I only got it this morning, but me being me meant I had to get something up asap. Even though I am now in Dublin for the first F-Stop Academy Workshop this weekend. I took a few silly shots in the bar whilst having a proper man’s cocktail then went for dinner. So I didn’t start shooting this until just before midnight.
What I most missed about using the 5dmkII a lot is the inability to do slow motion in camera. I am so used to it with cameras like the EX1/3, HVX200 etc and even the GH1. So I wanted to do my first short ultilising the ability to do slow motion.
In Pal mode you can shoot 720p 50p or in NTSC mode 720p 60p. I went with 720p, made sure my shutter speed matched the frequency of the Irish power supply, 50hz, so I had the shutter at 1/100th and shot the whole lot at 50p using just my Canon L series 50mm f1.2 (which effectively becomes an 80mm with the 1.6 crop of the APS-C sensor) and my Canon 24mm f1.4.
Basically I just filmed myself in the bathroom having a shave. Very simple test. Tiny room, no additional lighting. All shot at 100 ISO or 200 ISO. I used my Marshall 6.5″ monitor mounted on top of the camera to help me shoot myself. The monitor only displays 480p when recording but it is so sharp that monitor that I was able to get focus pretty much spot on. Very simple film. Shot by me and starring me. Everyone else was asleep sensibly!
I brought the footage into my mac using my lexar fw800 reader. Converted to Pro Res LT with Mpeg streamclip then opened up Cinema tools and converted the whole lot from 50p to 25p which took about 5 seconds. What it does is simply change the metadata to say that the clip should play at 25fps instead of 50 which if you visualise it is almost stretching the clip out to 25p effectively doubling the length of the clip giving you perfect slow motion. This was graded with Magic Bullet Looks from REDGIANTSOFTWARE.COM use code bloom2o to get 20% off it at checkout.
There won’t be a review of the camera properly from me yet as I need to spend more time with it. But all I can say is I love the 720p 50p mode and I shot a little at 24p earlier and I love this camera. It’s a joy to use and the images out of it are awesome. Much more intuitive than the 5d and simple video buttons on the camera and ability to re-assign buttons is very useful. Yes I miss my full frame of the 5dmk2, but I don’t miss the 30p. I really hope they can bring out firmware for the 5d…we shall see.
Shaving It Back: Canon 7d from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
Filmed on a prototype Canon 7d in 720p 50p mode then converted to 25p using cinema tools to get overcrank.
Music is by Chris Montez
Shot with 50mm f1.2. and 24mm f1.4
142 comments
OOO look at those gray hairs! Old man. I love how you conjure up something cool like this, edit it up, render, and upload in no time. True professional. Good stuff, can’t wait to get my 7D at the end of the month! BTW this is TH3D4RKKN1GH7 from Twitter LOL.
How rude!!! How do i follow someone from twitter? 🙂
To much shallow depht for me, but great idea to edit in reverse. For the firmwire of the 5DmkII it’s so easy to do a update to put 25p and 24p. Camon want to sell lot of 7D before doing the update on the 5D
It was made to answer the worriers that that DOF wouldn’t be as shallow as 5d. As you can see it is more than good enough!
Nice! And that’s not even 1080! I’m officially selling my Mark II now 🙂
Nice! What did you edit this on? A MacBook Pro from the hotel room? Final Cut Express/Pro/Studio?
How is editing on a MacBook Pro?
yeah a 17″ MBP in my hotel room on FCP 7
First off, thanks for staying up so late and doing this!
That quickly put to rest all of my “but its a smaller sensor” issues. The quality looked great and being able to shoot 60 fps is a welcome addition in my book. I’m going to re-edit this, play it backwards and see if I can learn have to shave properly.
i am no expert! I hate shaving. Do it once a week because I hate it so much!
Great shots, and the reverse motion really adds interest, but for me it’s the music that sells it! Thanks for sharing, I’m pretty excited for this camera. I love Dublin! Wish I could be there.
Cool little film. I dig the reverse motion, and the music is great, too.
Well, it’s no “Reverie,” 🙂 But I love the creativity of making the whole thing in reverse. The imagery looks pretty sweet. Can’t wait for your “proper” review.
Thanks for all you do to help our industry.
Cheers Ron. My helicopter to fly over Dublin is happening tonight and I am getting a Den to wear sunglasses and run around the streets with some flowers later. 🙂
You make it look so easy. Thanks for getting this up so quickly.
Great stuff,
Wow Philip even your electric shaver looks like a microphone and it even has a zoom button, lucky chap.
Looking forward to your full review. What bitrate does the 720p record at?
its about 44mbps same as full hd
That’s fantastic! Considering DV is 25Mb, DV50 is… 50Mb, HDV is 19Mb, XDCAM is 35Mb. I think this will be the 1st new camera since my 1st generation DVX100!!! I sure waited long enough.
Cheers Phil!
it’s a very impressive camera. At that price it’s insane
Yay…no more Twixtor! And super fast! First they hit the 35mm adapter market, now slo mo plug ins are no longer needed. I’m excited for the future of film making!
Nice. So how does the codec hold up when colorgrading?
Frank
grades very easily
Was this endorsed by Tom Guilmette …hahaha
I don’t know who’s the biggest clown, a bloke with a 5Dmk2 on his head or one with a 7D in his bathroom.
Come to think of it i have done something similar.
Thanks Phil.
Cheers Rambo
i wanted to do something different and a bit silly. Also it was so late there was no way I was going to hit the streets “Sofia’s People” style at that time. 5dmk2 on head is def more clown like!!!;-)
I am looking at getting either a 5D Mark 2 or a 7D. Its the low light i’m interested in obviously the 5d must be a lot better at this but are you able to put up a quick comparison video of both 5d and 7d shots in low light side by side?
Do somehing about that sink!
what’s wrong with the sink?!
Thanks for posting this up in rapid-fire fashion! I really enjoy how you detail your routine step-by-step in these blogs. It really helps a newbie like me understand how the filming process is applied.
Also, this camera seems to be the one I’ve been waiting for. That doesn’t mean I can afford it yet, but my eyes are all over this thing. Can’t wait to see some more footage. If F-Stop comes through Los Angeles, I would love to come by for a workshop.
Cheers Jonathan. we are hoping to come to LA in October. stay tuned!
nice video. i’ve been holding off buying a new camera for a couple of years. could this be the one? looking forward to your full review and the f-stop academy starting up!
thanks. F-Stop is almost here! full review asap!
The man is legend. Documenting the dawn of a new day in the life of – not only a beardless Bloom – but also of a cutting edge slow motion-capable HD DSLR in an innovative and subtly woven narrative by altering the passage of time. I thought of Kubrick’s 2001 – an epiphany for mankind: inspired by the power of the mysterious black monolith, mankind discovers the tools to alter his fate. The 7D has arrived and the man evolves!
All this was achieved with a prototype camera in the early hours after a long journey with several drinks in the bar consumed (and of course filmed) while tweeting and blogging to thousands of DSLR devotees on multiple sites.
I take my hat off to you sir. A stunning performance. And of course to anyone who assisted you in the process (even if only by priming you with magical Martini).
I’m also glad the camera seems to hold up to expectations. Some of the 5D crowd, feeling jilted by Canon’s promiscuous gift of variable frame rates to the handsome new 7D boys are ready to savage and tear it to pieces.
May you live long and prosper.
Cheers Myles. It’s a been a tough couple of days. Am shattered and got hugely important weekend with our F-Stop workshop but had to get that 7d footage out there. If i hadn’t I wouldn’t be me!!
Okay, Myles…. and now tell us, won’t you, how do you REALLY feel about Mr. Bloom. 🙂
Thanks very much for getting to it straight away!
So why do you miss the full frame? Your DOP looks shallow enough and the image looks good enough, pretty 5d ish!
Thanks again,
Jeff
I mean DOF (sorry)
I miss the full frame because I lose the wide end of my expensive primes. The DOF is great on 7d, but the smaller sensor is a tiny bit nosier. Just a tiny bit
Phil,
Have you looked at the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 ? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/554035-REG/Tokina_ATX116PRODXC_11_16mm_f_2_8_AT_X_116.html
Almost a prime with it’s 5mm range, and pretty fast too!
nice. thanks
i’m using the tokina 11-16mm 2.8 on the rebel 500D and can confirm it’s absolutely wicked. it’s designed for aps-c. can post video examples if you’d like?
Well, if the APS-C sensor size of the EOS 7D is considered “small,” just imagine how small it will be when you have to downziwe and shoot with a video camcorder that only has a 2/3-inch, 1/2-inch, or 1/3-inch size sensor!!!
Tiny, tiny, tiny!!!!
Absolutely great stuff! Well done again Phil.
Quickie… What file format is the 7D saving in? Still H.264? And is there still a 12-minute limit on clips?
N
Hi Nick. Yes and Yes. Sorry!
Bloom-
Wicked creative mate, love the reverse imagery over the Chris Montez bed. I was on the fence at the 50mm f1.2 but I think you solidified this purchase for me. Spoke with Steve at Zacuto and the z-finder fits perfectly… this camera looks to be a game changer. Reminds me of when the original dvx100 first came out back in the day- exciting times in production indeed.
Thanks again for all your hard work! Looking forward to the F-Stop Academy online.
Cheers-
Ash
PS… I also hate shaving;-)
yes i used the z-finder on the 7d today. perfect. it is an amazing camera and feedback from people like you make my complete lack of sleep and a social life worth it! 🙂
Thanks for the kind words!
I have to tell you I’ve been shooting for a long time now and even studied cinematography under Rick Waite (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005923/) in film school about a decade ago, but honestly, I learn something new and intrepid from you all the time. Can’t tell you how much what you’re doing helps the rest of us in the industry- keep up the good stuff!
On a side note, just had a friend move back to Dublin from South Texas. I think she’s in climate shock going from 105 deg here to 45 deg there. Cheers-
Heh… that electric razor definitely was ‘Philips’. 😉
The camera’s looking great… I can live with the lack of audio features, but live HD HDMI out would have been really nice. It sounds like the bitrate is generous enough anyways though.
Thanks for sacrificing sleep for us! Sounds like it’s going to be a great weekend in Dublin. Come to Canada sometime!
would love to! But not when you have the snow!
Did we ever think that HD with this type of quality would be available for under 2k… It just amazes me. I do wish that they would update the firmware of the 5DmkII that I also have to allow for 50fps and 720p. Why would the 5D at almost 3k not be allowed to have the same functionality as a camera 1k dollars less? Com’on Canon…
no idea about 5d. we can hope. amazing camera for price this 7d
The 5d is more a photographers camera “that happens” to shoot video. The 7d is canon’s attempt to blend the crafts into one unit and they seemingly did a hell of a job. I was in a position to get a 5d, but will likely get the 7d now, i’m more willing to take sacrifices on the photography end (lack of full frame) for the benefits of better video than the 5d.
Great little short Philp.
I’m curious what rod kit from zacuto you used, I will be looking to get one.
yes and no The 5d huge sensor is such an amazing tool. Essentially Vistavision, but yes the 7d is a remarkable film makers tool. Only problem with it is lack of fast wide primes for that size sensor.
I have the zacuto mini baseplate. Email mandy@zacuto.com and she can help you. Mention my name and she will sort you out.
You were mentioning using the 24-105 4L on 5D MkII. How do you think will 17-55 2.8 on 7D compare to the previous combination? Would that help a bit with the lack of wide fast lens?
i wouldnt recommend either. Zooms really need to be faster f2.8. I have just order the tokina f2.8 11-16mm
Good question Marucs. here is my guesstimate answer to it:
The EOS 5D Mk II was Canon’s FIRST GENERATION HD-SLR. It had, and continues to have, severe limitations as a “professional video camera.”
Which is why Canon came out now with their SECOND GENERATION HD-SLR, the EOS 7D. This new camera remedies many of the 5D2’s shortcomings on the video side.
However, if we wait until the fall of 2010, I am sure that Canon will be releasing their THIRD GENERAYION HD-SLR model that will likely outdoo what the 7D can now do for us.
Steve Weiss will say you need a beginning, middle, and end in that SPECIFIC ORDER =) Good stuff.
By the way, You’ve ruined my sleep cycle waiting for this 7D upload.
i did it the other way round. End, middle and beginning as a joke for Steve. Don’t think he has seen it yet!
Hmm, I’m just picturing flowers jumping from the ground into Den’s hands as he’s bitch slapped in slo mo reverse for being late. (Sorry Den..) You could call it Eirever.
I really need a nice evening to suction cup my 5D to the car and drive around 🙂
I can do that for you Sean. Be my pleasure!
Great video Mr Bloom.
Personally, I much prefer the Remington MB-320C.
7D looks kinda cool though.
Sorry but the Philips is MUCH better. You are sorely deluded!! 🙂
Nice work. Check out THE BIG SHAVE by Martin Scorsese sometime for a laugh. I’m curious what the aspect ratio you have chosen for presentation is, and why.
For indie film making and eventual transfer to 35mm film, one starts to wonder about the possibility of using Russian cine Anamorphic lenses with this camera body. Just not sure about the behind-the-lens clearance issues.
If you think of it, please post a pic of the camera’s sensor and mount with the mirror locked up. How does it compare to say, the T1 “rebel’s” throat?
I love 2:35 to 1. Very cinematic. No anamorphic lenses, but entirely possible to use them if you want I guess. I just cropped. I haven’t seen the T1
Actual, in the world of movies the 1.85:1 aspect ratio is usually considered more “cinematic,” especially since a whole lot more movies are being shot in the 1.85:1 AR even today than in the 2.35:1 or 2.39:1 scope AR.
I heard of many weird things in my life, I suppose, but I haven’t yet heard of someone wanting to put an anamorphic cinema lens on a little DSLR camera.
Also, why would anyone who wants to end up with a 35mm film positive print even contemplate shooting the material with an HD-SLR? Beats me.
hi mate, thanks for all detailed comments, but think this is forum material. It’s way off topic for this film!
This does look pretty darn good but I want to see it at 1080p on a good monitor and see how it holds up. Lots of this stuff looks great on Vimeo but doesn’t hold up on a real monitor. Of course if it’s only destined for web …..
it was shot 720p Scott so there is no 1080p version. It’s not as clean as the 5dmk2. It’s still very clean compared to most video cameras but the smaller sensor makes it a wee bit noisier. Still an awesome camera. I have ordered one
I am now totally lost. To 7D or not to 5dmkII, that is the question… meanwhile, I await your full review of the 7D. By the way, another great video.
it will come as soon as i can. in the meantime there will be small updates on my blog until I have time to collate a full review with all my thoughts
Awesome work Philip, and thank you so much for taking the time to test this camera for us all!
I have one minor request: please, please, please do a test to show if “jello” effects this camera in both 720P and 1080P.
Thank you again for all your hardwork!!
i shall
This is awesome, the only thing I need to see now is the upcoming Nikon D700x or D700s.
After I see what it can do… hopefully they’ll have the sense of giving Phillip a test unit, I’ll make up my mind.
Great work!
I have SO many Nikon lenses would love to test the D700x please Nikon!
I was wondering if it would be possible to use 5d2 clips which I already have with the new 7d, if they would blend well, if the light sensitivity was the same so that clips wold match without much color grading or additional noise from the 7d at a higher ISO.
I was going to use my EX1 for slo-mo and try to grade that with the 5D2.
It seems like such a BEAST now with the Ultimate adapter etc, LOL.
I for one am completely miffed at Canon for this slap in the face, for leaving the 5D2 owners out in the cold and having the 7D out, cheaper with all the functions we want in the 5D2.
Makes me want to wait for Nikons reply!
But that may be a long wait.
yes they will blend well…but depends on the frame rate.
It’s not really a slap in the face. The 50d needed replacing. They have learnt from their mistakes with the 5dmk2 and implemented them onto the 7d. Surely that is better than them deliberately hampering the 7d so it isn’t as good as the 5dmk2. Yes it’s not ideal and all we can do is HOPE they can upgrade the firmware on the 5dmk2. After all I have two of them!!
Nikon? Plueeeese….
Yeah, the old 5D2 was good while it lasted. Now, we’ve got the new EOS 7D to froth about, especially when it comes to its video recording capabilities!
“The King is dead. Long live the king!” 🙂
Thanks for putting this video up so soon, Philip, great stuff.
I wonder, can you or anyone point me in the right direction for getting my head around these lens/sensor issues? What do you mean by “…using just my Canon L series 50mm f1.2 (which effectively becomes an 80mm with the 1.6 crop of the APS-C sensor)”?
I can actually asnwer that for you as I had such a similar confusion for the longest time. Hopefully this is actually correct, and i’m not just making an idiot of myself on Philip’s website 😉
Think of it like this:
Imagine the lens is a movie theatre projector, and the sensor is the screen. The projector always projects the image to the same size, because it’s a fixed distance from the screen.
But what if you change the screen size? Well, if you make it smaller, the projected image will spill off the screen and onto the wall behind, right?
So what you get with DSLRs is that the lens still projects the full image, but the sensor just isn’t large enough to capture it all. That’s why Full Frame cameras are what people generally like, because you get the same image as you would on a frame of 35mm film, and you don’t get confused as to the magnification, or “crop factor” 😉
Keep in mind though, that the actual mm rating and distance measurements of the lens are still what they would normally be (ie: focus to 15ft is still focus to 15ft). When people talk about the lens “equivalent”, all they’re talking about is what the image size looks like in comparison to what you’d see on a full frame camera. ie: the image I get on my nikon d80 with my 35mm lens is roughly equivalent to the size of image you’d see from a 52mm on a full frame camera.
That was very long winded… my appologies, but I hope it helps… I’m actually surprised i came up with a half decent analogy :p
Cheers!
That’s a great analogy, Jeremy — thanks for taking the time to explain this! I think I’ve got it now 🙂
Just glad I can help! 🙂
Also keep in mind that a still photography camera’s “full frame” size has got nothing do with a 35mm motion picture camera’s “full frame” size. They are two different sizes.
Are you more into still pictures or movies?
you are forgetting a lot of people here, including me have used full frame for quite some time now with 35mm adaptors.
Scarlet is coming out with a full frame cinema camera and the fact the 5mkII is full frame was part of the reason it is appealing. This is a huge sensor, something we have never had before in a video camera hence why we love it so much, irregardless of the academy size frame.
I hate to be always the contrarian, but I guess I always am. Someone’s gotta do it, right? 😉
Now, let’s say we are looking at the PHYSICAL SIZE of the sensor, say the photographic “full size” of 36x24mm. That would not be too bad by itself — provided that on this 36x24mm surface area you would have soemthing like 1920×1080 pixels or maybe 2,048×1080 pixels maximum. As more than that many pixels, we do not really need in the world of pro video, right? That would make each pixel much larger in size and the sensor would be all the more sensitive to light.
Unfortunately, since these HD-SLRs are primarily still pghotography cameras and not video camcorders, they squeeze onto their large sensors 18K, 20K, 22K pixels. The vast majority of which is actually lost in downsampling for 1920×1080 or 1280×720 video recording, correct?
ARRI is coming out with a new D-film camer