Archive for March, 2009
The death of still photography?
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2, video on March 10th, 2009
In This Week in Photography’s (TWIP) podcast is an interesting discussion of the possibility that still photography will die… the show is entitiled “The Death of Still Photography?
The future of still photography, Alex gives a PMA round-up, and Pictage CEO Jason Kiefer tells photographers to keep their day jobs”
As i listened to the beginning (where they discuss the video/still issue) i was still plagued that nobody really talks about those people who need both tools. The discussion centered around still photographers as artists. They discussed how still photographers may not need/want to learn video etc. But they really neglected the whole group of still photographers that must also learn video - the best example i can show right now is the post the other day First 5D mk ii video from Afghanistan. We’ll see lots of photojournalists who need to do both stills and video in the future. It goes into many other fields as well… wedding, family portraits, real estate photography, etc. The uses as the web grows are endless.
The podcast is worth a listen!
Fake Chuck asks “EOS 5D Mark II a risky investment?”
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2 on March 10th, 2009
In his latest rant, Fake Chuck Westfall asks is the EOS 5D Mark II a risky investment? Pointing out questions about the AutoFocus and noise issues, he raises some interesting questions… but are we nit picking?
I’ve never paid such close attention to any camera release as i have with this 5D mk ii (obviously I’m trying to read everything to give you guys the news), but i am a little concerned to a degree at the number of posts that I’ve seen complaining about things that just don’t work 100% correctly. Is it because we’re just too focussed on the details now, before, when digital was young, the images weren’t just good enough. Now that they’re at 21mp, are we too picky?
As i continue to say tho, there are some phenomenal things being produced with this camera - so maybe we’re indeed just being picky.
Sound off in the comments!
Cameralensrentals has 100 batteries
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2 on March 10th, 2009
Hey y’all - i know many of you are hunting and hunting for batteries for your 5D mk ii. Well i can finally announce that my friend Barry over at CameraLensRentals.com in Indiana has 100 batteries that will be arriving at his shop next week!
To order, go to his new order page. The Batteries are shown under “Body Accessories” on the navigation on the left side of the page.
I got my 5D mk ii body thru him and i also got my spare battery thru him as well. Everyone I have talked to raves about him so I know there’s no gouging going on.
If you are able to get a battery thru Barry, please make sure he knows you came thru me and, please tell all of your photography friends of planet5D - thank you!
First 5D mk ii video from Afghanistan
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2, video on March 9th, 2009
When digging around earlier for the information on the U2 video, i was exploring the blog of the photographer James Vellacott who took the U2 video. Low and behold, there was a post about his trip to Afghanistan around Christmas. Guess what! He took a 5D mk ii and posted some video. This might be the first to come back from Afghanistan. (Click on the “HQ” icon in the lower right corner of the box for HD quality)
This is the ‘medley’ video he put together and the post where it was found
Earlier reports:
My friend from twitter, @tylerGinter (who is 55th Combat Camera Company Platoon Leader) says “Can’t wait till we send 20 to Iraq and Afghan this summer!” He also reports: “I do know a NY Times photographer taking one shortly to Afghan to shoot video!”
It is wonderful to see what can be done with the camera as well as becoming more aware of what the UK troops who are fighting for peace around the world are doing.
Editing 5D mk ii video and other stuff
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2 on March 9th, 2009
There are a lot of questions about editing video that comes out of the 5D mk ii. I’d like to get a whole section put up in the wiki about it (and there’s some good stuff there now, but it isn’t very complete.
Stephen Alvarez has done a series of posts on dealing with the 5D2. The first ones were covered here.
His two latest posts are about editing 5D2 video materials and today he has posted about using the glidecam 2000 with the 5D2.
Just now, he also just posted yet another article on syncing the sound from a 5D mk ii. Which has some real good information in it.
Stephen is a great 5D mk ii resource!
U2 Live on the 5D mk ii
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2, video on March 9th, 2009
davedodg on twitter alerted us to a U2 concert that was performed on a rooftop in London last Friday. The event was filmed and photographed by James Vellacott on 2 5D mk ii cameras from the hotel opposite and documented on this blog post
You can download the entire video of the concert via this link
The BBC’s coverage from the rooftop (don’t know if they had a 5D mk ii)
Also interesting is the follow up post by the photographer about how the BBC wasn’t too happy with his coverage.
UPDATE: Edmond Terakopian suggests the BBC should buy 5D mk iis for their photogs based on the success James is having.
James seems to like using his Canon 5D mk ii. Here, in another blog post, he’s used his 5D2 to video another photographer from the same staff doing a shoot of a skater (his post is here)
And yet, i continue to read about how the 5D mk ii is not a good video camera - makes me smile every time!
What is planet5D?
For those of you new to planet5D, we’ve got more Canon 5D mk ii information and reviews/still/video samples than anywhere else on the planet. We have this blog, and we also have the 5d Wiki with tons of samples and 5d information. Please look around before you go and come back to see us again!
Don’t forget to sign up for the feed so you don’t miss out on anything!
Peeping tom!
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2 on March 9th, 2009
Our new friend James Hill (sultanasandwich on twitter) sent me a video of his “Peeping Tom” series. The video is a “how it was done” video shot on the 5D mk ii while he was using the 5d to shoot the photos. Very well done showing the whole process including the editing in PS. The photo series is over on flickr and worth a look.
Wow Videos
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2 on March 8th, 2009
Ok y’all, I’ve been holding on to a few videos lately, there’s tons of them coming out but there are a couple that just knock your socks off!
Note - as with the NIN videos, you’re best choice is to go to the video over on the vimeo site and download the full size videos to see them in their full glory (granted, they are only 720, not 1080 size - and they’re converted to 24 frames per second by vimeo).
The first two are by the same gentleman, Michael Fletcher. These are just some phenomenal videos.
Images of Australia’s Southwest from Michael Fletcher on Vimeo.
Images of the Leeuwin National Park from Michael Fletcher on Vimeo.
I was reading a story about a couple of journalists working with the canon 5D mk ii and they referred us to this stunning video report.
The Road to Recovery from David Stephenson on Vimeo.
Now for some “real” uses of video - the first, Cinema5d has a post from a gentleman doing some testing for a movie. Girl Heist! 24p dramatic scene with sync sound the source isn’t on vimeo, so you’ll have to go to the post to see it.
Also from Cinema5d, there’s this post including a short movie - the author is looking to include it in a film festival.
5D Mark II - Short Film “Lucky Day” from MG Studio on Vimeo.
And another, a production level video about “Tailspin” - the discussion thread on Cinema5d which also includes many still shots and discussion of how it was made.
Talespin from Sebastian Woeber on Vimeo.
And lastly (for now) Greg submitted two of his latest works, both really well done commercials. The first one has a Cinema5d discussion thread
500HP MUSTANG Procharger from Greg Filipkowski on Vimeo.
Vegan Queen by Vispol.tv from Greg Filipkowski on Vimeo.
A different grip?
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2 on March 8th, 2009
Something that came out of the PMA show was a new non-canon grip for the 5D mk ii.
RSS - a good way to keep up
Posted by planetMitch in 5D2 on March 8th, 2009
As days go by, i post and post over on twitter about new blog posts etc, only to see someone who missed out on some news. Well, if you’re not able to watch twitter all day (and it is a distraction) but you don’t want to miss out on any news, then you really should start using RSS to watch the news.
Read up a bit on RSS from this earlier post here on the blog and then sign up for the feed so you don’t miss out on anything!
If you’d like to subscribe to the RSS feed, simply click the ‘subscribe in a reader’ link above.
What is RSS?
In case you don’t know what the heck I’m babbling about, here’s a primer on RSS from Google.
Basically, RSS is a way for you to use an “RSS reader” (there are many out there) to get your news from planet5D or from any other site that supports RSS. So instead of you needing to come to planet5D to read the latest news, you can be alerted in your RSS reader that new news is available and you can read it right there.