Micah Mcdowell
Forum Replies Created
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I assume you’re referring to the Canon 5D mkII and Sony HVR-Z1? If not, ignore the rest of this post.
The Canon is an SLR still camera which happens to produce great video, while the Z1 is an early HDV prosumer video camera.
The Z1 has 3 1/3″ interlaced CCD imagers, while the Canon has a large 35mm film-sized progressive CMOS chip. This means that the Canon can give an image with a progressive frame rate and narrow depth-of-field that is very filmlike, while the Z1 will be very video-ish.
The Z1 records to HDV tape, while the 5D records to h.264 files on SD cards. HDV is relatively easy to edit, but the 5D has less compression with a more efficient codec. Both are not exactly ideal.
The Z1 has XLR audio capability, while the 5D requires adapters.
The Canon can only record a 12 minute long take at a time, while the Sony can record longer takes up to the length of the tape.
Very, very different cameras for different uses. What do you need it for?
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Well, since the 60D has manual audio gain controls, that would imply that they aren’t automatic gain controls. The two are mutually exclusive.
Personally, I’ve got a T2i and love it (I’m using the Magic Lantern firmware hack to disable AGC on it, but I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone since it’s rather hard to set up). However, the 60D seems to have all of the features of the T2i, plus a few more, with Canon firmware that requires no fiddling, for not a ton more money. It’d be my choice.
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First of all, what’s your maximum budget? Big and expensive mean different things to different people.
Secondly, what type of filming do you plan to use the camera for? Documentary? Low budget film-making? Youtube video blog?
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Much better… thanks!
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It will most definitely “fit” with an adapter, but you will have focus issues.
The flange focus distance (distance from the mount’s flange to the film/sensor) is much greater on a Canon than it is on a Leica M. This will make infinity focusing impossible; you will only be able to focus on very very close objects if at all. Unless you’re doing macro photography exclusively, that lens will not be ideal for your Canon.
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The biggest distinction I’ve seen between cheaper monitors and higher end models like the Apples is the LCD panel type; for graphics, you want an IPS panel.
Some of the Dells are IPS, and some are not. One I’ve heard highly regarded is the Dell U2410. The higher-end HP displays are great too; I’m running older HP 2335 screens but the HP LP2475W is supposed to be excellent.
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I think that 4% different timing will be unnoticeable as far as pacing is concerned. It’s really a very, very slight difference. Assuming the audio is pitch-corrected as you say, I don’t think you could tell.
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Yes, this is a common trick to get more resolution for chromakey use. Go for it!
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The filter size is dependent on the filter thread size of whatever lens you are using. Your Sigma lens has 62mm filter threads.
If you use multiple lenses with different filter thread sizes, you either must buy different filters for each lens or use step-up/step-down rings. The rings sometimes aren’t ideal since smaller filters will vignette on larger lenses, and larger ones will block flashes/lens hoods on smaller lenses. Depends on your needs.
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It was a bit tricky to set up; it’s installed on my memory cards and automatically boots from there when the camera is powered on (takes about an extra second). If you insert a card without it installed, it doesn’t load. I had to use some arcane Mac Terminal commands to make my 16gb cards bootable, but it works like a charm now. Only the newest build of the autoexec.bin file seems to disable the AGC; you may have to do some digging in the Magic Lantern developer group site to find it.
The audio quality is surprisingly good all things considered. I don’t know how (or if) you can change the gain levels on the camera yet, so I monitor via headphones/onscreen VU meters and tweak the gain on my Sennheiser wireless pack or external mixer. It’s been dead reliable too.
Despite all this, I wouldn’t recommend trying it to anyone that isn’t technically inclined. It totally transforms the camera’s usefulness but I’m pretty sure it throws the Canon warranty out the window.