Frame Size for video: 5D or 7D?

[Anthony Bari jr.]

The 7D has a little more noise/grain in low light and has a slight yellowish tint compared to the 5D MKII
When you use them side by side you will appear zoomed and cropped on the 7D.
Both great cameras just know that Full Frame has a crazy DOF, and is harder to KEEP in focus.

I hope that helps.

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[Clyde Villegas]

Thanks, Anthony.

If using the same lens and the 5D shows shallower depth of field, this could mean that the 5D utilizes a larger sensor area for video compared to the 7D. Am I correct in saying this?

ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus

[John Young]

(clyde villegas)When using the 5D for video, I’ve read somewhere that the full 35mm surface of the camera’s sensor is not really utilized but just a portion of it.(clyde villegas)

I think we need to get our terminology straight. The “frame size” is the same for the 7D and 5D. Both record a frame up to 1920 pixels wide x 1080 pixels tall.

I’m not sure what you mean by “utilized”.

Both cameras’ sensors have many more megapixels than needed for a 1920×1080 video image. Both cameras have a compression process that skips lines to get those 18 some odd megapixels down to a 1920 pixels x1080 pixels video image.

The difference is the 5D has a bigger sensor, so it is able to get shallower depth of field and better low light capabilities on that sensor that is them compressed down to 1920×1080.

(After all that talk on correct terminology, I am pretty sure that “compressed” is not the correct terminology, but I can’t think of the right term. downsampled? I am usually one to just search for answers on the forum or just soak up information. Posting answers is fun, though, hope I got the info right.)

http://www.johnathanyoung.com

[Clyde Villegas]

Sorry John. This is what I meant by “utilized”…

The 5D has a full frame sensor but only a portion of it, which is 1920×1080, is being used for the video image. Now my question is, depending on the actual size of each pixel in 5D and 7D, is the 1920×1080 pixels in 5D bigger than the 1920×1080 pixels of the 7D? If this is the case, then the 5D will have shallower depth of field using the same lens.

ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus

[John Young]

If your question is does the 5D have shallower depth of field than the 7D, the answer is absolutely yes it does. As Anthony mentioned, sometime too shallow a depth of field. But I think it is safe to say that most people love it.

http://www.johnathanyoung.com

[Rafael Amador]

[clyde villegas] “The 5D has a full frame sensor but only a portion of it, which is 1920×1080, is being used for the video image”
So why do you want such big CMOS if you only need the central 1920 x 1080?
Professional HD Video camera uses 3 CMOS (1920×1080).
DSLRs cameras does the same with a single CMOS, but they need a bigger one to get the three color channels.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Malcolm Matusky]

The Panasonic gh1~2 does have a “crop” mode that uses a smaller part of the sensor to achieve 1920×1080 pixels, similar in size to Super016 format? there abouts. The 7D uses 100% of the area of the sensor and then dumps data to get 1920×1080 and so does the 5D full frame, all of the sensor is used, that is why it has a very shallow depth of field at any given Fstop compared to the 7D or any video camera. Data is dumped, not area.

M

Malcolm

[Clyde Villegas]

Thanks, Malcolm. I didn’ know that.

If the Panasonic uses a small part of the sensor, and the Canon uses the whole sensor but dumps data, does that mean the Canon will exhibit more moire, artifacts, and stairstepping? When you said “dumps data” does that mean dumping every other horizontal lines?

ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus

[Malcolm Matusky]

The Panasonic GH2, I have read, has a 1:1 mode that reduces the scanned area to approximately the size of a super16mm frame, this would be more likely not to exhibit moire etc. The Pan af-100/GH2 use a Micro 4/3 size sensor, the Gh2 will have to dump data when it’s used at full area, but the af-100 is optimized for video so it may exhibit the best image of them all. Berger is coming out with a Canon EF to M43 adapter which enables the lens to auto focus, iris control, and Image Stabilization. This will make the af-100 a very useful camera as the Canon glass is f2.8 while the m43 glass is generally slower and not a constant aperture.

Malcolm

[Clyde Villegas]

How about the 60D, does it use 100% of the area of the sensor just like the 7D and 5D? Thanks and God bless.

ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus