Dan Chung Talks EOS-1D X Video

[Canon Rumors]

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Movie features Dan Chung from DSLRNewsShooter talks with Mark Burnhill from Canon Europe about the video features of the new EOS-1D X.

You can see the video

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According to Mark Burnhill, the new EOS-1D X is the best performing video DSLR Canon has produced. Below is a real world break down of features.

• No line skipping in video as it uses the whole sensor
• Very little rolling shutter, the still features of the camera have improved this area of video performance.
• You can now use the shutter button to start and stop movie recording. Remotes can be used for this too.
• There are time coding options
• There is a new dedicated button to magnify the image.

Planet5D has the full breakdown.

cr

[Orangutan]

No line skipping in video as it uses the whole sensor

That explains the two D5+ processors.

[kirillica]

As usually, it would be nice to see real-life examples and not marketing bla-bla-bla )

[CJRodgers]

Haha, he seemed a bit stuck when asked why there is no clean hdmi out!

[RichST]

Well FINALLY they admit to line skipping, something we knew all along. If the Digic V is that much faster than the IV I don't think a second one will be necessary to process video.

[sandro]

As usually, it would be nice to see real-life examples and not marketing bla-bla-bla )

totally agree! Sony said the same thing about their new processor, and look how videos are instead...

[AG]

Is it just me or  does it seem like whenever he gets probed about video, it comes across as "this is the photographers camera .... you want the videographers camera".

Maybe they ARE going to revamp the 5D3 line to make it purely video based. e.g. clean HDMI, headphone jack etc.

[SlothLovesChunk]

Though there definitely seems to be some welcome improvements on their video features, it's troubling to see this artificial limiting of their tech...the fact that they refuse to simply remove the bitmap from the HDMI out (and the rep's stuttering reaction when asked about it) is perfect evidence. This fix would not require any additional board space, hardware, or technology...simply strike the one line of code for the bitmap feature in the firmware and you have a clean feed. This isn't like with the audio-vs-ethernet port (which I understand)...the whole "this is a stills camera" argument doesn't really apply...just ditch the bitmap. The way he responded, too...they thought this would step on the toes of the video camera department? So they're deliberately crippling the video features so you'll be forced to commit to a video camera for video or a stills camera for stills (or blow your savings on both), instead of accepting that this division in camera technology is history. RED makes hybrids. They're making EF lens mounts. On November 3rd, they're probably going to release an (actually) affordable hybrid camera that will probably destroy what Canon releases that day. We're sort of running out of reasons to stick with Canon and their table scraps. I've loved my Canon cameras, and I'll always buy their lenses, but I think if RED drops something under $7K, a lot of people are jumping ship. They actually seem to give a damn about delivering the best product they have. 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Though there definitely seems to be some welcome improvements on their video features, it's troubling to see this artificial limiting of their tech...the fact that they refuse to simply remove the bitmap from the HDMI out (and the rep's stuttering reaction when asked about it) is perfect evidence. This fix would not require any additional board space, hardware, or technology...simply strike the one line of code for the bitmap feature in the firmware and you have a clean feed. This isn't like with the audio-vs-ethernet port (which I understand)...the whole "this is a stills camera" argument doesn't really apply...just ditch the bitmap. The way he responded, too...they thought this would step on the toes of the video camera department? So they're deliberately crippling the video features so you'll be forced to commit to a video camera for video or a stills camera for stills (or blow your savings on both), instead of accepting that this division in camera technology is history. RED makes hybrids. They're making EF lens mounts. On November 3rd, they're probably going to release an (actually) affordable hybrid camera that will probably destroy what Canon releases that day. We're sort of running out of reasons to stick with Canon and their table scraps. I've loved my Canon cameras, and I'll always buy their lenses, but I think if RED drops something under $7K, a lot of people are jumping ship. They actually seem to give a damn about delivering the best product they have.

True they did nerf the tech on the camera to differentiate it from the upcoming video cameras, but I think your wrong about Red's upcoming product. Canon has a lot more resources than RED, and I think they have been planning for this showdown for a while, I'd be surprised if they allowed themselves to get upstaged.
 
It'd be funny if the two companies announced a merger(aka Canon buys Red out) on the 3rd.

[SlothLovesChunk]

Though there definitely seems to be some welcome improvements on their video features, it's troubling to see this artificial limiting of their tech...the fact that they refuse to simply remove the bitmap from the HDMI out (and the rep's stuttering reaction when asked about it) is perfect evidence. This fix would not require any additional board space, hardware, or technology...simply strike the one line of code for the bitmap feature in the firmware and you have a clean feed. This isn't like with the audio-vs-ethernet port (which I understand)...the whole "this is a stills camera" argument doesn't really apply...just ditch the bitmap. The way he responded, too...they thought this would step on the toes of the video camera department? So they're deliberately crippling the video features so you'll be forced to commit to a video camera for video or a stills camera for stills (or blow your savings on both), instead of accepting that this division in camera technology is history. RED makes hybrids. They're making EF lens mounts. On November 3rd, they're probably going to release an (actually) affordable hybrid camera that will probably destroy what Canon releases that day. We're sort of running out of reasons to stick with Canon and their table scraps. I've loved my Canon cameras, and I'll always buy their lenses, but I think if RED drops something under $7K, a lot of people are jumping ship. They actually seem to give a damn about delivering the best product they have.

True they did nerf the tech on the camera to differentiate it from the upcoming video cameras, but I think your wrong about Red's upcoming product. Canon has a lot more resources than RED, and I think they have been planning for this showdown for a while, I'd be surprised if they allowed themselves to get upstaged.
 
It'd be funny if the two companies announced a merger(aka Canon buys Red out) on the 3rd.

Agreeeed. And a merger would be cute hahaha. Canon's definitely got the edge in manufacturing, R&D, marketing, but the advantages of being a massive corporation come with the drawbacks...they seem to have a pattern of simply making number-crunched business decisions, whereas Jannard kinda seems like a rogue millionaire who just enjoys the street fight and wants to pump out a really great camera...even if he doesn't turn profits. I think Canon's gonna get gut-punched on the 3rd...probably a bit cheaper than RED, but I think RED will finally close that "is it worth the extra cost?" gap with a much better and upgradeable camera. Guess this will be settled next week! Either outcome is great for us. I love the competition.

[AG]

There is also the other possibility that people seem to gloss over.

The one of Canon is reducing its line and creating a more streamlined product portfolio.

Merge the 1D series into one PRO photography line camera.
Change the 5D to make it PRO video focused (this could be why they don't want to tread on the video departments feet, they have a video DSLR in the works and have not announced it of yet, why kill the sales of the 5D2 until the rumours are definite?)
Make the xxD series the top APSC camera and merge all the features of the 7D and 60D to make an epic 70D.
Make the xxxD series the basic limited camera, plastic body, limited features compared to the xxD etc
xxxxD series remains the older tech based my first DSLR.

I know that i will get bitched at my the fans of the 7D wanting a 7D2 etc about this but I'm not bagging the camera I'm talking about streamlining the products. Give the customers less choice but make the choices you have amazing compared to the competition. Sorta like how Apple compete with their products.

e.g.
You want a phone...we have the iPhone, broken into (canon line equivelent) 4S = 1DX, 4 = xxD, 3GS = xxxD and the touch = xxxxD.

Not exactly far fetched if you think about it like that. 

They can increase profit margins, refine their tooling and manufacturing and R+D departments because they won't have to work on as many models. Resulting in a much much better camera for us.

Who knows we may eventually see that 4K video Canon 5D3 HDSLR for under $3k everyone is dreaming of.

[HurtinMinorKey]

There is also the other possibility that people seem to gloss over.

The one of Canon is reducing its line and creating a more streamlined product portfolio.

Merge the 1D series into one PRO photography line camera.
Change the 5D to make it PRO video focused, Who knows we may eventually see that 4K video Canon 5D3 HDSLR for under $3k everyone is dreaming of.

I just don't see them using the full frame sensor(you'd have line skipping problems again),  for a video camera @ $3k , so how are they gonna use a smaller sensor and still call it a 5D?. It doesn't make any sense. They need to differentiate from their existing cameras (by pricing above probably).  This means a new lineup.

[AG]

I just don't see them using the full frame sensor(you'd have line skipping problems again),  for a video camera @ $3k , so how are they gonna use a smaller sensor and still call it a 5D?. It doesn't make any sense. They need to differentiate from their existing cameras (by pricing above probably).  This means a new lineup.

The problem is we don't know what the boffins in their white coats have been cooking up in the labs.

If you watch the video the rep mentions a few times that the 1DX is a PRO Photography DSLR camera, the video was extra.
He makes that point clear a few times.
This is why it sounds to me like they are going to try and release a PRO Video DSLR e.g. the next 5D model being that its been accepted unofficially by the industry as being the video DSLR of choice already.

You mention line skipping but as they said in the video that it has been reduced dramatically with the new sensor, remember that this is the Photo DSLR, it then makes me wonder what the Video version could achieve.

As for the smaller sensor, If you are shooting video @1080p you are pretty much using about 2MP, so increase that to 4K (4096×2160) and you will be around the 8.8MP mark.
The current 5D2 shoots Photos at 5616 x 3744 as we know is 21MP. even if that was reduced to 18MP like on the 1DX it can still more than cover the sensor range required for 4K.

Sure you may loose 3MP but you also gain a clearer image with better spacial resolution.

Think of it more like the CPU race that happened a few years ago, people were pushing for faster and faster CPUs, until we hit almost 4GHz, then suddenly the average CPU dropped to around the 2GHz speed. BUT they also added a second core, then quad core, octo core etc.
By reducing the speed of the core and making it do more with the cycles it has they managed to create much more productive CPUs.

If we then take that same analogy to camera sensors it seems that Canon are doing the similar thing now. Reduce the MP count but make the pixels that are there do a hell of a lot more.

If this means that we get much better quality images (even if slightly smaller in physical size) then that doesn't seem like an all too bad thing, especially when you can then blow the image up with less distortion.

[Flake]

Dan Chung is a hard line & comitted Nikon user, so much so that the only reason he has a 5D MkII is for the video function, but even that is used with Nikon to EOS adaptors so he can use his beloved Nikon lenses.

I think I'll wait for a little less coloured review.

[Edwin Herdman]

I realized a bit late that something I had been saying earlier is going to come true - if Canon has their way, that is - professional video users will now have a 1D body, and Canon's big benefit from releasing this body before any 5D refresh is that it costs more - but it's also a stronger offering overall than a 5D refresh is likely to be.

The one wild card is the treatment of HDMI - somebody mentions it's not a part of the 1D X and that seems troubling for video use.  On the other hand, the full-frame sensor sampling seems like a good tradeoff - it'd be interesting to see respective takeup rates by pro video if the 5D didn't have full sensor sampling but a good HDMI output (maybe I'm wrong in thinking that you can have one or the other; I would like there to be a bit of overhead left on the DIGIC 5+ CPUs for HDMI output but so far I don't see any solid evidence it'll happen).

I disagree with any reading of the situation that the 1D X will have less of a video focus than a 5D body - aside from the profit motive I mentioned above, the horsepower implied for this new baby should mean that one-upping it would be difficult indeed for a 5D body.

If nobody minds, I'm going to dedicate this last line to the gloriously mindless, crushing regulations of the EU.  (Never thought I'd write that, but the Euro debt crisis has sobered me up considerably.)