Once again we have a chance to see the test Canon 5D Mark III, this time in comparison with Sony FS100 and Panasonic GH2 by Andrew Reid editor of EOSHD.com. There are three shooting scenes he chose for the test located in an old ex-factory in the east of Berlin, Germany. In individual shoots the only illumination came from the pearly strip light, the iPhone torch and a reflection of petrol station lights caught in the mirror. In these extremely low-lit locations the three cameras were tested on noise in the lows, resolution, ISO 12,800 performance and handling of highlight. For the test were used three lenses of Leica R series: Leica Elmarit-R 35mm F2.8, Leica Summicron-R 50mm F2 and Leica Elmarit-R 90mm F2.8.

 Details on this project are described in the article Shootout in extreme low light. Andrew Reid adds also his observations on this topic:

“This was a test shoot for the kind of extreme lighting I’ll be exploiting for a project I’m working on at the moment called Blind Hell. So far it is has been great to exploit a cleaner (almost noise free compared to film!) image at ISOs like 1600. But when you push amazing tech like this to ISOs like 12,800 you see things which have never before been utilised in the history of film. The way light behaves at this level of sensitivity goes beyond what human vision sees. The way it reflects off surfaces, the way it dances and moves – and my aim is to exploit this new territory to the full, creatively. It is far more exciting than just getting a cleaner image with less noise.”

Source: http://www.eoshd.com/

If you are new to Avid's Media Composer DSLR workflow it is essential to look at the new good video footage prepared by Alex Walker, director of photography and editor. The presented in video method of maintenance work on all Canon DSLRs.

Alex Walker briefly describes performed in the guide steps as follows: “We start with AMA native H.264 playback, then cut offline DNxHD36 files and relink to the originals, and then wrap up with encoding for the web using Sorenson Squeeze 8.5 and x264”.

Planet5D just announced a new short narrative film which was entire shot with Canon 5D Mark III and Zeiss CP.2 lenses. The film is based on the true story that happened at night on November 12, 2011 when police were called to the house on Marmont Ave.

This is an example highlighting the features of the DSLR camera and showing that you can realize complex project with a shooting budget less than $5.000 per day. All the film was shoot in two days.

Barry Andersson from Deodand Entertainment, director and co-producer, said: “The film was designed to fit a budget that many filmmakers and still photographers can afford. My team tailored our shooting schedule, equipment and techniques to be accessible to all budget levels. My goal was to show that people can get absurdly good results with a DSLR camera with a smaller price tag than they realize.”

More technical details about this project can be found at planet5d.com.

Source: http://blog.planet5d.com/

Check out our latest motionVFX production available on vimeo! It was a great pleasure to work with Angelika Cierpucha, a rising modeling star. The session was shoot on Canon 5D Mark II with 50mm/f1.2L and 24-105mm/f4L. In post, we used Motion5, mBurns, Adobe Premiere CS5.5 and DaVinci Resolve. Enjoy the video !
 

• model: Angelika Cierpucha
• photo: Magdalena Ostrowicka
• makeup: Magdalena Dudzik
• audio: Grum - Want U

Ocean: West Away is a short DSLR movie about the search and discovery of waves. Mark Tipple, who shot the movie, decided to use two Canon's cameras - the 7D and the 5D Mark II. The water footage was shot on the 7D as this camera offers the possibility to shoot in 60p - this gives the option of slow motion which is great for shooting sports. The land footage on the other hand was shot on the 5D Mark II.
 

In general choosing the right camera for the job wasn't easy for Mark. Here are his thoughts from previous projects (via DSLR News Shooter):

"I  was somewhat of a newcomer to the Canon 5D mkII for filming. In late 2009 I was working on a shoot for a shark diving film where we were looking at HDSLRs to put in an underwater housing – helping us get physically closer to the sharks than our housed Sony EX-3 camcorders could. I ended up choosing the Canon 7D to utilize its 60P function. I had been looking at and using the 5D mkII and loved the image, but the 60P mode on the 7D outweighed this and 8fps for stills meant it was a very practical cam for underwater and sports.

(...)

Then I used the 5D mkII on a short film in the middle of last year and was surprised at the difference in quality from the 7D. After some number juggling I decided to make the switch from the 1DsII to the 5D mkII for everything above water."

For shooting in the water he used a small SPL underwater housing and Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens on the 7D shooting at 720/60p, and for shooting interviews he used both cameras. He also used the Canon 24-105mm f4L lens for the searching shots.

You can read the whole blog post here.

Source: http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com

If you live in L.A. don't miss Canon Live Learning's Professional Development Seminars & Workshops. The event will take place at The Los Angeles Film School on May 10. Canon will offer a first look at the EOS C500, the only Cinema EOS camera offering support for 4K RAW output. The successor to the C300 was designed for 4K professional production environments and it features Canon’s renowned high-sensitivity and low-noise technologies, including high ISO settings of up to 20,000.

The event will begin with a 4K screening of Man and Beast, a short film shot with the EOS C500 by Director Dante Ariola, DP Jeff Cronenweth and 2nd Unit DP Peter Simonite. If you will have any questions you will be pleased to know that Peter will be on hand to share his behind the scene insights and an operator’s perspective on shooting with the EOS C500.

Man and Beast was processed and colored by postproduction house Fotokem and here's another good information - after the screening, representatives will unfold the post process from beginning to end. The evening will conclude with a Canon representative providing a brief introduction on the EOS C500, followed by an open Q&A.

Of course EOS C500 cameras will be available for demonstration by Canon Professional Market Specialists at this event. If you want to attend make sure to visit this site.

Source: http://www.learn.usa.canon.com

We all love comparisons and here's another one. This time you can compare the picture quality of three great, but much different cameras - the Canon 5D Mark III, the Canon EOS C300 and the Red Scarlet. What's cool is that the footage was shot during a nighttime bike race, so the video is quite informative in matter of quality.
 

"A three camera comparison in a real world situation to see how they cut together. Not intended to be a particularly scientific test, the lighting situations were such that the Canon cameras floated as high as 6400iso. The Scarlet was either 800 or 1000iso. There were a number of situations where the Scarlet simply could not see what the Canons did. Only usable Scarlet footage was included in this, as again, this was to assess if general audiences would notice major major differences."

Source: http://nofilmschool.com

The Canon EOS C300 can save a commercial spot with a little hep of the iPhone! Jonathan Yi posted on Vimeo an amazing video that is showing how great the C300 is while shooting 16,000 ISO! Just check it out below, it's mindblowing!

Jonathan Yi, who also directed this spot, wrote:

"The product shot at the end was shot in COMPLETE DARKNESS. We lit it with a single iPhone and shot the C300 at 16,000 ISO. We replaced the night sky as well in Flame.

We were shooting the product with a Red Scarlet but we ran out of light so we switched to the C300 and crossed our fingers. I can't believe the shot even came out. I couldn't even see the buttons on the camera it was so dark."

Do you want to see the final complete spot? Here it is:
 

It's also worth noting that color grading was done in DaVinci Resolve.

Source: http://vimeo.com

This video is hypnotizing. It features footage captured by the Phantom Flex video camera which offers high-speed image recording. The camera can shoot at resolutions up to 2560x1600 pixels at anywhere from 10 frames-per-second up to 1,455 frames-per-second and of course the maximum speed increases as the resolution decreases – up to 2,570 fps at 1920x1080! Here's a footage recorded at this crazy rate:
 

Remember not to try any of this at home ;).

Source: http://filmmakeriq.com

This is a really nice initiative! HD Magazine published two 100% free issues on NAB 2012. Below are the covers and the list of topics as well as the download links. Definitely something worth your time and reading!

• ISSUE 1

Topics covered in this issue:

• Blackmagic Design 2.5K RAW Camera
• AJA 4K Recorder
• PIX 260 Recorder
• Canon 1D-C Camera
• Canon C500 Camera
• Sony FS700 Camera
• Filmlight Flip DoP Station
• Convergent Gemini RAW
• JVC GY-HM650 Camera

To read this issue, click here.

• ISSUE 2

Topics covered in this issue:

• Red Dragon Sensor
• Arri Plus 4:3 Camera
• Teranex Replaces Multibridge
• GoPro Pro Tune
• LightWorks Finally Launches
• Fujinon's Detachable Zoom Drive
• Review: Pluraleyes for Avid
• Review: Tiffen DFX

To read this issue, click here.

Source: http://www.definitionmagazine.com