Dispelling the myths – optimising performance – never read another endless forum post again!

Payment via PayPal, just $19.99 (usual price $29.99)

My third book launches today. It is available to download immediately and for the first week you can get 33% off the usual price making it just $19.99.

It is an enormous 12 chapters and 106 pages.

The 5D Mark III raw recording capability has completely changed the way I shoot, the camera I shoot on and the software used in my workflow. The 5D Mark III has come back like a phoenix from the flames with the latest Magic Lantern firmware – they are saviours!

In the book I aim to make it easy to get up to speed and shooting raw on the 5D Mark III immediately within minutes, before delving deep into what you can actually do with it.

I think even if you don’t yet own a 5D Mark III and are wondering what all the fuss is about the book is very helpful as it allows you to make a better informed choice of whether raw is for you and whether you should sell your current camera.

If you have noticed a lack of blog posts recently on EOSHD this book is why! I have poured my blood, sweat and tears into it.

By the way – the mystery rig shown in the book will be revealed later this week.

You can take a peek inside the book and read more about what it offers on the main Shooter’s Guide page here

The full contents listing of the book is below.

Chapter 1 – Introduction

An introduction to the world of raw recording with Magic Lantern and the 5D Mark III.

Welcome to the book
New 5D Mark III specifications with raw enabled
Magic Lantern: liberators
Advantages of raw
Types of filmmaking suited to raw
Understanding raw

Chapter 2 – Enabling Raw Video

Practical advice so you can begin shooting raw video on the 5D Mark III immediately.

Preparing your 5D Mark III
Preparing your Compact Flash card for raw recording
Installing Magic Lantern – Step 1
Installing Magic Lantern – Step 2
Installing Magic Lantern – Step 3
Activating the raw recording module

Chapter 3 – Recording Raw Video

A guide to making use of raw video and exploiting the full extent of the feature.

Changing resolutions and frame rates
Aspect ratios
Higher resolutions than 1080p (2k to 3.5k)
What are the maximum continuous recording times?
Understanding data rates
What is crop mode?
Playback and file manager

Chapter 4 – Recommended settings

This chapter contains my most frequently used reliable and interesting settings for shooting raw video on the 5D Mark III.

Introduction
Recommended settings
Optimizing performance
Slow-motion 48p / 50p / 60p
1:1 crop mode
Anamorphic aspect ratios
Movie tweaks menu

Chapter 5 – Recommended software and editing codecs

Canon raw video files usually require converting to an editable raw format. Here’s an introduction to which formats you can use to edit raw.

Summary of software requirements
List of recommended software
Standard DNG uncompressed raw
Cinema DNG uncompressed raw
CineForm compressed raw
Compatibility with editing software

Chapter 6 – CineForm raw workflow

CineForm saves huge amounts of storage space but maintains the advantages of a raw workflow. This chapter deals with how to use it.

Introduction / advantages
System and software requirements
Converting to CineForm

Chapter 7 – Uncompressed Cinema DNG raw workflow

For maximum image quality you can edit uncompressed raw in DaVinci Resolve and other applications (such as Adobe After Effects) which support Cinema DNG (but not Adobe Premiere).

Introduction / advantages
System and software requirements
Converting to Cinema DNG on a Mac
Converting to Cinema DNG on a PC
Getting started with Cinema DNG in DaVinci Resolve

Chapter 8 – ProRes / Ginger / After Effects

For alternative ways of processing your raw footage – conversion to ProRes does not allow grading of raw on-the-fly but maintains a high level of image quality and a codec which is compatible with almost any editing software. Ginger allows direct editing of 5D Mark III raw clips in Premiere via a plugin but it is in the early stages of development.

Convert to ProRes in After Effects
Ginger for native raw clip editing in Premiere and After Effects

Chapter 9 – Kodak, Fuji and Alexa film looks for Resolve

LUTs are common film industry tools for giving raw footage a certain look and feel. Along with a selection of carefully crafted cinematic looks, this chapter deals with how to use them in DaVinci Resolve.

What is a LUT?
Recommended software and format requirements
Kodak & Fuji film looks
Rec.709 to Canon LOG
Alexa film look
Applying a LUT in Resolve

Chapter 10 – Suitable Compact Flash cards

Raw recording on the 5D Mark III is extremely demanding on Compact Flash card performance and capacities. In this buyer’s guide I look at which ones work, and which don’t.

Benchmarking your card
Card buyer’s guide

Chapter 11 – Raw shooting advice by Andrew Reid

With raw shooting the DSLR video rulebook has changed. Here I look at shooting techniques and how to shoot better looking raw footage.

Be economical with your footage and ‘edit in camera’ like John Ford
Prioritize shadow or highlight areas
Avoid too much highlight recovery in post
Ignore the native ISO
Shoot at these ISOs for best results…
Experiment with crop-mode framing before selecting another lens
Don’t be shy about investing in Compact Flash cards and spare batteries
Stop down the lens when necessary
Try to avoid shooting handheld without a rig, avoid a complex rig

Chapter 12 – Cinematography advice by Andrew Reid

Drama in simplicity
Rule of thirds
Composition
Natural light
Tips from the Tree of Life cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC
Dead space
Color
Focus and depth of field
Location – not just a backdrop

Appendix A – EOSHD articles and sample videos
Appendix B – Technical glossary
Appendix C – Troubleshooting and FAQ
Appendix D – Disclaimers

The post The EOSHD 5D Mark III Raw Shooter’s Guide – available now! appeared first on EOSHD.com.

JVC have launched a “large sensor 4K” camera with Nikon mount.

We saw a prototype of this camera a long time ago, reported here on EOSHD one and half years ago, the form factor and specs of the final model are remarkably similar to the prototype.

What’s wrong with it? This calls for a list:

The name – JY-HMQ30. Rolls off the tongue doesn’t it? My advice to JVC – “Alexa”, “Miro”, “5D”. Keep it short and memorable like a brand.

The price – $18,000. That prices the camera above the popular Canon C300. It is also outgunned on specs by the Sony FS700 and F5 with XAVC 4K recorder.

The Nikon mount – of all the mounts they could have chosen, the Nikon mount is the most locked-in to one lens range. It rules out Canon and PL glass, and pretty much everything else.

The sensor – the size of 1.25 inch is no-man’s land territory for lenses. Smaller than Micro Four Thirds but larger than Super 16mm, it conforms to no common video standard at all. It’s also completely unsuited to the photographic Nikon full frame lenses JVC requires you to mount on it. It isn’t suited to DX glass either.

The recording format – I really hope quad-1080p does not get off the ground. It is obsolete and records 1080p quadrants to no less than FOUR slow SD cards. The quadrants then have to be stitched together in post to form the 4K image. The combined data rate is 144MB/s, handled easily by any cheap SSD and also Sony’s SxS ExpressCard 800MB/s magazines but not by a single SD or compact flash card.

The outputs – At $18k you’d expect HD-SDI. Nope. OK a single current spec HDMI which allows for 4K over a single connection? Nope. Yes the JVC uses the quad-1080p standard for it’s HDMI. If one HDMI cable isn’t bad enough, JVC wants you to plug in 4! I have a hard time doing that tidily with my TV let alone a camera. There’s likely to be zero support for this on new displays, field monitors and external recorders either, and nor should there be.

No ND filter – Despite having a relatively small sensor and ample room to fit a filter wheel, JVC didn’t seem to consider it essential. Exposure? Who needs that!?

The camera has the form factor a VHS recorder from the 90′s. Apple can fit a 12 core desktop computer in a cookie jar but JVC can’t fit quad 1080p in a C300 form factor?

The release – JVC, perhaps sensibly, are not releasing the camera on a wide international basis, but taking limited orders directly within Japan. They could have saved a lot of money and not developed this camera at all.

Conclusion

In my opinion it is hard not to conceive of a more ill-suited product design than this, from the sensor to the recording format and the form factor it seems 4 years behind the ball. If corporate giants like JVC want to compete they have to move faster. I have a feeling that at the time this spec was devised, JVC thought quad-1080p would be the stepping stone everyone needed to get from 1080p to 4K in a practical way, but instead it is a practical nightmare. The electronics to record 4K to SSD cards are cheap and commonplace in 2013, but seemingly JVC came up with a blueprint several years ago and developed it at a super cautious pace. This culture needs to change.

It would be great to see JVC put the full resources of the company behind a interchangeable lens video camera.

Here’s my advice -

• Commission Aptina, CMOSIS or other third party sensor manufacturer to produce a Super 35mm 4K sensor. They already have off-the-shelf ones. 1.25″ is just pointless for interchangeable lenses.
• Put an interchangeable mount on the camera or license the E-mount from Sony. If that isn’t cost effective, use the Canon EF mount (as Blackmagic have done).
• Use an SSD drive SATA interface and HD-SDI with 4K recording support on both.
• Make the form factor smaller and more modular, similar to the Red Epic or Canon C300.
• Target it at filmmakers and production – I have a feeling JVC targeted this camera at the pro-camcorder crowd who would prefer a zoom lens, AF and smaller sensor. Interchangeable lenses and 4K don’t make sense for everyone.
• Stop using model numbers and start using brands
• Get real on price. Electronics are cheap to produce. Consumer DSLRs can output 14bit raw from a full frame sensor. For $4000 we can have 4K, Super 35mm and a global shutter on one Blackmagic Production Camera. This is reality in 2013 regards specs vs price

Good luck JVC!

The post JVC launch a 4K camera with Nikon mount which gets almost everything wrong appeared first on EOSHD.com.

Steven Spielberg has revealed the Oscar winning blockbuster Lincoln barely made it into distribution.

“[It was] this close – ask HBO”

Spielberg was speaking at the University of Southern California Film School. The problem he says is that studios aren’t taking any chances on ‘fringe’ subjects and scripts, preferring established franchises and superhero schlock directed by wannabes. If Spielberg can’t get his artistic film into cinemas, it bodes very badly for the artistic DNA of cinema and the viability of the business which for so long has fed of ideas and talent. Have the money-men finally killed it?

Is this the end of intelligent mainstream cinema?

I really think so. The future for any talented filmmaker is the internet and television. That’s where the creativity is going to be, where new talent breaks first. You’re not going to see a debut feature however Oscar worthy at the cinema until it is a proven mega hit franchise with millions of YouTube views.

The major studios have been taken over by number crunching zombies, who would sooner commission a Grumpy Cat script than a Spielberg film.

Spielberg and Lucas struggle

Says struggling filmmaker Spielberg -

“That’s the big danger, and there’s eventually going to be an implosion — or a big meltdown. There’s going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen mega-budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that’s going to change the paradigm”

Creativity is risky, new ideas are risky – pair them with the huge budgets Spielberg commands to and you have the studios quaking in their pants. Spielberg isn’t the only one to lament his fall as a multi-million dollar art house filmmaker. So does George Lucas.

Lucas says his World War II blockbuster Red Tails had an incredibly hard time getting into theatres and wasn’t able to get a international release. “[the] pathway to get into theaters is really getting smaller and smaller” he explained.

It’s no parody

If all this sounds like satire, unfortunately it isn’t. The studio system is simply a machine which works in cold hard numbers and calculates the maximum potential reach of a crowd pleaser. That’s why there’s hardly any film in the cinemas today that isn’t rated PG and aimed at the widest possible audience. Machines don’t run off the same stuff we do – humanities like art – they run off numbers, but like all machines they eventually stop working. I predict that a rapid decline in the cinema business.

There’s only so many Star Trek sequels people are willing to put up with. Mainstream cinema today already has a very casual audience, to whom the quality of the film is secondary to temporary relief from boredom. Casual consumers are fickle – as soon as something else takes their attention none of these people are going to flock to cinemas for the usual reason that they’re bored and have nothing else to do.

Long term businesses survive not off numbers, but from the passion and loyalty they inspire from customers. It is time the myopic big studio bosses realised this and stopped driving mainstream cinema into the ground.

Independent cinemas a niche way forward

When mainstream cinema does finally turn into dust thanks to the concerted effort of philistine bean counters everywhere, Michael Moore who helps run the State Theatre of Traverse City in Michigan points to a way forward. His theatre inspires exactly the kind of passion and loyalty a cinema needs rather than pandering to the fickle consumer and trying to extract as much money as possible from as wide an audience as possible.

On his blog he says the MPAA who represent the big studios recently ranked it number 1, which is ironic considering how the MPAA members are doing their best to kill it.

The theatre runs on some basic principals completely lacking at mainstream ones -

Says Moore -

1. We only show really good movies. Nothing that aspires to the mediocre is shown at the State.

2. We reject the need to make a profit and, by doing so, we’ve been in the black since day one.

3. We don’t rip people off. You can see a first-run movie for $8 and $6 (kids are less). Late night on the weekend is 2 for $5. No $10 popcorn at our place! Popcorn is as low as $2, soda $2 and candy as low as $1. We believe everyone should be able to afford to go to the movies.

4. This is the community’s theater. Like in a co-op, everyone pitches in as a volunteer. Volunteers pop the corn, take the tickets and run the box office… Everybody gets free movies tickets for this – and the knowledge that they are the true “owners” of this theatre. The paid positions, like the theater managers and our professional projectionists, are paid a good livable wage with full health benefits.

5. This theater has perhaps the best projection and sound in the country. We show movies the way they were meant to be seen (and on a huge 50-foot screen). We have the most comfortable theater seats that you’ll ever sit in (made in Michigan, like many things in the theater). There’s a theater organ that rises out of the stage. A red velvet curtain ascends at the beginning of every movie, and the ceiling above you has 3,000 tiny lights that make up the constellations as they actually appear in the night sky over Traverse City in the fall.

6. Other than our coming attractions, we will never show a commercial before any of our films. You came here to see a movie, not watch TV.

7. Our cell phone policy is simple: If we catch you talking on the phone, texting or checking your mail, you will be banned from the theater for life. Zero tolerance for those who are there to annoy the people who are there to watch a movie in peace.

—

If this sounds like an experience worth paying for, it is, and no surprise the theatre is a roaring success relative to the dire experience of suffering a modern multiplex.

But I do think such a business is going to be a small niche and quite rare.

I think TV and the internet are going to be the main distribution channels for filmmakers rather than cinemas and that’s a big paradigm shift.

The problem is, TVs and laptops don’t give a very cinematic experience. The price filmmakers will pay for getting people to watch their stuff, is the small screen – and for now we’ll just have to accept it until we find a way to save the cinema experience from idiots.

The post Spielberg reveals Lincoln struggled to get cinema distribution, says filmmaking “heading for implosion” appeared first on EOSHD.com.

There’s a new modular raw cinema camera. This one isn’t built by a camera company, or even a team. Created over the last 6 months in Flensburg in Northern Germany single-handedly by Roald Christessen, the camera features a global shutter and raw video.

Here’s an exclusive Q&A with Roald and more about the camera technology…

Roald has been working on the camera since January 2013 and on the transcoding and grading software for just over a year. He’s been keeping me up-to-date with the progress of both over the months since he started.

The camera has a global shutter CCD sensor, which is the same Trusense (ex-Kodak) sensor used in the Ikonoskop. It gives a lovely cinematic image and very filmic colour with no rolling shutter skew. To see what I mean read my two-part shoot with the Ikonoskop here and watch the shootout footage vs the Blackmagic Cinema Camera below.

The 16mm camera unit and minimal recording system based on a MacBook Pro will cost 3800 euros.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s some sample material recorded by Roald with his camera -

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s his Cinema DNG grading tool in action (note this is a very early pre-release version) - 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Q & A with Roald Christessen

EOSHD: Does the camera yet have a name?

Roald: The camera is provisionally named GRAIN M1 – “M stands for the modularity and the 1 for model one of the camera.” (Note this may be subject to change)

EOSHD: What is advantage of the CPU in full package, specifically, apart from removing need for laptop?

Roald: The CPU will be a module in the camera and it can be upgraded or switched. The camera will be easy to configure with a keyboard and mouse connected. [With the CPU] you can apply looks and LUTs on the set. It can render ProRes files, when camera is idle. Flexible guide lines, overlays, scopes etc. will help to get the right image. It can show images from existing clips in the running viewfinder, so that the operator can get the same exposure / colours… Clips can be deleted or trimmed, so unnecessary frames can be deleted from the clip to save space on the SSD. New functions will be easy to implement. The complete transcoding / grading software is planned to run in the camera.

EOSHD: How is audio handled?

Roald: Audio is recorded in 44.1, 48 or 96 KHz, 16 or 24 bit, mono or stereo. The complete system will integrate an audio interface of good quality and will have 2 XLR connections with 48 V phantom power.

EOSHD: What is the native ISO?

Roald: I have estimated the color version to ISO 200.

EOSHD: How long were you working on the camera and software for?

Roald: The Cinema DNG transcoding/grading software was started in March 2012. The camera module project was started in January 2013.

EOSHD: Does it record to DNG directly or is there a transcoding step from raw to DNG afterwards?

Roald: Cinema DNG files are written directly to SSD with an external AIFF audio file and a textfile containing extra informations about the clip. There will be one internal SSD and a slot for an extra SSD.

EOSHD: Is monitoring via HD-SDI on the camera?

Roald: The camera has a HDMI output for monitoring. I will try to build in an HD-SDI, but i cannot guarantee it for the first version.

Here are some of the key specs for the camera -

• Truesense KAI-02150 sensor
• 1920 x 800 resolution
• A kit available with Fujinon 12.5 – 75mm F1.2 lens
• Custom software for Cinema DNG recording and grading

The complete system includes the sensor module, a CPU, electronic viewfinder, audio inputs, body, battery and recording / transcoding / grading software will be under 7000 euros + tax (without lens). That’s quite a lot of extras on top of the camera, but still under the price of the minimal Ikonoskop body.

A great achievement and I can’t wait to see how it pans out.

Best of luck to Roald!

The post An incredible achievement – Roald Christessen builds his own raw cinema camera and grading software appeared first on EOSHD.com.

The new 9.9 by 6.6 inch Mac Pro is the height of a bottle of wine and diameter of a cookie jar. Cutting edge in terms of technology it’s also a radical departure from the old models in terms of design and in my view it is going to be a huge success though I’m expecting an equally huge price tag.

Even those who are critical of Apple’s ‘lack of innovation’ lately have to admit this is pretty special.

Rather than have a fan and heat sink on every major component like in a PC, the new Mac Pro has a triangular unified thermal core at the centre with each component in contact with it on a different side of the triangle (via thermal paste). It then has a single fan to pull air through it. That is a genius design and surprising nobody else has done one on a desktop computer until now. It’s so simple but makes so much sense. That allows for Apple to reduce the size of the unit dramatically and put the components far closer together.

Above – two GPUs and one 12 core CPU meet the thermal core

This design allows for efficient cooling even if one component (like the CPU) is sitting idle and another (GPU) working hard. In such a scenario the GPU would have the use of the huge heat sink and fan almost all to itself.

The new Mac Pro also innovates on internal storage with an SSD / flash memory drive with double the performance of a standard SSD. Rather than using a SATA connection it sits on a third generation PCIExpress bus and works at over 1.2GB/s. That compares to maximum read speeds of 550MB/s on most common SATA SSD drives, which are already themselves very fast relative to hard disk drives. RAID storage and large capacity drives are added  externally via Thunderbolt.

Apple have integrated Intel’s new Thunderbolt 2 in the new Mac Pro, likely based on the Falcon Ridge chipset to be introduced later in the year. The Mac Pro will also introduce long-awaited standard USB 3.0 ports to the line.

The new Thunderbolt cables have twin bi-directional 20GBps links rather than two sets of 10GBps links as featured in Thunderbolt 1. It is so quick it allows for 4K displays at the same time as daisy chaining storages devices and doing a simultaneous 4K output and file transfers.

Thunderbolt 2 isn’t however based on the same third generation PCIExpress bus that the other internals such as graphics and storage are, so that may rule out expandable graphics via external boxes.

As well as a 12 core Intel Xenon processor the Mac Pro has dual graphics cards with 6GB of VRAM on each. That’s plenty of brute power for editing raw or 4K video but software vendors will need to support the AMD FirePro better than they are at the moment.

Resolve 10 and OpenCL Support

A possible issue with the new Mac Pro the lack of NVidia graphics – or rather then problem lies with any software company that doesn’t support the OpenCL standard. The Mac Pro has extremely powerful dual AMD graphics processors (GPUs) but these use the OpenCL instruction set instead of CUDA for software to use the brute force of GPUs like CPUs.

Resolve 9 doesn’t currently support OpenCL, only NVidia’s proprietary CUDA technology. Apple and Blackmagic are both close in their support of open standards so I find it hard to believe Resolve 10 won’t have OpenCL support. Put bluntly, it must.

UPDATE – Grant Petty says Resolve 10 has OpenCL support

DaVinci Resolve 10 has had a lot of performance work done to integrate it and it’s really really fast.

http://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8898

Premiere CS6 already supports OpenCL but has the best performance with CUDA.

I’m expecting future versions to improve OpenCL performance dramatically.

The new Mac Pro is a huge boost for OpenCL and open standards are always preferable in my view!

Without graphics acceleration, much of the performance boost from the new Mac Pro will be left unexploited by the current software. DaVinci Resolve 9 won’t benefit much from upgrading to a new Mac Pro for instance. I currently require CUDA for editing uncompressed raw in Resolve 9. With it I get realtime Cinema DNG playback at 24fps with it and without it I get 1fps! If you don’t plan to upgrade to the new Mac Pro or the latest NVidia GTX 7xx cards, Resolve 10 will still run on lower performing systems where GPU acceleration isn’t enabled thanks to half and quarter resolution debayer options.

Memory capacities TBA

Apple have not yet released the computer and expect to do so later in the year. Until then, internal storage capacities and RAM size isn’t being announced though Apple do have this to say about the specification of the RAM used -

A four-channel DDR3 memory controller running at 1866MHz – it delivers up to 60GB/s of memory bandwidth, which means you can fly through even the most compute-intensive tasks in no time. And since it’s ECC memory, your render job, video export, or simulation won’t be stopped by transient memory errors.

The post Apple reveal new 4K equipped Mac Pro suitable for uncompressed raw editing. Not just pro but genius! appeared first on EOSHD.com.

Rarevision are the creators of 5DToRGB, and developer Thomas Worth has today released an early beta version of their converter for 5D Mark III raw files on the Mac.

I’ve tested the app and it does exactly what it says on the tin. Cinema DNG sequences grade beautifully in Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve.

There are now two Cinema DNG converters available by different developers. The first is for Windows and currently at a very early stage – it needs some bug fixes and a batch mode before it can be used properly and the dev is of course working on it.

RAWMagic is at the moment a more complete product. It doesn’t have the pink dots bug of Raw2CDNG, though the vertical lines of earlier Magic Lantern Raw2DNG conversions are still there – I believe EV correction on columns needs to be implemented. It is a Mac app and you can simply drag and drop raw files into it and have them convert each to their own Cinema DNG folder in a location of your choice. You can drag files in whilst it is working, and have them automatically queued or you can just drag and entire cards worth of files in at once and go and brew some tea.

Mac app development was lagging behind Windows until now, so this app is very welcome. It’d be great to see a RAWAnizer-like GUI for multiple raw formats on the Mac and an OSX version of the CineForm transcoder too in future.

Testers are encouraged to download the beta version and give it a spin here

Be sure to check out the excellent CineForm converter too (Windows)

The post Rarevision RAWMagic for 5D Mark III – batch Cinema DNG converter for Mac! appeared first on EOSHD.com.

Fancy grading yourself? Download my pack of original files from the 5D Mark III and KineRaw S35. The file contains selected Cinema DNG frames and CineForm RAW .Mov clips from both cameras.

The Kinefinity KineRaw S35 is the most complete debut camera I’ve ever seen. Packed with features, it simply doesn’t feel like an S35 version 1.0.

In terms of the image it is also very good – hardly an major weaknesses, though if there’s one thing that could be better it is the rolling shutter skew. It’s similar to a DSLR and therefore more severe than what you’d get from the Arri Alexa or RED Epic.

I had the camera for a few days on loan from HDVideoShop in Berlin, who have just opened a new showroom here and also an official Europe-based Kinefinity website. Since family were staying I didn’t have the time to do a proper shoot with the S35 but I did have a pretty extensive hands on with it and shot the above comparison with the 5D Mark III.

Above: the KineRAW S35 on display at HDVideoShop

Above: customer at the shop opening where amongst other goings-on KineRAW S35 footage was being screened and an Olympus high speed camera being demonstrated

Below: my field test of the KineRAW S35

The KineRaw S35 shoots uncompressed Cinema DNG as well as compressed CineForm raw. CineForm is the closest we have to REDCODE raw on a camera that isn’t called Epic or Scarlet! CineForm raw is a 10:1 compression so a huge space saving over DNG. It was very interesting to compare the 5D Mark III to the KineRaw S35 as this has never been done before. With 5D Mark III raw footage you can now transcode Canon raw files to CineForm too and this process is RAPID – I was getting around 100fps transcoding speeds to CineForm raw with David Newman’s newly developed transcoding app.

I was extremely impressed with the image from the KineRaw S35. It is very clean, and when noise does occur it has a fine film-like grain. Resolution is also very good – detailed without being over-sharp, and it is very cinematic looking. It has a very smooth roll off from the highlights. When you push around the highlights they stand up very well. With the 5D Mark III raw video if you really push the highlights down you get quite a steep roll off. It’s smoother on the S35. Other than they, they’re quite closely matched with the exception of sensor size.

Though currently a 1080p/2K camera, the KineRaw S35 actually has a 4K Super 35mm sensor. Kinefinity are believed to be looking into the possibility of adding a 4K output to the camera at a later date but this is not confirmed. Current specs are -

• Super 35 4K CMOS sensor
• 13 stops dynamic range
• Uncompressed CinemaDNG (12 bit) or 10:1 compressed Cineform RAW (12 bit)
• Dual SSD slots for simultaneous recording of CinemaDNG and CineForm RAW
• Stereo-3D sync support
• Steel FFD Kine-Mount or active Canon EF-Mount
• HDMI and HD-SDI video outputs
• Two XLR audio Inputs
• Wifi remote control
• 3.7kg body weight
• Built in 3D LUT support and in-camera generation of LUTs
• ISO and EI exposure control
• Maximum 25,600 ISO
• Under $6,000 body-only (5199 euros)

Image quality comparison to 5D Mark III raw

Intercutting raw footage from different cameras is much more difficult to intercut than standard C300, FS100, DSLR 8bit Rec.709 material. It requires a high level of experience and grading expertise.

The 5D Mark III and KineRAW S35 produce images from very different sensors and with very different metadata so grading in Resolve took a lot of effort to match the two cameras. The ACES colour space (Academy Color Encoding Specification) was designed to help with this but I haven’t yet found a way to get this working with the S35 and 5D Mark III in Resolve because the cameras haven’t yet been profiled by the Academy.

Resolve does have an ACES preset for the 1D, 5D and 7D but they are designed for the stock Canon video mode not raw. The Alexa and F65 ACES transforms are closer to giving you something usable and that tells you a lot about how good the 5D Mark III is in raw!

A few shots I couldn’t quite get right but I feel with effort and a LOT of practice they can be intercut. To my eye the actual raw output on the S35 and 5D3 are nip-and-tuck. They’re giving comparable performance. That’s a story in itself, because the KineRAW has a superb image and yet the 5D Mark III raw video is in the same league. As raw on the 5D Mark III is still at an early stage I think the metadata isn’t quite right or 100% complete – I think it will be easier to intercut with material from other raw cameras as Magic Lantern and ACES develop further.

At $3k for the 5D Mark III and $6k for the KineRaw S35, I actually think both are incredible value for money. The 5D is as cheap as chips and with the S35 you’re getting an enormous feature set. Here are some highlights -

• Kinefinity interchangeable positive locking mount (supports for example – standard PL, Canon EF, Nikon F – so you’re not locked into one mount)
• CineForm compressed raw in-camera
• Shiftable dynamic range for changing exposure like the Alexa
• Built in LUTs and extensive colour tuning options
• HD-SDI and XLR jacks
• Very robust build quality
• Optional wireless control via WiFi (with iPad for example)

On the side of the 5D Mark III, that has the advantage of being a lot lighter and smaller, better in low light, completely silent with no fan, larger full frame sensor and the ability to do professional quality stills in the same camera, though of course it doesn’t take SSDs, doesn’t have film industry standard jacks and isn’t 100% reliable yet for paid work.

The fan on the KineRAW S35 is slightly louder than the Epic whilst recording, it doesn’t go into a quieter setting. Similar to the Arri Alexa, the form factor is more suited to studio work rather than running around with it in the field. I’d prefer the form factor of the KineRaw Mini and Red Scarlet, but the camera shares a lot of design similarities with the Alexa – it is a studio camera for feature film or TV production and to be used on productions – it isn’t such a great shoulder mounted ENG style camera. Of course I found it rather heavy and large, especially compared to the Scarlet, FS100 and GH3.

Exposure Index

One way to change light sensitivity is to shift the available dynamic range of the sensor towards the blacks or towards the highlights.

On the Alexa (diagram above from the Arri FAQ) the dynamic range can be moved around to handle a bright scene and in low light the dynamic range is shifted so that the darker tones fall more squarely within the available dynamic range. It’s a clever concept and the sensor in the KineRAW is also able to do the same.

In the exposure menu you can choose various modes, for example standard ISO, gain or the Alexa-like EI controls.

Colour, and built in LUTs

Colour saturation by default is on the desaturated side in the metadata with KineColor enabled. That’s because the camera has built in LUTs and saves a LUT file onto the SSD along with the footage. This is an amazingly cool feature. I was able to use this Kinefinity KineColor LUT in DaVinci Resolve and apply the same LUT to my 5D Mark III raw footage.

The KineRaw S35 previews what the LUT looks like on the monitor in realtime. The LUT also takes into account your white balance and other colour options in-camera. (I was using the HDMI port for monitoring but the camera also has HD-SDI).

The menus are controlled with a dial which rotates and punches in to select an option. You can use the black & white display on the side of the camera to adjust settings or glance at the currently selected ones or the more graphical menus which the camera shows as overlays on the external monitor.

On the U buttons below, I had assigned various focus assists. Some options are in the main menus (CONF button) but you never have to dig down very far to find something. The menus take practice but you speed up as you go.

Low light performance

The image is clean and noise well controlled but the S35 was giving me quite a strong green tint with my practical lights, and the only way to reduce this was to decrease white balance and saturation.

I don’t yet know whether it was a workflow issue or the camera, so I’m making no final judgements in this regards until I’ve used one more often. I just could not get the same warm saturated look from it that the 5D Mark III was giving me. The KineRaw was a little nosier at ISO 1600 than the 5D Mark III but that said, you can go all the way up to 25,600 with it. If the colour issue I experienced is a result of a workflow problem rather than a camera sensor issue, then the KineRaw will be quite handy in low light.

The following shots were both taken from uncompressed DNG files and graded in Photoshop -

(Click images for 1080p versions)

KineRaw S35 – ISO 1600

5D Mark III raw – ISO 1600

Extra costs

Of course like any raw shooting camera you need to factor in the essentials to the price not just the body. Here the biggest costs are battery, media and monitor.

The S35 has dual SSD slots and the cable you see below to the right is power. I was using a standard V-lock battery and the camera is quite hungry at first impressions so you will need more than just one external battery for any shoot that isn’t a short test.

Although it has standard 2.5″ SATA SSD slots the S35 takes proprietary SSDs. These look identical to standard SSDs and have the same E-SATA jack. Likely the only difference between a generic SSD and these is firmware related. I did try a third party PNY SSD in the camera and it fitted fine but the camera refused to record on it. Official KineMAG SSDs are somewhat expensive by comparison at 299 euros for the 64GB, 550 euros for the 128GB and 1099 euros for the 256GB mag with no 480GB or 512GB yet available. Blackmagic have the more friendly approach here.

As is standard for a camera in the Epic and Alexa market but unlike the more consumer orientated cameras such as the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and 5D Mark III there’s no integrated monitor so you need to add one via HDMI or HD-SDI. I’m surprised nobody has developed a better solution than a generic spidery arm for this yet and I still feel that extremely discrete slimline field monitor is missing too. I feel there’s a lot of work to be done by monitor and accessory companies to improve the ergonomics of field monitors, though SmallHD are heading in the right direction with their OLED panels like the AC7.

Conclusion and the market

The KineRAW S35 is the start of a very serious industry for cinema cameras in China. From the product itself, that is quite evident.

Asia is a fertile ground for building a cinema camera.

China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea have huge computer and electronic industries and the digital revolution in cinema means cameras are essentially computers. They can be almost entirely self-contained in terms of manufacturing, sourcing and assembling the camera technology and clearly Kinefinity have been listening carefully to what filmmakers globally have been telling them about their design because it is also nice to use as a filmmaking tool.

The camera the S35 will be compared most to is the Alexa. One of the reasons the Alexa is so expensive is that it is made in Germany by Arri. Obviously although expertise and quality are second to none at Arri, the overheads and wages are massively high compared to Kinefinity and many key electronic parts have to be imported to Germany from Asia. Usually design and manufacturing in China has meant sacrificing quality but this isn’t the case with the KineRAW S35. It really is a high quality low cost alternative to the Alexa that shoots CineForm instead of ProRes and uncompressed raw internally rather than on an external recorder.

I liked the Kinefinity KineRAW S35, though for my one-man style of filmmaking I prefer as small and as light a camera as possible. The 5D Mark III poses a stiff challenge in terms of the image, but not so much in terms of being ready for production work in a controlled environment with a crew and all the trimmings and reliability the KineRAW offers. The heavier S35 has certainly whet my appetite for that the KineRAW Mini may bring though, and that is at a consumer price point (under $4000). Although that camera lacks built in CineForm RAW, it’s now trivial to transcode DNG to compressed CineForm RAW in post and save your drive space.

Further reading

My neighbours at SlashCAM also had their hands on the KineRAW – Original in German / English Google Translated

Enquiries

Contact Kinefinity

Contact Kinefinity distributer (Europe) HDVideoShop

The post Kinefinity KineRaw S35 Hands-on Review appeared first on EOSHD.com.

A professional workflow for 5D Mark III raw is now available.

GoPro CineForm Raw offers 10:1 compression and can be edited directly in Adobe Premiere and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve 9.

Adobe Cinema DNG brings a Blackmagic Cinema Camera style workflow to the 5D Mark III and is ideal for grading uncompressed raw in DaVinci Resolve.

As CineForm and Cinema DNG are industry standard codecs you can now edit and grade DSLR raw directly in your NLE or colour grading software.

As the Magic Lantern project is entirely open source, there’s now a bunch of talented developers working on tools.

GoPro’s David Newman has created a CineForm converter for the Magic Lantern raw files and I’ve been having some success trying it out this weekend. It transcodes at a lightning fast 100fps on my Mac to CineForm Raw. It also does CineForm 422 and 444 at slower transcoding rates. I’ve had the best results with CineForm Raw and I’ve been able to use the RAWanizer app to batch convert a whole CF cards worth of Canon 5D Mark III raw video to CineForm Raw in the time it takes to brew a coffee cup of tea.

CineForm is compressed raw, much like REDCODE on the RED Epic. It uses clever code to compress the raw data and a set of metatags to describe how the raw data is handled (for example ISO and white balance). Don’t get it confused with other compressed codecs like ProRes or H.264. It is truly raw and nothing is baked in. The Kinefinity KineRaw S35 uses CineForm and it is a very well supported codec. I’ve had no issues editing it in Premiere CS6 and Resolve 9 and it is stable.

Despite the huge space saving (only 10% the size of the uncompressed Canon raw files) the codec is visually lossless and gives you full control over the raw data and all that dynamic range. It is 12bit RGB.

Right now, the app is a Windows command line app but you can set it up with RAWAnizer, another absolute gift to the community by a developer named Marten on the Magic Lantern forums. This app acts as a graphical user interface (GUI) for Magic Lantern’s Raw2DNG and David Newman’s Raw2GPCF.

Download Raw2GPCF here

Download RAWAnizer here

I’m a Mac user but I have setup my copy of Windows 7 in VMWare Fusion 5. This runs Windows in a window (ironic huh?) in OSX Mountain Lion, and it does so superbly with barely any performance drop off or compatibility issues. You can also use Boot Camp but I find VMWare much better for quickly switching between Windows apps and my Mac. To use the CineForm converter you will need installations of Go Pro Studio Free (for CineForm 422 10bit) or Go Pro Studio Premium for the full raw and 444 flavours, which I highly recommend. For Resolve to recognise the clips, you will also need to install Quicktime Player if it isn’t already on your Windows installation, and to use the .MOV file extension with Raw2GPCF rather than .AVI. RAWAnizer meanwhile does not work in XP, so you will need Windows 7 or 8 with Microsoft .NET version 4.5 installed for that.

For those wanting a Blackmagic Cinema Camera style workflow, another developer Chmee has today put the finishing touches to his Cinema DNG converter. Previously Magic Lantern’s transcoding app created DNG sequences in the stills standard, which Resolve doesn’t support. I found it necessary to convert these sequences in After Effects to a non-raw codec and that process was dog slow and awkward. Cinema DNG is fully compatible with Resolve. The converter is at the moment a VERY EARLY v0.9 beta version and I’ve only been testing it since it was released just 1 hour ago at the time of writing. This app is not yet ready for paid work or prime time but if you’d like to test it, go ahead and have a play.

Download Raw2CinemaDNG here

The sequences open just fine in both Resolve and Adobe Camera Raw and the camera metadata seems to be pretty much spot on. In this first beta release, it lacks some very basic features like batch converting of multiple files unattended, handling files larger than 2GB and labelling Cinema DNG folders with the proper clip number. There’s a couple of bugs too – faint vertical lines (which I believe the latest Raw2DNG processor from Magic Lantern has now fixed) and a Resolve compatibility issue where pink dots can be seen where burnt highlights meet darker areas of the image. That bug doesn’t occur in Photoshop or After Effects.

All in all, this just shows the power of an open system.

Now the 5D Mark III is out of the closed system of Canon, we’re seeing new life breathed into the camera for filmmakers and a rapid increase in the size of the 5D Mark III filmmaking community. I’ve had to upgrade my server to cope with the increase in traffic.

With an open system, the pace of development is also much faster since there’s so many developers working their own area of expertise and a huge amount of shared knowledge being pooled together online. Samsung are encouraging the same open development with their cameras and I hope Canon sees the light and begins to encourage Magic Lantern, as well as support their peers in the industry such as Adobe and CineForm to develop further tools for Canon DSLR raw video.

The post CineForm Raw and Cinema DNG converters now available for 5D Mark III raw appeared first on EOSHD.com.

Avoid the inevitable price rises and buy your 50D now on eBay

It seems the 50D is the best Super 35mm DSLR for raw video from Canon.

The sensor resolves very clean highly detailed raw video with hardly any moire or aliasing, at a higher quality than the Rebel lines does.

EOSHD forum user Julian is the first to give us a test.

Download his pack of sample shots from the 50D here – including an anamorphic test, original DNG files, moire test and sample videos processed from the Magic Lantern raw mode.

A high end model introduced just before the 5D Mark II and of the same generation – the 50D was the first Canon DSLR to feature the new technology which heralded the beginning of the DSLR video era. In fact it had a video mode all along, but disabled in firmware.

As a high end enthusiast model, Canon didn’t make as many cost savings with the 50D as they did the subsequent video capable 550D, 60D and 600D.

The camera is weather proof with a magnesium alloy body, top LCD, 920k rear LCD, jog wheel, and in many ways far higher end than the subequent Rebel-like 60D.

The camera is also a totally unbelievable low light performer.

The 50D was designed before the megapixel race really took off. It has a 15MP APS-C sensor, so individual pixels are much larger than those on the later 18MP Rebel CMOS sensors.

This, incredibly, says Julian – is ISO 12,800! Bear in mind this needs varification from other shooters. It might be that the raw metadata isn’t correct, I can hardly believe my eyes!

Update – here’s the video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Crucially for raw video, the 50D also packed a UDMA 6 compact flash card slot for very high transfer rates and a large buffer. The camera was cutting edge for 2008.

Julian tested with a Sandisk 32GB 95MB/s card. Not quite as fast as the latest 1000x Lexar or KomputerBay cards but reliable.

Here are Julian’s findings from the EOSHD Forum -

“1592 is the max width. Max reliable speed seems to be 50MB/s for me with this card.”

Results (24 fps):

1592×1062 – frame skipping after about 50 frames (67.7MB/s)
1592×840 – frame skipping after about 480 frames (53.5MB/s)
1592×720 – no frame skipping (44.3MB/s)

1320×1062 – frame skipping after about 300 frames (56.1MB/s)
1320×960 – frame skipping after about 1200 frames (50.7MB/s)
1320×840 – no frame skipping (44.3MB/s)

1280×1062 – frame skipping after about 250 frames (54.4 MB/s)
1280×960 – no frame skipping (49.2MB/s)

Yes. That is a 5 year old dslr, worth about €300 (probably more soon, get one while you can!) shooting raw video without problems in a lovely 1280×960 ratio for 2x anamorphic.

I’m going to seek out a 50D and test it myself, it will make the perfect B-camera to the 5D Mark III for raw.

The price is unbelievable for what it offers, and we thought Blackmagic’s cameras were cheap for raw video!

Says Julian:

“1592×840 looks perfect played on full screen at 1920×1080. With the current built it starts skipping frames at some point. But if it gets stable with some more optimizing… then wow.”

Those who do grab a 50D, can join in testing Magic Lantern and optimising it for the 50D. The stronger the 50D raw video community the better.

Expect more coverage when I get mine.

The post It lives! 5 year old $350 Canon 50D becomes raw cinema monster appeared first on EOSHD.com.

Image by Daniel Schweinerr (5D Mark III SSD attachment research)

The EOSHD 5D Mark III Raw Shooter’s Guide – book now available

Raw video recording on the 5D Mark III has been met with an overwhelming reception from users and a fantastic reception from most pros. Some are more guarded as they think their camera will blow up. What are the facts?

Raw doesn’t cook your camera

Uncompressed raw by its very nature is not processed in the camera. You do all the CPU intensive processing in post production with the raw sensor data. With the official Canon firmware the camera actually works harder as it needs to debayer and compress the raw data onboard the camera’s DIGIC 5 chipset, for 1080p video encoded to H.264.

No hardware components are pushed beyond the spec they were designed to operate at -

The Sensor

Raw data is sub-sampled (RGGB) from the 22MP sensor, using an electronic rolling shutter. The sensor sampling modes remained unchanged from the stock Canon spec and the sensor is doing what it does normally with the official Canon firmware. The sensor data is stored in memory during live view operation and Canon’s code uses this data to supply an image for the LCD, HDMI and video mode. Magic Lantern’s code simply addresses the memory containing the raw data and copies it to the compact flash card via the buffer.

Internal memory and buffer

The 5D Mark III’s internal memory is clocked to transfer data at approximately 700MB/s. Compact flash card memory runs far slower. In writing raw 1080p video to the card only 1/7th of the buffer memory’s performance is exploited. The card controller also operates within the spec it was designed for as 1080p raw video writes to the card at around 85MB/s. The card controller is designed for 167MB/s as per the new UDMA7 compact flash card standard.

No overclocking, no stress

Software isn’t the enemy of hardware – heat is. Hardware fails when it gets too hot, not through buggy code. Magic Lantern leaves all the CPU and memory clocks at their default MHZ. Their code is extremely professionally written and efficient. The camera has a temperature sensor and Magic Lantern reads this and displays it on the LCD.  As evident on any computer, merely copying data rather than processing it, isn’t taxing on the CPU. Obviously your Mac doesn’t heat up when copying a large file to a USB stick! Stress for silicon is considered in terms of heat, not how much data passes through it.

Reliability for paid work

Running development code on your camera on critical paid work assignments is not a good idea, no matter how much testing you do beforehand. Raw recording will reach a stage where it is extremely reliable and 100% tried and tested so it really does pay to wait. Magic Lantern for the 5D Mark III is still in the early Alpha stage of development. The raw recording module is even earlier in development and bug fixes are taking place virtually every day. Some confuse these bug fixes with the addition of new features. Instead a lot of the current development is focussed on making existing features work reliably.

Is there still a 4GB limit on continuous raw recording?

Not any more. Although I don’t recommend shooting hours of raw footage for events due to the sheer amount of data it would create.

Does HDMI work in raw recording mode?

Yes. I’ve had no problems with monitoring on my Small HD DP6. The camera currently uses the older 1.1.3 firmware from Canon so the HDMI output is only 720p and not clean, but in the future if Magic Lantern is updated for the newest Canon firmware it should even be possible to record high quality 1080p ProRes proxy files to an external HDMI recorder whilst recording raw video internally. A great feature.

Should I sell camera X since the image is now better on the 5D Mark III?

In my opinion raw video on the 5D Mark III doesn’t take away from the Cinema EOS series. Although image quality is now arguably better on the 5D Mark III than on the Canon C100 and C300, for those who migrated from DSLRs to the Cinema EOS cameras in the first place the reasoning still stands. Built in ND filters, XLR audio jacks, better ergonomics, broadcast ready codec, convenient to use, proven reliability and established workflow. There’s no right or wrong decision, no universally better or worse camera – it depends on the project and on the filmmaker. Personally, I always go for outright image performance and image control over practicality and ergonomics.

Other DSLRs and mirrorless cameras like the GH3, D5200 still have the advantage of being 1/3rd of the price of the 5D Mark III. The GH3 has a more flexible mirrorless lens mount, Speed Booster, 1080/60p and an articulated screen.

What about Blackmagic?

The more people shooting raw the better it is for Blackmagic because they are primarily a post production company. Their software, DaVinci Resolve, is in my opinion hands down the best tool for grading raw video in DNG format. 5D Mark III raw footage doesn’t yet open in Resolve because the DNG files seem to store a thumbnail and the actual full resolution raw image as sub-file. Once Magic Lantern’s Raw2DNG converter gives us Cinema DNG or fully compatible DNG sequences, I will be using it to grade my 5D Mark III footage and cutting out the length transcoding step in After Effects to ProRes. Oddly, considering it is Adobe’s own format, Premiere Cs6 does not yet work properly with DNG sequences – only supporting DNG at 8bit and giving a very poor image.

Blackmagic’s cameras are not very threatened either by recent developments because they still have unique features not found on the 5D Mark III for raw recording. There’s a mirrorless mount on the Micro Four Thirds 2.5K Cinema Camera and Pocket Cinema Camera, 4K, global shutter on the Production Camera, ProRes and Avid DNxHD recording in-camera and forthcoming compressed raw recording in-camera. The fact that Resolve is bundled with the Cinema and Production cameras is also a huge selling point.

Shall I learn a raw workflow?

There are a lot of existing 5D Mark III owners and photographers who now have the chance to shoot raw video with a free firmware update – a great opportunity. Until quite recently raw video workflows haven’t been accessible to enthusiasts, very low budget filmmakers or owner / operators who couldn’t afford Red. Ikonoskop and Blackmagic were the first to capitalise on this, and it turns out that now Canon are the next through no making of their own! As computing power and storage capacities continue to increase hugely year on year, raw video workflows are becoming more and more viable for when image quality matters most. It pays to at least try raw, and get used to the workflow. That knowledge, for pros and enthusiasts alike could be very useful in the future.

Is there any liability for Canon or dealers?

The Magic Lantern project is very mature, with a team of extremely talented open source developers. Canon know their own source code and for their engineers in Japan, raw video probably doesn’t even come as much surprise. If Canon felt raw video recording was going to be a step too far, they’ve had years to block it off. There hasn’t been a single negative word from Canon (officially) about Magic Lantern. I think this is the best thing to happen to Canon DSLR video since it began with the 5D Mark II.

Disclaimer: all the information is correct to the best of my knowledge, based on close contact with Magic Lantern and my own extensive research and testing. I accept no liability for its use or application.

The post Magic Lantern 5D Mark III raw video and camera reliability appeared first on EOSHD.com.

This test was conducted jointly with my good friend and neighbour Rudi at Slashcam – you can read his take on it in German / in English.

In the battle of the 1080p cameras, the game has changed. Here’s how the 5D Mark III in raw recording mode compares to the best 1080p output from the Canon C300 and 1D C.

The Canon C300 is a very good albeit highly priced $15,000 HD camera, producing an ultra clean and detailed image by oversampling from the same 4K sensor as the C500.

It is the current benchmark, so interesting to see how close the 5D Mark III raw gets in 1080p.

Pay attention to the circles!

12 o’clock shows vertical resolution, 3 o’clock shows horizontal. All the lines should be distinct. The extremely fine patterns also test for moire and false colour, as evidenced on the NEX 5N and 7D shots.

The 5D Mark III raw is impressive and compares closely to the C300, but has a few more tricks which elevate it.

The comparison above is shot at 1080p but with an anamorphic lens to correct the 3:2 aspect ratio, the 5D Mark III goes to 1280 lines from a full frame sensor, even higher in 1:1 crop mode. It uses a larger sensor than the C300 and the footage is more gradable because it is raw.

In 1:1 crop mode it gives you a lossless 1080p crop sensor mode, or higher resolutions and in this mode the camera is even more detailed and even cleaner.

Above: 1:1 crop mode in 1080p, 5D Mark III raw

Due to the way the crop mode framing works in the current Magic Lantern build we couldn’t do a final 100% perfect chart test for the 1:1 mode so please treat that last image as a work in progress not a final result!

The Panasonic GH2 is third best on this test, certainly closer to the C300 and 5D Mark III raw than the other cameras, which is astonishing considering the price difference.

The 5D Mark III is slightly cleaner than the GH2, with less aliasing, especially horizontally but it’s still a good result for the GH2.

The Sony FS100 seems to have a soft default output and a strong anti-aliasing filter. The 7D and NEX 5N are a big step down with plenty of moire.

To summarise, I’d put the cameras in order of resolution at 1080p as follows:

1. Canon C300
2. Canon 5D Mark III Raw (1080p)
3. Panasonic GH2
4. Sony FS100
5. Canon 7D
6. Sony NEX 5N / VG20

I’d tentatively say the 5D Mark III in raw 1:1 crop mode has the Canon C300 beaten for resolution, but more development is needed with Magic Lantern before we can say for sure with any finality. For all I know they could have a Super 35mm 4K crop working eventually, it’s too premature to judge the final resolution of the crop mode. Exciting times ahead!

Canon 1D C

The 1D C uses a 1:1 crop (at APS-H) to achieve it’s 4K image, a huge 4096 x 2160. The aspect ratio is slightly narrower than 16:9 and the sensor area used quite a bit less than the 5D Mark III raw in full frame mode.

When you scale 4K on the 1D C down to 1080p you get cinema standard 2K (2048 x 1080) rather than the full HD TV standard 1920 x 1080.

Here’s how the field of view differs between the 5D Mark III in raw (full frame) and the 1D C in 4K MJPEG mode (APS-H). Shot with a Zeiss 25mm F2.0 Distagon.

You have to bear this in mind and how it affects your lenses. The 1.3x crop of the 1D C makes the Zeiss 25mm a rather less exciting 32mm, and the crop vertically is even more due to the narrower aspect ratio compared to 16:9 (or especially 3:2) on the 5D Mark III in raw.

The 1D C and 1D X can do a full frame 1080p image too of course, but the 5D Mark III raw is a lot nicer and more detailed for that.

So 4K is what the 1D C is all about for me.

We shot in 4K Canon LOG, 1080p raw on the 5D Mark III and noticed a few interesting pros and cons for both cameras…

This example is not a proper dynamic range test as we didn’t have much time for the actual shoot setup, but upon spending an hour experimenting and grading the DNG to match Canon LOG I felt dynamic range was about 1 stop more on the 5D Mark III.

Raw also has a much more film-like gradation in the shadows and with skin tones than 4K MJPEG on the 1D C, without the odd colours and banding the 1D C throws up.

At ISO 800 the blacks are nice and clean in Canon LOG on the 1D C, because the camera applies noise reduction to the raw sensor output.

I did the same to the 5D Mark III raw DNG to see how close I could get it to the 1D C and indeed the black levels can compete…

This is an extreme push of the blackest BMW blacks, bearing in mind the camera was exposed for the sky! Magic Lantern offers raw zebras and these were extremely accurate. There was more noise in the 5D Mark III blacks but the noise reduction got rid of it without reducing resolution.

What about upscaling to 4K?

The optimal way to do this is to shoot 1920 x 1280 raw on the 5D Mark III with an anamorphic lens utilising the whole height of the 3:2 sensor. Then keep the horizontal resolution at the maximum 1280 and upscale the width to 2.5K.

Less optimal is to simply scale the 1920 x 1080 raw to 4K, matching both the horizontal and vertical resolution of the 1D C as closely as possible.

Upscaling to 2160 vertical to match the 1D C gives you 16:9 standard 4K at 3840 x 2160. The 1D C 4K is cinema standard 4096 x 2160. Here’s a 1:1 crop of both.

At infinity focus:

At near focus:

In reality the difference is less than these crops show.

The 1D C’s crop factor of 1.3x is helping it result more detail, especially at infinity as the effective focal length changes from 25mm to 32mm. The difference is less noticeable at near focus but still significant when viewing 1:1 crops like this. It will be less noticeable projected at 4K when the viewing distances aren’t enough to determine individual pixels at the one one level and the image is moving.

Summary

I feel the 5D Mark III in raw is both amazing and feature packed relative even to the professional $12k and $15k C-series offerings let alone other DSLRs. It is a dream for anamorphic shooters, offering very clean 2.5K anamorphic images with a 1280p vertical resolution. Various shooting aspect ratios such as 3:2 and 4:3 are not offered on the C-series cameras. To utilise the full height of a 3:2 full frame sensor is a genuinely new feature, as even the factory 5D Mark III crops the full sensor to 16:9 with the standard video mode. The Nikon D800 also crops the full frame sensor. With anamorphic on the 5D Mark III with raw you have a larger sensor recording area than any other DSLR on the market, and considerably different to Super 35mm, APS-C or the 1D C’s APS-H 4K MJPEG.

The 1D C is of course top dog for resolution but the image cannot be graded with the freedom of raw, even from Canon Log. Colour and gradation, especially when it comes to skin-tones are better on the 5D Mark III with raw.

The cleanness of the full frame 1080p mode is also excellent on the 5D Mark III in raw, ahead of any other DSLR on the market and so close to the $15,000 Canon C300 that in the real world it makes no difference. Only on the most demanding test chart could I tell.

These are astonishingly exciting times for 5D Mark III owners.

The post Canon 1D C vs 5D Mark III Raw (and C300 / GH2 resolution comparison) appeared first on EOSHD.com.

Get the EOSHD Anamorphic Shooter’s Guide for a comprehensive guide to anamorphic lenses, which ones to use, how to get them and how to shoot

Download the 2.5k 2560×1280 Vimeo file and playback on a 2.5K or 4K display for best results

Download a pack of DNG frames from the original raw files to judge quality

The spec sheet is impressive. 14bit linear bayer raw is sub-sampled from a 6K sensor, giving 1280 lines of extremely clean resolution with an anamorphic compliant 4:3 aspect ratio.

This is in a similar league to the image quality of the Sony F35 (Superman Returns, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland) which cost $250,000 just 5 years ago.

With 2560 x 1280 anamorphic in raw on the 5D Mark III it feels like a completely new camera.

I prefer the image and the creativity in post offered by raw over 4K MJPEG on the Canon 1D C. The 5D Mark III is capable of using all of the full frame sensor if shooting 1920×1280 (3:2), it isn’t a crop to APS-H like the 1D C in 4K.

Why anamorphic? It gets me away from 16:9. The cinema aspect ratio is wider. In the old days of Super 35mm film (remember that!?) the imaging area was approximately 4:3 and part of the audio track was on the film negative. To get CinemaScope, filmmakers used anamorphic lenses to compress more width into the frame. As the anamorphic only makes the FOV wider horizontally, it doesn’t reduce your ability to get a shallow DOF and a close up like a normal wide angle lens does. Furthermore when you are panning to track an actor with an anamorphic, you have far more leeway either side of the subject making for more graceful sweeping pans.

You can crop of course in post but it isn’t the same. You lose vertical resolution and you lose the cinematic character and flare of the anamorphic lens.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Above is a very wide aspect ratio I shot with recently with the Nikon V1 at 400fps, and I was forced to shoot in this aspect ratio due to the slow-mo mode being such low resolution. With the 5D Mark III in raw, you can choose not to crop and use all 1280 lines of resolution, almost at the 1350 mark of the Blackmagic in 2.5K!

What is more it allows you to upscale horizontally to achieve 2.5K without also needing to upscale the vertical res. As a result it really does look like 2.5K and that is the resolution gain anamorphic lenses were designed for, back in the day. Of course anamorphic lenses are still in widespread use today, with Quentin Tarantino shooting Django Unchained with Panavision glass as covered at EOSHD here. There’s more on what lens I used for this shoot further down the article.

Workflow

Raw makes the actual shoot more straight forward as all you really have to control is the lens – aperture, focus – and forget about the picture making box. You cannot really get the full scope of the image from H.264 on Vimeo, so please do download the original DNG files here and open them in Photoshop. You can do most of your exposure in post like you can with a 35mm film negative in a dark room. Bear in mind these are in 4:3 format and shot with the Iscorama 1.5x anamorphic so you should scale them to 2560 x 1280 or 1920 x 953 for the correct aspect ratio.

In-camera with Magic Lantern I used the 4:3 aspect ratio of 1720 x 1280, then a stretch in post to 2:1 anamorphic 2.5K.

UPDATE: With the Iscorama 1.5x lens 4:3 actually becomes 2:1 anamorphic not 2.39:1 3K as originally stated. With a 2x lens in 4:3 or with a 1.5x lens in 3:2 (1920×1280) you will get the slightly wider 2.35:1. I have corrected the video and re-uploaded it in the correct 2560 x 1280 resolution instead of the original 2:39: 1 (3000 x 1280).

This way I get pin sharp and detailed 2.5K footage. This is a formality with an anamorphic lens and great to finally get away from 16:9 thanks to the custom resolutions offered by Magic Lantern. That 14bit 12 stop dynamic range raw workflow is a beautiful thing indeed.

In full frame the camera can go as high as 1920×1280 for a still anamorphic friendly 3:2 aspect ratio giving 2.39: from a 1.5x lens and 2.66:1 from a 2x lens – this will be lovely but at this early stage it isn’t quite reliable on my fastest 1000x speed compact flash card, dropping frames after around the 20 second mark. 1770×1280 maintains the same number of lines of resolution but makes continuous takes reliable and gives you true 2.39:1 with the more common 2x anamorphic lenses making for a less extremely wide image than a 16:9 sensor delivers from anamorphic.

I’m really glad I have found my paintbrush. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera EF mount much as I love it is not full frame and there’s no other aspect ratio apart from 16:9 which doesn’t help my anamorphic work at all. The Sony FS100′s image just doesn’t match raw and again no anamorphic concessions to aspect ratios are present. I am going to sell the FS100 and replace the BMCC EF with the Micro Four Thirds mount version to use as a B-camera.

Initially I had concerns about losing the stella low light performance of the FS100 but the 5D Mark III is utterly amazing in low light with raw. My initial low light test it turns out did not exploit the full performance as I was handling it the same as the Blackmagic footage by changing the exposure in post from the native ISO of the sensor (800). What I later found was that if I shot at the desired ISO in-camera the image is cleaner than shooting at what I assumed to be the native ISO and adjusting the exposure in post, so it is likely the native ISO is more like 2500 than 800!

The raw workflow doesn’t phase me as I can efficiently work to deadlines armed with the right knowledge of raw in post, the right software and the right hardware. Admittedly when you don’t have this experience and the right tools, raw becomes very frustrating and time consuming in post.

When not on a quick turn-around and just painting with light, even going slowly isn’t a concern to me, because I enjoy spending a lot of time working through these challenges and certainly a lot of time grading, whilst with DSLRs prior I never really graded at all – I felt it hurt the image too much.

I think the anti-raw arguments are exactly the same as when DSLRs and 1080p first came onto the market. People complained 1080p was too slow to edit and demanding on their time – but mainly that they just didn’t need it at that point.

1080p became the standard very quickly though and some were ill prepared at that point as they hadn’t embraced it earlier! Don’t lose valuable time listening to the negative nellys telling you how much of a pain raw is. A gigabyte is the new megabyte and tomorrow terabytes will be the new megabytes. You have to move with it as the IT side just gets better and better, cheaper and cheaper with every passing day. Technical knowledge has never been more important in the armoury of a filmmaker. In the film days you had to have technical knowledge but it was of a different kind and it served you for longer. Today it is easy with digital to get quick and easy results but to really push you need that IT ability in spades and to not be intimidated by the fast pace of digital technology.

Raw2DNG from Magic Lantern even in such a rudimentary early stage crunches through Canon DSLR raw files faster than real-time (24fps) on my €1000 Hackintosh with RAID 0 array of 3 standard hard disk drives. The main operating system is on an SSD. There’s no recording limit as the 4GB file size limit of FAT has been broken and the camera uses ExFat formatted cards. You can also record ProRes via HDMI whilst simultaneously recording raw internally to compact flash card, which is handy for generating on the fly proxy files and playback. During this shoot I had no problems using my SmallHD DP6 for monitoring in the correct anamorphic aspect ratio via HDMI whilst recording raw, quite an incredible feat for a $3000 DSLR. Despite this being dev code I had no crashes or corruptions either! Quite incredible progress in just a week.

Partly thanks to Red, raw (at-least compressed raw) is already a cinema standard and I think we will be seeing more of it in other realms of production where image quality is a priority too. People complained there were a lot of amateurish hacks and workarounds with DSLRs when they first appeared but that didn’t stop a lot of very high end professional productions being shot on them because the image was lovely at the time.

Now it is again and you just need to rig them properly for them to be usable professionally. I don’t like overly complex and spidery rigs so I’m very happy with the rig which I came up for with the anamorphic shoot which is simply a Wooden Camera cage, Lanparte quick release with carbon rods and a SmallHD DP6…

Because I wanted a top handle as well I put the 5D Mark III into the Wooden Camera Blackmagic Cinema Camera cage – yes it fits! Though I had to use a very thin secondary adapter plate designed for something else. As you can see the monitor is mounted on the back of the rails for tripod use, but what is great is that it is on an articulated Sony hinge mounted directly on the rails and not one of those annoying spidery arms up high which puts the whole rig off balance.

The monitor is very light and takes the same batteries as the camera but also acts as a good counterweight for the weight of the lens. I can look down at the screen when shooting on a tripod at waist or chest height. This is much better than having to hunch over constantly to see the tiny non-articulated LCD on the back of the camera.

I found battery life to be excellent on the camera whilst shooting raw, better than Blackmagic’s internal battery by far – though an external battery is still preferable for longer shoots than a few hours.

I have a love affair with anamorphic glass especially Iscoramas, and currently have the 36, 54 and smaller 30. I’ve dubbed it the ’30′ because the rear element is 30mm compared to 36mm on the later Iscorama 36. If you are considering an anamorphic lens yourself or just interested in the advantages of using one you should grab my book on the subject here.

The ’30′ is the first generation Iscorama from the late 1960′s which was bundled with a SLR mount prime set to infinity. Focus is on the anamorphic. It flares more thanks to being single coated instead of multicoated and the smaller rear element helps introduce a more characterful vignette. When I want to tone these properties down (sometimes I do) and not go all out for J.J. Abrams flare, I use the multicoated Iscorama 36, which is even a bit sharper.

My favourite lenses to use with the Iscorama 30 are the Helios 44M and the Helios 44M OK better explain that the original Helios 44M is a single coated 58mm F2.0 lens from Russia, very sharp wide open with an Iscorama. Though not as sharp or as contrasty as my Contax Zeiss 50mm F1.4 or Leica R 50mm F2.0 with the Iscorama, it does have heaps of character. It also goes well with my very rare Iscorama CentaVision 2x single focussing anamorphic and is the prime lens I used to shoot Zen in Shanghai shot on the GH2. With the GH2 you get much sharper corners especially stopped down. On the 5D Mark III the corners are shall we say ‘characterful’!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The second Helios 44M I have is of course the amazing modded Flare Factory 58 from Richard Gale’s Dog Schidt Optiks. Richard is an engineering genius as well as someone with a wonderful eye who I can trust to come up with character by the bucketload. The reason I used my bog standard Helios for this shoot is that I had the faux-anamorphic aperture insert in the FF58 and no time to disassemble the lens to take it out. I will be shooting with the Flare Factory 58 as the orange tint compliments the single coating flare on the Iscorama making it even more dramatic and even adding a hazy, glowing vignette which fully utilises the smooth gradation of 14bit raw. None of the flare or vignetting you can add in post digitally is this organic or dynamically shifting due to real ambient light sources.

Conclusion

Am I over the moon about the image quality of raw on the 5D Mark III?

Well before we were shooting 8bit, with all that banding and lack of flexibility in post. Now we have 14bit colour and can debayer the raw to 4:4:4 EXR using the full power and sophistication of an ILM workstation. That’s a bit of a step up from DIGIC 5. Effectively the image processor of the camera has been moved out of the DSLR and into the realm of Resolve, Intel and NVidia. That is a big thing. No more DIGIC debayer or mushy H.264 encoder.

Dynamic range and overall quality is pretty much identical to the 22MP raw stills on the 5D Mark III so you can imagine what a step up this is for any league of video camera, let alone one costing $3000. That Canon sensor is doing a very good job indeed and I am amazed.

One of the biggest improvements I’ve noticed, especially when watching the footage on my Dell 27″ 2.5K display which rivals the Apple Cinema Display for colour and contrast is the HUGE improvement to the look of colour on the 5D Mark III. All I can say is hello colour, hello blue skies, hello subtle shades where have you been all this time!? I’m amazed we put up with not having this kind of colour and tonal precision for so long.

Resolution in 1080p is very close to the full 1080 lines so clearly the sensor is doing a superb job of sampling the full 6K chip. The exact method is proprietary Canon knowledge but I’d be very surprised if there’s any line-skipping at all like there is on the 5D Mark II. I’ve not had a single incident of moire or aliasing yet. The only artefacts I’ve seen are when I’ve done something in post I shouldn’t have like pushing highlight recovery all the way to the right, which hurts the roll off. Better to let some highlights go to super-white than to hurt highlight roll off in my view.

Resolution in 1280p for anamorphic is of course even better and exceeds what the best 1080p broadcast cameras do, such as the Canon C300. It is a moving 14bit raw photo oversampled from a 6K sensor and stored in raw format ready for 4:4:4 sampling whilst the C300 is a moving 8bit JPEG image oversampled from 4K and heavily compressed in 4:2:2 MPEG, so I am not very surprised that the 5D Mark III looks a lot nicer.

The post 2.5k CinemaScope anamorphic raw on the 5D Mark III appeared first on EOSHD.com.

Shooting spectacular raw video on the 5D Mark III requires UDMA 7 compact flash cards. Ideally you need a 1000x 64GB or 128GB card and certainly more than one for anything but very short shoots.

Here’s my guide to which ones to go for.

There are a lot of 1000x compact flash cards out there, with big variance in performance and price. Personally I have had the best results with the KomputerBay 64GB 1000x card, which only cost me 89 Euros on Amazon. Some KomputerBay and Lexar cards have been able to achieve 120MB/s sustained write speeds in Magic Lantern’s benchmark test, in theory enough for a Blackmagic Cinema Camera rivalling 2.5K 2560 x 1152 which requires 118.1MB/s at 24fps. That’s also fast enough for slow-mo 1720 x 672 at 60fps.

However at the moment sustained raw video write speeds on the 5D Mark III whilst recording are lower than the benchmark scores. The best I’ve been able to do relatively reliably is 1920 x 1080, 1720 x 1280 and 2880 x 720. Pretty great but I’d love to be able to get my 1920 x 1280 reliable for anamorphic, currently it stops after around 10-20 seconds, go for even higher vertical resolutions in 2.8K 1:1 crop mode and get reliable 25p plus 48p at lower resolutions for slow-motion work.

Is the 4GB file size a limitation? Thankfully no, with future build of Magic Lantern you can go until the card is full as the 5D Mark III supports the more modern ExFat file system for larger files than 4GB. Already people have recorded long takes of raw video in a single 12GB file!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Work by the Magic Lantern developers is being done to optimise the way the code handles the buffer and card writing to improve speeds. I’ve also found that the first couple of clips you record tend to start off slowly before gradually climbing, so the risk of dropped frames is higher when you first turn on the camera and start recording. It is sensible to leave some margin and not push resolution or frame rate right to the limit. 1920 x 720 at 24fps (as in James’s video above) is a sweet spot for most of the 1000x cards.

Here’s the full benchmark chart from A1ex at Magic Lantern -

(Click to enlarge)

Below is the benchmark for SD cards. As you can see the card controller on the 600D and 550D seems to top out at 20MB/s regardless of card speed but the Canon 6D is twice as fast. Both cameras are still a long way from the 5D Mark III but the SD card slot on that also suffers from much slower performance than the CF card interface does.

So which are the current best cards for the 5D Mark III?

Here’s a guide…

KomputerBay 1000x

128GB – $189 – Buy It Now

64GB – $106 – Buy It Now

What IS the story with KomputerBay? They appeared from nowhere and offer very good performance for very small prices. Well the truth has been outed. These are quality control failed memory chips. Is this a bad thing? Actually no. In the same way that Red offer Q/C failed Epic parts in the form of the much cheaper Scarlet, rather than dumping the hardware altogether, KomputerBay card just has more variance in performance. Reliability seems unaffected. Thanks to a happy coincidence reported here at DVXUser we now know the memory inside was destined for the much more expensive Lexar 1000x cards.

“Interesting fact I learned today that affects anyone currently buying 1000x cards at the moment for the ML raw hack. I set out this morning to buy Komputerbay cards via Amazon. I wanted them overnight. After ordering I noticed they werent coming until Wednesday. I canceled the order, then tried contacting Komputerbay directly. I noticed it was a 770- area code. 770 is my area code as well. Turns out they are 15 mins from me. I contacted them and picked up locally. I had a long talk with the senior manager and he told me the FULL truth about these cards. These cards have the IDENTICAL components as the LEXAR 1000x cards. He even went as far as slicing a few open to show me the identical Micron chips inside same as LEXAR. He was very matter of fact about this info. He went on to tell me exactly how and why this was possible. He said the only difference was slight QC variance from Lexar. Keep on mind these cards come direct from Komputerbay with a 100 percent guarentee. Meaning that if you get a card that was missed in the QC variance then return and get a different one. Rest assured I am only a filmaker and not a CF card seller. Please take this information as a gift as I see it as VERY reliable having seen and heard with my own two eyes and ears.”

Indeed this backs up exactly what I am seeing with my own two KomputerBay cards.

The 128GB 1000X tops out at around 73MB/s write and 122MB/s read. The chipset is SiliconMotion SM2236AC.

However my 64GB 1000x does 95MB/s write and 120MB/s read. Same chips.

When buying a KomputerBay card, some capacities will likely have greater variance than others. The 64GB cards certainly seem to be achieving the better results. Make sure you purchase from eBay or Amazon where you have the best return policies in case of a slower card.

When you get a good one, you get a total bargain.

Lexar 1000x

128GB – $654 – Buy It Now

64GB – $309 – Buy It Now

If for an urgent shoot you need to guarantee a good card without having to take a chance on KomputerBay parts and return them you can spend more money to solve the problem. The thing which discourages me from spending so much money on memory though, is that prices are notoriously volatile and constantly decreasing over time.

Toshiba 1066x

64GB – $299 – Buy It Now

Now here’s a genuinely exciting option – Toshiba quote actual write speeds on the card label. They claim 150MB/s!

Will it live up to expectations? Nobody has tested the card yet. As soon as the scores come in I will update the blog.

I am very tempted to buy one of these myself as $300 isn’t bad should the card live up to Toshiba’s spec.

My feeling is that the 150MB/s is a peak burst rate not sustained. In the little video clip logo on the card they quote 65MB/s sustained and reliable. However the Transcend 1000x cards quotes 20MB/s for this video standard, yet achieve sustained raw video at 80MB/s with Magic Lantern. It’s a VERY conservative figure.

Sandisk Extreme Pro 100MB/s

128GB – $832 – Buy It Now

64GB – $339 – Buy It Now

Andrew Wonder has tested the 128GB card and isn’t quite getting the raw resolutions I am getting with my KomputerBay 64GB.

I can’t really recommend SanDisk right now. They do a premium 100MB/s 128GB card and a much cheaper 90MB/s 64GB card and both frankly are absurdly overpriced. Why so much more than the 95MB/s Extreme Pro SD cards? The 128GB 100MB/s model does basically what it says on the box – 100MB/s write speeds – that is a full 20MB/s off the KomputerBay 64GB on the Magic Lantern benchmarks for 5x the price. Hardly value for money OR top performance. I think Sandisk need to up their game here. The cheapest card I found in the US was over $1000 and the cheapest genuine one from Hong Kong is linked to above.

Hoodman Steel 1000x

64GB – $350 – Buy It Now

The Hoodman Steel is advertised as having SSD NAND flash chips inside to get as close to the 167MB/s limit of UDMA 7 as possible. However the Hoodman Steel seems to perform identically to Lexar’s 1000x cards. I think they are pretty much a Lexar reseller or using the same chipset. Pricing is also very similar.

Transcend 1000x

64GB – $250 – Buy It Now
128GB – $450 – Buy It Now

The 32GB card is right up there on the benchmarks for a low price but the KomputerBay card offers double the capacity for less money. Considering they are both El Cheapo brands that is a big difference. Another big discrepancy with the best is that Transcend only guarantee sustained video rates at 20MB/s whilst Toshiba guarantee it at 65MB/s on their 1066x – though it doesn’t seem to have much of a bearing on the pretty nifty benchmark results.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What about attaching an SSD to the 5D Mark III?

There is actually a way to connect an SSD drive to the 5D Mark III’s card slot, but it is currently untested. The adapter in question is the Sycard CF Extend 165. This goes from the CF card slot on your camera to a PCIExpress interface with ExpressCard slot on the end. However as it is a very niche hardware developer’s tool, I’m having a hard time finding one in Europe.

Various options exist for ExpressCard slots. There are ExpressCard SSDs like this one which top out around 256GB, though whether it will be any faster than the best CF cards remains to be seen. There’s also the question of power draw and whether the CF card slot can provide enough power to the SSD.

You can even attach the super fast 2.5″ SSDs for PCs and Macs to the ExpressCard slot via an E-Sata adapter and caddy, though I very much doubt the CF card slot on the 5D Mark III can power it all. You’d very likely need an external power source for that and a E-Sata adapter that would allow you to connect one.

Watch this space

The post Which Compact Flash cards for 5D Mark III raw video? appeared first on EOSHD.com.

Download the sample DNG frames from continuous raw video on the 600D

Though most of the development at Magic Lantern has been focussed on the powerful 5D Mark III, the latest firmware builds have also been ported to the 600D. How does it perform for raw video?

Click the image above to see the full 1440x720p version

The 600D is probably best compared to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. Like that camera it records to SD cards and is extremely affordable. Currently it has a Super 16mm crop in the most reliable current raw recording resolution.

The card speeds achieved are much lower than the 5D Mark III. Therefore it does not yet record 1080p raw on the camera. You have to drop to the Super 16mm crop of the Super 35mm sized sensor, which gives you very nice albiet low resolution raw video at 960×480. On my Sandisk 95MB/s card I only get 19MB/s write speeds but that is enough for 960×480 at 24fps (17MB/s) which upscales very nicely to 1440x720p.

If write speeds can be improved in future updates, then the maximum resolution is 1740×1160 and Super 35mm and that uses the full sensor. Essentially 1080p but in 3:2 aspect ratio. That will be amazing if they get it working. Big if though!

Here are some original 960×480 frames converted from DNG – just a straight convert with Raw2DNG and no upscaling. (Click them to see at 960×480)

The low resolution does however have the advantage of being MUCH easier on card space, much more like ProRes in terms of file sizes whilst still giving you the sharpness, dynamic range, beautiful colour and overall lovely image quality of 14bit uncompressed raw – as well as the creative freedom to change the in post and forget about most of the camera settings whilst shooting. Just set shutter angle and aperture, and shoot raw.

Moire and aliasing are improved from the rather poor H.264 Canon video mode but there’s some false detail on very fine details similar to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera with red blue & green error pixels. On the shot below you can see some moire too on the metal flight case.

The sensor in the 600D does not sample the RGB image data quite as cleanly as the 5D Mark III.

Here’s another upscaling example. Click the images of course to expand them…

1920 x 960 (bit soft at this level)

1280×640

The original 960×480

The camera gives you crop marks on the screen as you shoot so you can frame the shot, but it would be nice in future updates to use the whole LCD. Remember this is still very early development code.

Right now the 5D Mark III is definitely worth the money in terms of the upgrade from the 600D if you want to shoot raw video. However it will be interesting to see how the 600D improves as Magic Lantern develop the camera further.

If you want to more accurately get an idea of image quality do feel free to download all my DNGs from this page in a zip file from Dropbox.

You can open them in Photoshop and have a play. It isn’t a patch on the 5D Mark III’s quality but still great to have and a leap from the normal 600D video mode.

Viva the revolution!

The post A look at raw video on the Canon 600D appeared first on EOSHD.com.

This was a great week. It is the first time we’ve seen this kind of moving image from a full frame sized sensor in raw. A pristine 2K 14bit image that’s like a 24fps digital film negative or a digital scan of VistaVision. It’s also a breakthrough for accessibility bringing raw video to many talents for the first time, when the only other accessible raw shooting cameras out there have been in extremely limited supply.

The news of 5D Mark III raw video (and the huge quantum leap in image quality that has given us on DSLRs) has generated the largest and most enthusiastic response I’ve ever seen on EOSHD. Even though raw video and development code are relatively arcane subjects, the subject garnered mass audience attention with tech blog Gizmodo picking up the story and digital photography authority DPReview running it as headline news. By the 5th day the quickly shot video posted late on Sunday evening had totalled 487,000 impressions and 98,000 plays, and mine was by no means the only one out there! I’m amazed the Magic Lantern forum didn’t melt and they handled the eager questions of 5D Mark III users very calmly.

The only cameras that have a similar aesthetic at the moment are the Red Epic with Dragon sensor and the Arri Alexa Studio in 4:3 with anamorphic glass. The Cinema EOS range is all 8bit aside from the raw tap on the C500, but then that isn’t $3000 and isn’t full frame and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera has a much smaller sensor, and therefore a very different rendering of the lens.

The 5D Mark III with Magic Lantern really is unique and a new image quality benchmark under $20,000. Perhaps the Canon 1D C comes close in feel but it only shoots 8bit MJPEG so cannot be bossed around in post with the same degree of creative control.

This is the biggest single leap in image quality for DSLRs since the advent of DSLR video and as significant as the original introduction of the 5D Mark II back in 2008/09.

Creative control

Like everything creative, post production is time consuming but I love and need the control raw gives you. Raw on the 5D Mark III is a creative dream.

It’s also viewed as an unnecessary potential nightmare for pros working to tight deadlines.

Many of the professionals who used to be happy with workarounds for better image quality, be it Super 35mm adapters or DSLRs, are now shooting comfortably with Cinema EOS cameras. They were far more muted in their excitement, preferring to highlight some of the practical issues around shooting raw rather than mentioning the image quality and creative possibilities of the hack.

In some filmmaking environments a camera is like a hammer, a tool which gets out of the way and gets a job done efficiently and effectively. But aside from the practicalities of getting done a job to spec and to a time frame, think about all that artistry inherent in using a camera and delivering a film. We all want convenience but for me, the camera is more than tool, it is emotional and intuitive, not just functional and technical. In the same way that film stocks give a certain feel, the same way even a colour temperature does – it’s all part of our emotional palette as humans.

We have a unique image here and we should cherish it. It’s even free.

Price and accessibility being obvious reasons why to get excited about this but creatively it matters the most.

Camera aesthetics are linked directly to emotional reaction. Style is a subliminal trigger for our thoughts as we watch a movie. It matters.

Vincent Laforet’s thoughts on 5D Mark III raw

Vincent Laforet is a photographer and filmmaker with a high profile track record in using DSLRs at the high end of video and movie production.

I asked his thoughts about the recent developments -

Vincent: Too little too late in my opinion. C Series and other cameras are what people should be focusing on… but I am looking into it to be honest… the RAW (sic) is cool – just the HDSLR limitations are still pretty severe relative to other cameras and production needs.

EOSHD: What do you think the biggest hindrance is – Hack reliability? File sizes?

Vincent: Hack reliability – and can the body TRULY survive doing this over time (heat/damage?)

I think Vincent will change his mind further down the line when the raw recording module is more developed, the workflow better and the camera totally reliable. I actually think high end productions will find a lot to like about raw on DSLRs too. The shortcomings of DSLRs didn’t stop Hollywood shooting reams of feature film scenes on DSLRs. There’s still stealth factor (Natalie Portman and Aronofsky on the New York metro), POV and helmet cameras, crash and vehicle cameras and the full frame look for framing faces so ably put to use on House in the hands of Gale Tattersall. To have all that in Alexa rivalling raw is ground breaking. New compact gyro stabilised rigs like MoVI work better with a small DSLR than an Alexa or fully kitted out Epic, so there’s another reason why a high end production team could and should embrace the 5D Mark III with raw not to mention the fact that the image just looks nicer than the Cinema EOS C300. Raw from a full frame sensor as good as the one in the 5D Mark III is just flat out better looking than compressed 8bit MPEG!

When Vincent shot Reverie that image was considered cutting edge, now it is superseded by the C300, 1D C, etc. The raw image from the 5D Mark III supersedes even those in some ways. That is exciting.

Blackmagic

When Blackmagic first announced their Cinema Camera, and again this year at NAB with the Pocket Cinema Camera and 4K Production model, they generated a similarly excited response at NAB many times larger than the usual camera launch.

Raw on the 5D Mark III is in many ways even bigger news because the image is better and the design of the camera is lighter, smaller and it happens to do superb stills as well. Pricing is just as attractive as the Blackmagic at around $3000 body only.

In this situation buyers look to DSLR community leaders to advise them. One’s response to this news is more muted than his reaction to Blackmagic and both raw-related reactions were more muted to the fan fair given to the $6000 Canon 1D X. The blogger admits to loving a full frame image and that on the 1D X for your extra $3000 you get a slight sharpness improvement over the 5D Mark III. Now the hack has taken the full frame image of the 5D Mark III to a whole new realm and way beyond the 1D X, there’s not the same enthusiasm from him for it. I’m baffled by this, and similar views from others, who have pigeonholed this groundbreaking event as a hobbyist thing. C’mon! Raw is the future. Storage space and media capacities are improving so quickly that they have given us a glimpse of this future already.

Similar to me with my love of raw on the BMCC and 5D Mark III, he’s now a Canon 1D C owner for the image,and the image alone, not the headaches of actually shooting with it. As I said in my review of the 1D C it has many practical and ergonomic issues due to being a DSLR with huge file sizes on compact flash cards, but the image is beautiful. The blogger in question happily endorses such an expensive camera based on the superior image, but not the arguably superior raw shooting 5D Mark III for $3000!  This is inconsistent.

Magic Lantern

Magic Lantern have given Canon customers a lot of superb functionality over the years for free and I believe they should be richly rewarded for doing so. They are an incredibly skilful team of developers, with unique knowledge. To call Magic Lantern a ‘hack’ is not accurate. It is as sophisticated as a complex software package. What we have here is not a hack as we know it with the GH2, where encryption was broken and existing parameters simply changed from within. We have a bespoke firmware for advanced filmmakers and photographers.

Without any inside knowledge they have taken an existing product aimed towards a wide audience and improved on it to make it more tailored to the needs of advanced creatives and pros. Sales of the 5D Mark III will go up as a result, but the Magic Lantern team probably won’t see a cent of it unfortunately. I hope this can change.

“Story matters”

In the 1970′s Pink Floyd were locked in a room for years experimenting, shaping and discovering as they went along a completely new sound, the sound that would later shape Dark Side of The Moon. I think young cinematographers are doing the same with raw on the 5D Mark III and Blackmagic Cinema Camera, shaping their ‘feel’ to images and with it filmmaking itself.

But whilst the soundscapes were taking shape someone keeps shouting at the band as they play – “but what about the lyrics!? That’s all that matters!!”

I’m seeing this more and more and very rarely does a leap in image quality go by – be it Red, full frame, raw, 4K or even laser projection without the cry of “none of it matters”. This is ridiculous of course it matters.

Without technological progress we’d all be shooting only in black and white. Technology broadens your creative scope. Black and white is beautiful but sometimes it isn’t what you want to shoot with.

There’s too much emphasis on storytelling as the be all and end all of filmmaking. Again the music analogy holds up. Many songs have lyrics but instrumentals and orchestral scores are still emotionally charged without any. Furthermore some of the best lyrics aren’t narrative, they’re allegorical, and the same goes for films.

There’s not one aspect of a film that matters most, everything does. A good story is unconvincing without great actors. Great acting is let down if the cinematography doesn’t also convey the same strength of feeling. Good writing cannot hide poor audio and bad music cannot ascend to the realms of greatness simply by adding better lyrics. Everything matters. Everything. It is not possible to appreciate one aspect in isolation if it is not in isolation!

Arri and 4K

4K is only one of 15 things that makes up a cinematic looking image and Arri recently said they’re holding off on a 4K update to the Alexa as 2K upscales so brilliantly. So it does – I’ve seen this done on prototype Sony hardware and it works amazingly.

However, to hold back advancing one of those ingredients because of the current status quo is a poor future product strategy.

Steve Jobs (and his quotes seem to be very much en vogue at the moment, like a mythical deity of some kind rather than the creative and acute businessman he was) used a sporting analogy in that he always tried to move ahead to where the ball was going rather than follow where it has just been, the claim being he was able to catch the zeitgeist ahead of his rivals. Apple certainly did that under Steve Jobs, and comforting though it is to think the tools you have now will be cutting edge for years, one day the 2K Alexa will be tired and old and obsolete.

Hopefully raw on the 5D Mark III will be embraced by pros and will give Canon pause for thought on how conservatively they have pushed their technology recently.

Always go to where the ball is going.

Right now the ball is in raw’s court.

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