Zacuto Great Camera Shootout 2010 - Film vs HD-DSLR

If you've been to the CAS presentation in Mumbai last weekend, and are wondering how HD-DSLRs would fare in tests like these, please check out the Zacuto tests. This was Film - Kodak and Fuji - stocks exposing the same scenes as six top DSLRs that shoot HD video 5D MKII, 7D, 1D, 550D/T2i Rebel, Nikon D3s, Panasonic GH1.
 

Results of the tests, the Zacuto Great Camera Shootout 2010 - Film vs HD-DSLR are as below...

Zacuto Great Camera Shootout 2010: It's all About Latitude

Zacuto Great Camera Shootout 2010 Webisode 2: How Sensitive Can You Get?

The Great Camera Shootout 2010 Web 3: The Revolution Begins...

If you are a member, you can download these.
 

For those who don't yet know about the HD-DSLR phenomenon, its about still cameras that shoot video at HD resolution. Some love it, some gloss over the defects, most just get on with the job of taking great pictures.

Collectively, an estimated 200,000+ still cameras that can do HD video may have been sold so far.

Video DSLRs - how good are they really

The original intent of the Canon 5d MkII was not to be a video camera, nor challenge any existing video cameras. It was made to fulfill a specific need of reporters from Reuters who could shoot pro quality stills with the occasional video.

The video format of the Canon 5D MkII was made as 30 fps not 29.97 fps with that specific intention.  Reuters reporters were expected to create video for the web with this device. Web can work with 30fps every bit as well as 29.97 fps.

The form factor of the camera is friendly for still photographers so they could concentrate on shooting stills rather than learn a whole new alien interface as well as method of using a camera. Still photographers simply wouldn't have been able to easily adjust to a shoulder mount camera. On the other hand, holding a camera at arm's length and looking at an LCD screen is not very new to them.

What Canon did not estimate is how well the video fraternity took this camera up. They have sold nearly 50,000 5dMkII models and maybe about half as many 7Ds. And now there's the 1D MkIV. Together, through 2010 Canon could easily move probably a 100,000 pieces.

There is probably no video camera, and definitely no pro HD or higher resolution camera that can ever hope to sell these numbers. Even the Red, arguably the post popular pro digital movie camera so far, has sold not too many over 5000.

One of the benefits of making a still camera that shoots video, rather than a video camera that shoots stills, is that still shooters who use the SLR form factor are generally good photographers. They have a strong sense of composition and pictorial language.

They often also make a living out of taking pictures. Hence, by and large, videos from these vDSLRs seem to be pretty decent looking compared to the shaky, zoomy, swimmy videos most amateurs dish out of handycam type video cameras.

Vimeo, Flickr, smugmug, Exposure Room are full of some really great video from vDSLRs. Perya, Dublin's People, Nocturne, are just some examples.

Granted, they may be unsuitable for broadcast, but there is a huge, not-recession-ridden market of wedding video, corporate video, and internet video that can benefit from vDSLRs.

The new Canon 1D MkIV

Canon announced yet another HD capable DSLR - the 1DMkIV - pronounced one dee mark four.

The official Canon announcement is here...

Vincent Laforet who immortalised the Canon 5D MkII has done a sneak preview yet again. And written a stirring piece on the future of HD-DSLRs here

And the movie he shot is available in full HD glory at smugmug here

Meanwhile, fxguide.com reports that the 5DMkII will soon have 24fps and 25fps capability in the months to come. With the coming of the 7D that does 24 and 25fps, and now the 1DMkIV, that will also do 24 and 25 fps. Canon probably realised that there would be a drop in 5D MkII sales (which only does 30fps), hence this addition.

Vincent's view on HD-DSLRs is apt, and I too see this as a paradigm shift to cameras that shoot with little or no light. But it needs cinematographers who see shooting movies that way. Or, there could be a breed of new photographers turned cinematographers, and docu film-makers who will do things different.

HD-DSLR video also mean doing movies that need little or no colour grading after shooting. This is also a big deal in these days of 'safety film' - meaning a medium with lots of latitude - which is what film is viewed as. Canon HD movies don't have that kind of latitude so you pretty much have to 'make do' with what you shoot.

But then, why doesn't Canon just make a proper movie camera that does HD video? Probably because Canon has a large stake in lens sales to HD video cameras, which they don't want affected. Or, maybe, Canon sees itself as a still camera company, a market that's much larger than the movie camera market.

Shooting great stills digitally (totally acceptable as film replacement) along with the occasional great HD video, is perceived more valuable than doing modest HD video with substandard or no still capability - where most HD cameras in this price range are at.

The days to come promise some interesting visual times.

Canon 7D HD movie mode post-production

Some gleanings on the HD movie mode of the Canon 7D, from the user manual.

First, you can't zoom while the movie is being recorded. But you can zoom between takes, like you do any other movie camera. This isn't much of a problem for any classical movie makers who don't zoom while filming.

Second, you can't 'autofocus' while recording. But you can use autofocus and even face detect to help focus just before 'taking'.

And some figures for post on Canon 7D movies.

The Canon 7D records to HD movies (1080p or 720p) at frame rates that can be set to 24, 25 or 30. The real frame rates are...

23.976 fps with the camera set to 24
25 fps with the camera set to 25
29.97 fps with the camera set to 30
50 fps with the camera set to 50
59.94 fps with the camera set to 60

These odd numbers like 23.976, 29.97, and 59.94 are used to make the camera NTSC-friendly. If you're in the PAL world, this isn't a huge problem if you're using FCP. You can 'conform' 23.976 fps to 24 fps in Cinema Tools.

All these frame rates are progressive. The Canon 7D like most DSLRs that shoot HD movies, doesn't support interlaced.

Canon 7D HD movie data rates and disk space requirements are...

1920x1080 - at 24, 25 or 30
You can shoot 12 mins on a 4 Gb Card, 49 mins on a 16 Gb card,
Which is 330 MBytes/min, or 19.33 GBytes/hr,
A 1 TB drive will hold 50 hrs

1280x720 - at 50 or 60
You can shoot 12 mins on a 4 Gb Card, 49 mins on a 16 Gb card,
Which is 330 MBytes/min, or 19.33 GBytes/hr
A 1 TB drive will hold 50 hrs

640x480 - at 50 or 60
You can shoot 24 mins on a 4 Gb Card, 99 mins on a 16 Gb card,
Which is 165 MBytes/min, or 9.9 GBytes/hr
A 1 TB drive will hold 95 hrs

If you plan to edit these files in FCP you need to convert them to Apple ProRes. Apple ProRes comes in five flavours. Three of the top ones are ProRes, ProResHQ and ProRes 4444

When Canon HD movies are converted to ProRes, they take up space as follows...

ProRes - 1080p24 takes up 53 GB/hr
or 18 hrs per 1 TB drive
ProResHQ - 1080p24 takes up 79 GB/hr
or 12 hrs per 1 TB drive
ProRes4444 - 1080p24 takes up 119 GB/hr
or 8 hrs per 1 TB drive

ProRes - 720p50 takes up 55 GB/hr
or 17 hrs per 1 TB drive
ProResHQ - 1080p24 takes up 83 GB/hr
or 11 hrs per 1 TB drive
ProRes4444 - 1080p24 takes up 124 GB/hr
or 7 hrs per 1 TB drive

Note that converting Canon HD movies to ProRes won't make the quality better, They will be editable easily. And colour correction will be easier as well.

If you work on an Avid, you need to convert to DNxHD. In that case, Canon HD movies when converted to DNxHD will take up...

DNxHD 175x - 1080p24 takes up 49 GB/hr
or 19 hrs per 1 TB drive
DNxHD 115 - 1080p24 takes up 74 GB/hr
or 13 hrs per 1 TB drive

Here too, converting Canon HD movies to DNxHD won't make the quality better. But they will be editable easily. And colour correction will be easier as well.

Finally, Canon HD movies don't carry any timecode. So if you're converting to ProRes or DNxHD you need to work with these converts and treat them like your original media. There's no need to 'upgrade' to the original movies. Sort of like XDCamEx or HDV when imported into FCP via Log and Transfer.

In the coming weeks I'll be working on the post of a short film shot on a Canon 7D. So more gleanings on how to do a DSLR video post smoothly will emerge. Keep reading...

The new Canon 7D - another still camera that shoots HD.

On the 1st Sep 2009, Canon put out yet another DSLR (Digital single lens reflex) camera that shoots HD video. The new Canon 7D. What makes this different from all the other HD capable still cameras is that this camera can do multiple frame rates. 24, 25,30, 50 and 60 fps.

For me, the features that matter, in this new camera are... 

Depth of field

The Canon 7D sensor is not full frame but APS-C (a specification of frame size). Many film pros have lamented that this is not 'full frame'. That's what photographers call the full 35mm still photography frame. That's important because one of the things that makes video look like video and film like film is depth of field.

Sure, The Canon is 'only' APS-C but APS-C is not small. Consider the following frame sizes of different cameras.

35mm film still frame - 36x24 mm - diagonal 43 mm

35mm film Super35 frame - 24.89x18.66 mm - diagonal 31 mm

Red One frame - 24.4x13.7 mm - diagonal 28 mm

Canon 7D frame - 22.3x14.9 mm - diagonal 27 mm

Genesis/Sony F-35 - 23.62x13.28 mm - diagonal 27 mm

2/3" cameras - 14.75x8.30 mm - diagonal 16.93 mm

16mm - 10.26x7.48 mm - diagonal 12.69 mm

Super16 - 12.52x7.41mm - diagonal 14.54 mm

Focal length is proportional to the image diagonal. And the longer the diagonal, the longer the focal length, the shorter the depth of field (DOF).

So, the Canon 7D frame, while being smaller than 35mm still 'full frame', is not significantly smaller than Super35, Red or the other digital cameras. So the Canon 7D would appear to have a depth of field comparable to Super35 film and most other digital cameras. And vastly better depth of field than 16mm, and prosumer Digital camcorders.

Frame rate

The Canon 7D shoots at a range of frame rates and formats, like...

1080p23.98, 1080p25, 1080p29.97

720p50, 720p59.94

Note that its not actually 24fps, but 23.976 fps. This 23.976 is some NTSC complication that PAL users simply can't fathom. But 23.976 is no big deal, and CinemaTools can convert it to 24fps instantly. Sound speed too can be very easily adjusted.

Incidentally, the earlier Canon 5D MkII like almost all other DSLRs that do HD video, can only shoot at 30 fps. Except the Panasonic GH1 that does 24fps.

Auto Focus

Autofocus in the Canon 7D actually works in HD movie mode. Not like a follow focus, but a snap focus when you half-press the click button. Like an assistant who pulls out a tape, measures and then sets focus. But focus doesn't adjust while shooting video. It has to be 'pulled' manually. Again no big deal once you get used to the lens.

Reduced rolling shutter

Because of the small sensor and faster shutter speeds available, the 7D should have less rolling shutter than the 5D MkII and other such cameras. I've seen examples and they seem OKish. But unless someone makes a side by side comparison, one can't be sure.

Rolling shutter is an issue with CMOS cameras, but with due care while shooting, its not a major problem.

Why 7D?

The greatest value in these DSLRs that shoot video (now called VDSLRs) is that its a tool in the hands of photographers. Who are capable of shooting really good images with available light.

Unlike cinematographers, still photographers don't whine for lights. As a discipline they're used to shooting with available light mostly. Even if you gave them shooting lights they probably won't be able to know what to do with them.

There are several reviews on this camera and you can find them at dpreview, gizmodo, and other photography sites. Many forums are discussing this actively.

Vimeo has examples too. This new space in imaging is hotting up. Keep in touch.