-
Shooting long reality with a 5d mark ii and 5d mark iii. Is this problematic?
Hello,
I have a shoot next weekend that will be some long verite scenes and the producers have chosen (due to a bare bones budget) to make due with the cameras we have; those being a mark ii and a mark iii which will be cross covering.
I’m trying to help anticipate problems with this setup and I was hoping for some input from others who have had to work this way or something similar.
Will issues arise from:
– camera and picture styles matching
– different compression methods
– sound sync due to fat32 limitations (slating is impossible, so stuck with manual sync/pluraleyes?)
– Record time limitations? Do people have experience or links to recommended roll times before bad things start to happen with either camera? I can’t find authoritative sourcesThank you for any ideas!
dan -
2 Replies
-
Hi Dan – Sadly, the 5D Mark II stops recording and has to be restarted after approximately 12 minutes. Here is a quote from the Canon website: “The EOS 5D Mark II will record movies up to a maximum file size of 4GB. Depending on the level of detail in the scene, 4GB files equate to approximately 12 minutes of continuous video at full HD resolution”.
The 5D Mark III is a little better. It stops recording at about 30 minutes. Here is a quote from the Canon website: “No more 12-minute recording limit: The EOS 5D Mark III now instantly creates a new file on the memory card any time the size of a preceding file reaches 4GB. Without losing a moment, recording continues on the new file. Thus, continuous video recording is possible up to 29 minutes 59 seconds”.
Hopefully, you can time your cross-coverage between the two cameras to prevent any gaps.
Alternatively, you can rent or buy a camcorder or Panasonic mirrorless camera like the GH4 that records at higher resolution than Canon DSLRs and does so for hours continuously.
Hope this is helpful!
-
The only problems I would anticipate are inexperienced shooters allowing the cameras to record “long clips” until the camera itself stops the recording due to the built-in limits. I’ve heard of several instances reported on this site where the resulting clips couldn’t be opened because the files didn’t close cleanly.
I would encourage both camera operators to record no longer than 10 minute individual clips just to be on the safe side.
I see no issues with sound sync or color matching as long as both cameras are set up using the same picture profiles, white balance and so on and even that could be worked around – I guess ISO could vary based upon what part of “the scene” each camera operator is focusing on.
Verite or not, you will still end up doing multiple takes and getting separate establishing, medium, closeup and over-the-shoulder shots, yes? Watch out for “crossing the line” problems if cameras are trying to film the same action from both “sides” of the line.
Steve Crow
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up