garethw

Hi there,
I've shot a fair bit on the 5D3 in ML raw over the last few months, the quality is awesome, rich and vibrant and very sharp... The quality of the images makes it alone worth the hassle...
A couple of things I've found:
1) Despite a fast 1066x Lexar card the MLV plus audio stops recording after around 20 seconds.. Not a big deal for scenics and b roll, but a major headache for any interview or longer shot situation... Plain raw gives continuous recording as long as I have needed so far. But with no audio... Not a deal breaker because I can record audio separately, but it adds another step to an already complicated and time consuming workflow.
2) If you are not careful you get vertical banding on the DNG conversions... MLVviewer has button to fix this for the MLV's and raw2dng in its lastest edition also fixes it. BUT I got tripped up on my first shoot and failed to notice the lines until it was too late.
3) Workflow , while relatively simple is lonnnnnnnng, ans sloooooooooow on my PC. Each file is converted to a DNG which I then take into After Effects to apply a LUT and save as a DNxHD file for editing in PPro. If I have a days shooting just to get a series of editable files takes an age.
4) You need to be careful of your shadow details... with a raw photo in camrearaw you can boost the shadow visibility, but if you start to lighten them in raw video the noise becomes apparent very quickly.. You have less possibilities as far as I can see than with a raw photo.
However the end results are beautiful..and way, way better than the H264 shots. Especially for scenics.
I have however just got a C100 which on initial tests even in the AVCHD internal recording holds up very well with the 5D raw footage. The audio is in camera and I can edit right from the off ..
If I need more gradable files I can hook up a Ninja et voilà...
Enjoy your camera it is a great tool...
cheers
Gareth