catz said:
This might be exactly what I want/need:
- a full frame SLR form factor camera that does very high quality video (with excellent low light capability) without moire/aliasing with quality comparable to series of 1920x1080 still images. Video compression is ok if the bit rate is in the realm >=50 Mbit/s. If the moire is absent, the encoder will be more efficient and the false details do not need to get encoded and the overall quality will be much higher even if the bit rate did not increase at all over 5D2.
- and does also stills with excellent dynamic range and excellent low light capability (I am still looking for a camera that can take good pictures of my black cat)
- one that accepts my L-lens collection and possibly/preferably is compatible with electronic follow focus
- camera price in the realm of 5D2 or maximum ~1000 more (5000 would be already too much to justify purchase - as priorities are lenses first and body second)
- body preferably smaller than 1DX
- autofocus is not highly important, as in many cases I manual focus. Would be nice though. But I will take video without aliasing rather than any autofocus any day.
- extreme still speed is not highly important (would be nice though, but not absolutely mandatory), as I am not expecting a sports camera as I am not a sports photographer
- audio / XLRs etc. are not important, I am recording audio separately anyway with dedicated audio recorder and mics and I don't plan going back to internally recorded audio as my audio recorder lives its own upgrade path now.
- I have rigs, steadicams etc. and I don't need any video handles in the camera. As clean and simple as possible is better. That would be also easier to balance to the steadicam.
The Cinema* models from Canon would have been far beyond my budget (as nobody pays me at the moment anything for the video content I create because my job/income is in a different industry), but if this 5D3 is really finally coming, then this probably is my next camera. After that my 5D2 becomes the B-cam or mainly still cam (as my eyes are now so trained to see moire that I nowadays see it everywhere, even where others can't see it, e.g. even in scenes that do not contain any straight horizontal lines and it bugs me like a broken tweeter (which distorts) in a loudspeaker).
So this is the most promising rumor to the date about future Canon models. The previous announcements have been disappointing. The crowd is waiting for a 5D mark III and not a hyper expensive Cinema camera that costs more than RED. A big part of the video DSLR revolution was the price-value ratio of the camera and also the versatility to use the same camera for stills and video. If either of these are absent, it is no longer revolutionary and just a yet another (potentially inferior unless only reliability is the criteria) competitor (with questionable price-value ratio) for cameras like RED Scarlet and Arri Alexa. Canon should put out the 5D mark III fast because this is what I and I believe so many others have been so long waiting for for very good reasons. I hope the 5D3 will live up to its expectations and also I hope that Canon comes up with it fast. 5D3 is needed soonish (January/February 2012 at the latest) and not a year from now.
Uhh, I'll second all of that!
Bit rates - agreed! The gh2 pulls off incredibly fine detail with negligible artifacts at a lowly 24mb/s
For those obsessed with moire...
http://www.mosaicengineering.com/products/vaf-5d2.html
If the digic 5 is as awesome as it should be, the term artifact will become an artifact.
My question is: In which ways will they flex gimping to keep the 5d3 from cannibalizing c300 sales??
My guess - HDMI out, fully selectable frame rates (clearly).
I know it's even more "niche" but how easy and incredible would it be:
Pmovie mode w/optional:
- auto 180 degree shutter (change shutter - visible frame rate indicator adjusts)
- auto WB that doesn't change after hitting record.
- auto iso - adjusts at variable rate depending on how dramatic the shift, staying constant whenever possible.
- follow focus preset marks
- you could even set approximate marks, while in record a half shutter press begins the rack...it stops once the object in that approximate location gets focus confirmed.
The follow focus is more a pipe dream.
Canon will never be influenced by Hollywood to perfect a feature so incredibly intuitive that it would put every focus puller on the street.
At the very least i hope there is an lcd sensor so i can rack focus w/o touching the camera w/ a new even more Magical Lantern =)
And yeah, I'd be surprised if a firmware update couldn't fix the usb follow focus buzz kill.
The iso would be the hardest to perfect and least used, due to intermediate issues.
Features are so easy to add (Canon's greatest mistake was revealing that fact).
But even easier to withhold until the competition (or lack there of) forces you to do so.
Allowing you more reincarnations of the exact same camera.
5d2 (7d2 + t2i + t3i + 60d)
Consumers eat up 3 year old technology with a new face if they don't know better.
Dual audio will always be the choice of audiophiles.
Software has made any difficulty arguments against it moot as hell.
In fact, it has removed any need for "pro" features like timecode.
But shhh...
They aren't supposed to know.
