EDIT: Obviously this was an April Fools’ Day joke, but one day much of this may come true. Humour is a very important part of life and if we cannot laugh at ourselves then who can we laugh at! 
We have been hearing mutterings of this for the past few weeks. “Top DPs in Europe testing out RAW recording on Canon 5Dmkii”. It all sounded like nonsense didn’t it? Well I can exclusive reveal today (we are ahead of the US in time zones here in the UK) as the embargo I was given 0001 BST 1/4/10 has now passed…Canon have done exactly what we wanted. RAW baby, RAW! New firmware will be released imminently for every camera from the Rebel T1i/ 500D through to the 1DmkiV giving it the much desired RAW recording on the memory cards. Not just that, but they have also finally unlocked the HDMI out to give us an uncompressed feed so we can plug in our Nanoflash or KiPro and record into a format that we have dreamed of!!
Yes, your video can now look as good as this! RAWWWWW!!!!
The RAW recording on cards (Class II for SDHC cards, 10mb/s for CF cards) I understand is limited to 120 seconds per clip due to heat accumulation. Personally I am a bit disappointed in this, I would have been happy with ProRes in camera rather than RAW as this may have reduced the heat issues but I guess they couldn’t license it. Thankfully though, uncompressed HDMI out can run as long as you want! Here are some of the options that will let us unlock the true potential of this camera! 
and here are some exclusive shots of the new firmware’s menu options…
As you can see from the 5DmkII version above we have a massive sized image now available in 24p video mode and not just that but we can overcrank to 160 frames per second in 2K. This is absolutely huge!
Of course this truly is a “game changer” and will mean we lose the aliasing and moire issues of old and gain an immensely powerful filmmaking tool for the price of a nice TV! I have yet to use the firmware but I understand the much requested 1080i 50i/ 60i interlaced mode has been added for the coveted “video look”. I have been missing this as am sick of that mock “film look” progressive nonsense!
I also understand they have fixed the rolling shutter issue by adding a new feature which the Japanese boffins in Tokyo have dubbed “beer goggles” which senses when the image is skewed and fixes it in camera! Awesome!
Other new features included a “digital ND” in which a translucent dark pixels are mapped over the sensor and the intensity can be dialled in so everyone can shoot with depth of field as shallow as Hal. This will make a lot of people very happy!
Also it appears if you install the firmware on any of the Nikon DSLRs it runs a Canon emulation mode. Great news!
Acclaimed DSLR users like Shane Hurlbut ASC and Vincent LaForet have been reportedly frothing at the mouth with excitement over this news. Unfortunately Shane was mistaken for having rabies and is now in quarantine for 30 days. His Elite Team are apparently working on a breakout…
This announcement just days before the start of NAB in Vegas is surely going to upset a lot of people. Red’s notoriously tight lipped Jim Jannard has released the following official statement regarding this news…”Shit.”
I have just downloaded the firmware and installed it on the 12 Canon bodies that I have, tomorrow I will release an edit together of some trees, leaves, flowers, water and ducks shot in RAW edited to some Vivaldi…stay tuned I will upload the video as soon as possible (unfortunately one side effect of the new RAW recording is we lose the ability to do timelapse due to the removal of the camera’s stills function, which as you know I adored, so I will probably keep one of my Canon’s on the old firmware)…In the meantime here is the official sexy poster that Canon have released, epic!!
Here is the download link to the new firmware. You will need to register to get the firmware. Please do not skip this step or you will be unable to enjoy RAW!
Dan Parrack
April 2, 2010 at 15:00Oh man, you got me so good. I almost sold a kidney to get a 5DmkII. I had my boss convinced that we need to get these cameras for our show. I cant believe that I fell for this. And even looking back at your post, I should have known.
“…the coveted “video look”. I have been missing this as am sick of that mock “film look” progressive nonsense!”
Come on man.
needless to say,
You got me.
Rupert James
April 2, 2010 at 15:58“The greatest camera in the world is the one you hold in your hands when shit happens.” Raoul Isidro
chris
April 2, 2010 at 17:57bet your site hasnt seen that much traffic in a loooong time.
wonder if you did that the safe way… like contacting Canon first and asking for permission.. For a guy that gets so much equipment for free i guess that d be the way…
Clay
April 2, 2010 at 19:11Red’s notoriously tight lipped Jim Jannard has released the following official statement regarding this news…”Shit.”
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
Alan
April 11, 2010 at 04:12LMFAO
Clay
April 2, 2010 at 19:17Good thing B&H is closed! You naughty devil, I can only imagine the cameras flying off the shelves when they get back to work.
haha
Adrian Langford
April 3, 2010 at 07:25Hehe. Very good. I thought the funniest bit was the throwaway comment about ‘losing the stills facility.’
5D Mark II TEAM
April 3, 2010 at 07:30- We like and support the idea of having a “clean” HDMI output (please Canon remove the “white square” on the HDMI output and keep it at highest possible resolution), and lot more possible improvements indeed!
Some of those requested improvements were even implemented on T2i/550D! (but not on the 5D Mark II yet), many are extremely easy, others require more work, and others very hard work.
- But well, aside that, this is not an April Fools’ Day joke:
Canon will release a firmware update (yes, another one)
And we sincerely hope they do implement some improvements that are hugely requested and, as we said, very easy to do in many cases.
More information coming soon
5D Mark II TEAM
April 5, 2010 at 14:07- New REPORT about MALFUNCTION in Firmware 2.0.4 of 5D Mark II posted in our Blog:
http://5dmark2.wordpress.com/
It is fully confirmed.
We hope Canon take this chance not only to fix this issue, but also to add a bit more easy fixes/improvements, so much requested by thousands of users since more than 1 year ago.
pbloom
April 5, 2010 at 14:30can u post this on the blog post about the bug?
5D Mark II TEAM
April 5, 2010 at 21:22Have just done, but it doesn’t appear as “waiting for moderation” (doesn’t appear anything)
Thanks.
Alessandro
April 3, 2010 at 10:06Great! Dear Phil, this fantastic news … reminds me a lot when Orson Welles announced the arrival of aliens and created panic. . . good April 1, hello ale
Diesel Film
April 3, 2010 at 12:03Man, PB. You totally got me! That sucks! I was poised to purchase two more 7D packages with my Red Scarlet budget!
Tonya
April 3, 2010 at 12:25PHILIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is terrible! I’m still hoping to read the joke is you weren’t joking.
Damn… I was waiting on the review to see if I should dump the 7d and finaly splurge for the 1DmkiV.
BOY DID YOU GET ME!
You better be glad that you are so amazingly AWESOME that I can’t stay mad atcha! You’re the Best!
DAMN! Even your jokes are the BEST!
Love ya Lots!
LOL
(laughing to hide the tears)
Twain
April 3, 2010 at 18:54This got me really good. Had me calling all my friends who have a 5D an telling them. Since we in Jamaica April Fool came late(TimeZone) and a got a call early with my friend cussing me out that i’m stupid. Good one Philip. LoL
mark
April 3, 2010 at 21:07Hi Philip,
After all this spectacular news (especial being able to achieve the video look … after all the film look was getting very boring) do you know if they have added a VHS proxy mode to really exploit the these cameras to their full potential? as the new HD is retro 1970′s SD.
What is the proposed timeline to add a sudo tube mode the the line up as there just isn’t enought of those green streaks anymore!
5D Mark II TEAM
April 4, 2010 at 14:56Seems our comment is not appearing
Josh Thacker
April 6, 2010 at 04:38The “firmware” link to the Celine Dion forum is superb.
Tarek Kandil
April 16, 2010 at 08:00Mr. Bloom this was hilarious. Looking back today, I realize that your mock up of the poster for canon looks … bloody fantastic, by the way.
Was noteworthy. Canon RAW. Sharp stuff sir. Hats off
Also a big hats off from Lebanon on behalf of all of us who shoot lilbigchips. Thank you for all your contribution, we look forward to more always.
T
Medea
April 21, 2010 at 21:05…I was so interested in that DIGITAL ND FILTER… above all
Philip, I hate you
Seth
April 25, 2010 at 04:05Firmware 6.6.6? Very clever. I bet you giggled to yourself when you came up with that
Zander White | Photography
April 27, 2010 at 04:27My pop sent it to me and it got me good. He follows/trusts your blog so it had me wondering, that is until I clicked on an image! Gotta give it to you, that is probably the best prank in a while. The only problem is that Canon will definitely want to make a buck off RAW capture!
Cristian Jose Kons
April 30, 2010 at 13:42Philip,
You with their experience, think it would be possible only through development of a new firmewire would I ask this because I’m about to buy two 5D, and that would be a much desired future perspective and wonderful.
alehx
May 1, 2010 at 18:32Philip tells me please, can I do the same with my EOS 7D?
cayla93
June 3, 2010 at 15:07firwere 6.6.6
LowZo
August 9, 2010 at 19:03You guys have a top blog. Keep up the good work.