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Canon EOS 5D Mark II…Has the future arrived?
For those of you that haven’t been following the news in the DSLR world, Canon just announced the new EOS 5D Mark II, which captures beautiful 1080P video using a 21MP sensor. Check out a sample video:
https://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086
As the shockwaves from this announcement ripple out through the still camera world, the implications of these new products should be hitting the R&D departments at Sony, Panasonic and RED like a F5(D) hurricane. Suddenly, everything in our industry has changed. Will they get it?
Although these are just the first baby steps into high-end video quality by companies like Canon (I know, but their present video line doesn’t really count as high-end) the implications for the future are clear. The days of 2/3” sensors and B4 lenses are over.
If I were Panasonic, I’d do this: I’d change the announced Varicam line and be first to market with an affordable camera utilizing a chip similar to the 5D. Maybe call it the Varicam Pro. It would be housed in an industry-standard shoulder mount body. I would make it available with the lens mount of your choice…be it P-mount, Nikon or Canon. Add variable frame rates. And for good measure, I’d drop the outdated P2 recording format and give it a big ‘ol slot to slide a SATA disk in.Face it…most of us here shoot for broadcast, and 4K is overkill. The RED workflow is ponderous and the camera is ungainly. This new camera would be aimed squarely at the sweet spot in our industry. People that shoot everyday projects: spots, promos and docs.
The Canon 5D Mark II only shows what is possible at an amazing price point. It’s a proof of concept. Now it’s up to camera manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic to take that concept and make it into something that works in the real world. Are they up to the challenge? We’ll see soon enough. The race is on.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
2 Replies
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The future has indeed arrived. Nikon’s new one also shoots HD.
What frame rates does this camera offer?
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I see it does only 30 fps. Too bad for those of us in PAL land.
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