5da, seems like a good fit on the camera, cant monitor sound from the camera and has no amp. Beach Tek DXA-SLR, can monitor sound from cam, however it is bigger, more bulky. Zoom, doesn’t seem as intuitive for me, and then you have to buy the synching software and spend additional time there. I realize none are perfect, but in your opinion, what is the best?
4) Lastly, kinda going back on everything, what about the Rebel T2i, Canon 7d, or is it worth really bumping myself up into the panasonic ag af-100 for the look and feel of a “proper” video camera?
Thanks very much!
-
3 Replies
-
1) No, not really. If you want speed, I suggest a Red Rock Shoulder mount. The 5D will need babying for focus, while the 7D (sensor more like academy 35) is a bit more tame.
Can you crank it up to 3200+? I wouldn’t. Clean stops are in intervals of 160, so 160, 320, 640, 1200 are cleaner than their surrounding ISOs. 1200 is as far as I would push it in a non emergency setting.
2) L lenses or primes are preferred. If not then I would test the f4. I’ve noticed many non-L lenses have a delay in adjusting their iris so as you zoom you’ll notice sudden shifts in exposure.
3) We use the Zoom h4n with Sennheiser lav mics and a few different shotguns. You can split the headphone signal with a quality splitter and feed it into the camera. You can set the camera on auto-gain and most situations will work. We also use a plugin called Plural Eyes to speed syncing in post… runs about $150.
4) Rebel T2i is a NO. It isn’t constructed in a sturdy enough manner that I would trust it with all lenses in all situations (I feel like the lens mount would break). Canon 7d I prefer for the extra DOF. If you’re working all day every day and ergonomics are important, then yes a real camera is far more worth it.
-
I went through the same process a while back, decided on the 7D because of the ability to keep things in focus and the only IS standard zoom was available in EF-S mount. A friend recently bough the 60D, if I was purchasing now I would probably go with the 60D and more lenses! Get a good rig or make one yourself. The 60D can take decent sound if you want to get a pre-amp, nice choice, though the 7D seems to be orphaned by Canon as far as useful upgrades are concerned! Like manual gain control!!! anyone listening at Canon!!!
The 5D is a great camera, you will want an AC with a followfocus working with you for any complicated shots. VistaVision sized sensor, great limited depth of field with fast primes. If this is not what you are interested in get a 1.6x crop camera, or a 2x crop camera with the Panasonic GH2 offerings.
I’m using the zoom H4 & pluraleyes; works well, only forgot to turn on the damn recorder a couple of times so far.
Malcolm
http://www.malcolmproductions.com -
Thanks very much. I went with the Canon 7d with the 24-105 IS L series lens. Heavy, but I love it for video. Super versatile. I also got the zoom and pluralize. Awesome!
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up