5d mark ii

The digital film look on a budget – 10 years after the Arri Alexa, what gets closest for cheapest?

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Hard to believe it, but EOSHD is nearly 10 years old!

2010 was a big year for digital cinema. The 5D Mark II was in full stride kickstarting DSLR filmmaking. Arri’s first proper digital film camera the Alexa was released and revolutionised filmmaking at the highest levels. Now all these years later I’m still looking – not for the sharpest, highest K, most featured packed modern camera but for a camera costing less than $1000 which has the most Alexa-like image.

Not on a technical level, of course, but in terms of the feel of the images and how cinematic the end-results are when viewed on the big screen.

Read moreThe digital film look on a budget – 10 years after the Arri Alexa, what gets closest for cheapest?

“The Uncertainty Has Settled”, a feature film shot using Magic Lantern raw video

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The Uncertainty Has Settled is available at Vimeo On Demand! (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/theuncertaintyhassettled)

“Are we doing the right thing?” That’s the question The Uncertainty Has Settled explores, and you may ask yourself the same thing about shooting Magic Lantern for the big screen! Crazy or inspired? My friend in Berlin, Volker Schmidt was behind the camera on this film, and the decision to shoot Magic Lantern raw video on the ‘vintage’ 5D Mark II…

Read more“The Uncertainty Has Settled”, a feature film shot using Magic Lantern raw video

A look at the camera setup on Oliver Stone’s Vladimir Putin Interviews, with DP Anthony Dod Mantle

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Anthony Dod Mantle is a well known cinematographer, responsible for pioneering work with digital from the very beginning, with Danny Boyle (28 Days Later) and Lars Von Trier.

So why is he shooting with a 5D Mark II in 2017?

Read moreA look at the camera setup on Oliver Stone’s Vladimir Putin Interviews, with DP Anthony Dod Mantle

Magic Lantern Raw Video – Current camera capabilities, updated for 2017

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There are 3 performance classes of Canon camera for raw video. Which should you use and what image quality can you expect?

Read moreMagic Lantern Raw Video – Current camera capabilities, updated for 2017

5 underrated cinematic images from “forgotten” cameras

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Some of my favourite images are from cinema cameras and DSLRs from which attention has long since drifted elsewhere!

Rest assured some of the older cameras on this list are better than any of the latest and greatest (if not in terms of usability then in terms of having an analogue film-like feel that screams “cinema” and not “digital”).

Here are my top 5.

Read more5 underrated cinematic images from “forgotten” cameras

Pictured: Venerable 5D Mark II used on new Mad Max movie

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The old 5D Mark II has had an outing on the long-delayed new Mad Max movie as a “semi-disposable stunt camera”. The DSLR was chosen as a proven work-horse crash-cam despite being released way back in 2008. Principal photography for the film completed in December 2012 but ended way over budget and recently underwent various re-shoots, pushing the release date from 2013 to May 2015.

The 5D Mark II is a very old model by 2014 standards but I’m actually not surprised it still gets some very nice work in the film industry. I’m working on updating my 5D Mark III raw shooter’s guide with the intent to provide a version for 5D Mark II users and in the process discovered something very interesting about how the models compare… More on that in a moment.

Read morePictured: Venerable 5D Mark II used on new Mad Max movie

UPDATED: Canon 5D 2K raw feed – 1920×720 possible on 1000x card?

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Download sample 2K DNG 24p frame from the hacked 5D Mark III and see the image quality for your own eyes!

Recently Magic Lantern had the breakthrough discovery of beautiful pin sharp 2K sensor feed in raw format on the 5D Mark II and 5D Mark III.

This completely turns our understanding of DSLR video image quality on its head. Why is the video quality so far from what the camera is really capable of?

Read moreUPDATED: Canon 5D 2K raw feed – 1920×720 possible on 1000x card?