A professional photographer friend of mine recently asked me what I thought about the new Canon Mark II 5D. He said he had been approached by at least one wedding videographer and asked if he would be OK with them using it at a wedding. I myself, until that moment, hadn't really thought about it at all. This sparked some great correspondence between the two of us on its impact on wedding photographers/videographers.
In case you don't know, the buzz about the Canon 5D is that it is a DSLR that also shoots HD video. And unlike the earlier Nikon DSLR, this one shoots a full 1920x1080 HD image!
This has opened a whole new world to wedding photographers. Many are embracing the term "Fusion" by combining both photo's and video together with their final product. This really is nothing new. Many companies have offered video/photo packages and created vignettes for couples. But if you remember my opening statement, my photographer friend was asked by a
videographer if it would be OK for them to use this camera at a wedding. So why in the world would a videographer want this camera? Simple; shallow depth of field and interchangeable lenses.
Have you ever watched a Hollywood film that had a wedding sequence and compared it to a wedding videographer's highlight film? Besides the huge Hollywood budget, actors and lighting, there is one very big thing that sets them apart. The subjects are sharp in focus and the foreground and background are out of focus. This is called shallow depth of field and combined with 24 fps creates the "film look".
Until the fusion cameras came around, there was only one way for wedding videographers to offer the "film look", and that was with a DOF adapter. If you have ever used one of these you know how hard it is to focus properly and the poor performance in low light.
They are not well suited for the run-and-gun situations of a wedding.
Along comes the Canon 5D with true HD video and the ability to achieve the shallow DOF with interchangeable lenses quickly and easily. It's the holy grail for budget film makers and wedding videographers. I have to admit, when I first started researching this camera I thought, this is too good to be true! And, unfortunately, in many ways it is.
The thing we have to remember is that this is a DSLR, a photo camera. That is what it was built for. The addition of HD video capture is nice but it isn't an HD video camera. Remember, Canon makes some really nice HD video cameras that cost twice as much as the 5D.
Why would they offer this camera for half the cost if it could do as much or more than their video camera? Simply put, they wouldn't and they didn't.
There are a lot of things a video camera has that this does not but there are a few specific things that prove this camera will not replace an HD video camera:
1. The 5D only shoots HD video in Auto Mode. You have no control over the Iris, ISO, Shutter Speed, Etc.
2. It only shoots HD at 30fps. There is no option for 24p which is, of course, the other half of the "film look".
3. The 5D uses H.264 compression at 35.6 Mbit/s. Not a huge drawback but it isn't as nice as the XDCam or Panasonic codecs.
4. You can only capture up to 12 minutes of video per SD card. And that is if you don't take ANY pictures. (The upside being that SD cards are CHEAP!)
5. CMOS image sensor with horizontal blur. (In fairness, all CMOS video cameras have this flaw)
Now before my photographer friends start pointing out the great features like the 21 MP Full-Frame image sensor, the high ISO settings and such, remember that I am looking at this strictly from a video point of view. There is no doubt this is a great photo camera. After all, that is what it was built for.
But even with the really cool shallow DOF and interchangeable lens capability, it falls short from being a great video camera. It just isn't practical for shooting an entire wedding.
Now then, with all of that said, this is going to be a great tool for photographers who want to shoot a few fun video sequences and produce some brilliant little vignettes. But it won't replace professional video cameras.
Obviously there are some wedding videographers who are considering this camera to add to their arsenal. I say, if you have the extra money, why not.
But I personally am going to hold off. I could buy a really nice DOF adapter for half the cost and probably use it just as much. No, I think I am going to save my money for the next generation of HD video cameras with full control over exposure and frame rate, with timecode, gamma settings and XLR audio inputs.
What I am excited about the most, with the advent of the 5D, is that this hopefully means there is a new generation of large sensor HD video cameras on the horizon. After all, if Canon can put this large image sensor in the 5D, why not in the XH-A1? I'm sure Sony doesn't want to be
outdone so they too will come out with something new and Panasonic will be sure to offer something to their faithful indie crowd. And let's not forget that the RED One should be hitting the market soon.
No, it's not the end of video cameras or wedding videographers. Fusion is just the beginning.
