Details of Canon 5DmkII firmware released?

As reported by Canonrumors.com and from a presentation in Poland we are getting 24p, 25p and 30p but no 720p mode at all. Personally am not surprised at lack of 720p. The 5dmkii chip heats up a lot when shooting video, more than the 1dmkiv and 7d chips and asking it to do twice as many frames a second may have caused spontaneous combustion!!

We are getting live histogram for exposure, manual audio with 64 level increments and change to 48khz for sound. All good stuff. Strange we are getting details released so oddly…we also had earlier reports that Canon had the timeframe as mid March on their site but that vanished quickly.

Well I guess we will find out what is and isn’t true soon. I am assuming there is not a second slide showing Zebras, headphone, 720p etc…!!

56 comments

  1. Good news that the wait is almost over. I see they have stolen some of the features from Magic Lantern! 😉

    25p and manual audio will be great for indie film makers and proves Canon is targeting (and listening to) that audience, which is good to see. Other manufacturers have been slow on the up-take, apart from maybe Panasonic (but they don’t listen!!)

    Why the change to 44k audio for the PAL 25p mode?

  2. Still glad I bought the 7D, in the end, its the most video user friendly camera of the bunch, cuz in-camera slow motion is just lovely.

    Are there any rumors about a firmware update or Magic Lantern for the 7D?

  3. Damn, Philip, I just saw that on another website and I rushed here to tell you the news. Seems you already knew it.

    Anyway, I wonder if they’re going to release a firmware update to the 7D and 1DMkIV as well. I could really use the manual sound level adjustment and histogram on my 7D…

  4. Thats great news for 5D users. Well I have a 550D way more exciting 😛 just joking. I hope that by the time the 5Dmk7 comes out a year from now… Ill be well practiced up (exaggeration but the way things are going possible). I predict that RED will hurry up now canon is flooding the market with great video products. Everyone check out my first slomo firefighting test with the 550D http://vimeo.com/9745447

  5. yes ! hopefully finally ! need sounds .

    but no slowmotion aint so cool. They should put in a nice large cpu fan on that thing 😀 i guess it will have to be slowmotion with fake frames then , kickass 😛

  6. So psyched about this if accurate – wasn’t sure they’d really do it.

    (stupid) Question: without the 60fps, is there no way to do a (quality) workaround for slow motion in post? (don’t say buy a 7d, lol)
    Thanks Philip!

  7. Good stuff, Philip.

    What still makes me wonder though why they still use the difference between NTSC and PAL. It’s all square pixels so format-wise it doesn’t really matter how you record, right? 30fps offers a gentle slowmo when brought back to 24fps, aside from the audio-sync issues (but that’s only natural to slowmo).

    I am guessing that Canon will introduce this upgrade with an improved version of the 5D (e.g. mark iii?) with a new chip that does offer 50/60fps, like the 7D/1D do.

    Still, it makes us 5D owners very, very happy to finally get 24/25p. Can’t wait.

  8. Good stuff! Got tired of waiting for the firmware and got the 7D last week. No regrets though. The camera is so much fun to use and more than I can handle anyway.

    But do you think we’ll get any of the goodies for the 7D?

  9. Sounds really good, defo gonna take the jump and buy a 5d when it’s released bit gutted about no variable frame rates though. Really wanna do some overcranking and undercranking. Do you think the 5d will ever get variable frame rates like the 7d etc

  10. Sounds really good defo gonna take the leap into HD DSLR and buy one. Bit gutted there are gonna be no variable frame rates though, do you think these will ever come on the 5d?

  11. hi mr bloom, i guess its good news! but bad news for 60p wishers like me.
    at the end of the day, we’re all very lucky that they are even updating the camera with such major improvements at no extra cost! manual control and now this. good onya canon.

    if you think of what apple have done with the iphone re. apps, wouldnt it be amazing if the dslr world went that way, lots of creative tools within apps for your camera.

    ahhh to dream, one day….. one day.

  12. Thanks for the great news Mr. Bloom!
    Hope they’ll tell us exactly when it’s gonna come out, though. I’ve been hesitating between 5DM2 and 7D. Now it’s 5DM2 all the way!

  13. Hi, Phillip

    I think there is an official note in Canon Professional Network website:

    “The introduction of the EOS 7D in autumn 2009 was the first Canon DSLR that offered a fully flexible HD movie system – with user selectable frame rates and manual exposure settings – straight ‘out of the box’. This has been followed by the EOS-1D Mark IV, featuring the same frame rate and exposure control as the 7D, and the announcement that such complete flexibility will come to the EOS 5D Mark II via a 2010 firmware update“.

    http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/technical/lights_DSLR_cameras_action.do

    Great stuff all your movies and blog posts.

    Best

  14. I’ve never tried one of them but, have you ever heard of HeadRoom headphone amps, Philip? They’re quite popular among the hi-fi and high-end audio enthusiasts and HeadRoom offers some micro/portable models (like this one: http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/headroom-portable-micro-amp.php) that could be used with the 5DMkII/7D’s AV output socket. The HeadRoom Portable Micro Amp is especially interesting because it uses rechargeable batteries that can run for almost 15 hours.

    Good to see the 5DMkII (almost) released. I hope the manual audio control could be a reality for the 7D too.

  15. Does anyone know where i can source the prior version of the 5D firmware? I foolishly upgraded to the latest version and cannot use Magic Lantern.

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