World's First EOS-1D C Motion Image Shoot

[Canon Rumors]

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<p><strong>From Untitled Film Works

</strong>Check out some of the work being done using the Canon EOS 1D C, the motion image results are pretty astonishing.</p>
<p><strong>The art of motion image</strong>

<em>“The art and skill of a photographer is still required when using a camera like the 1DC. Understanding and harnessing of light, composition and interaction with your subjects are all vital skills of a photographer and are not replaced by the idea of motion image capture. Photographers also use a variety of techniques to obtain unique looking images (like long exposure times and the use of remote flashes) these times of images would not be reproduced in video. I see the biggest step forward using motion image capture the ability to record many individual moments in time, all the while silently as there is no shutter being released. This could have great benefits in situations where you may want to remain more candid. Subjects could also feel more relaxed not knowing “photographs” are being taken.”</em></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.untitledfilms.com.au/blog/2012/12/micro-expression-exploring-motion-image-photography/" target="_blank">Read the entire article</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/855962-REG/Canon_EOS_1D_C_EOS_1D_C_4K_Cinema.html/bi/2466/kbid/3296" target="_blank"><strong>Preorder Canon EOS-1D C at B&H Photo $11,999</strong></a></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong></p>

 

[AprilForever]

Fascinating!!!

 

[tomscott]

Incredible!

 

[bchernicoff]

I like that they are honest about the limitations of not shooting RAW and the storage requirements.

Still, looking at some of the stills it seems hard to believe that the prints were that spectacular to see. The fine detail is a bit lacking. It's impressive overall and very impressive knowing it came from video, but not ready to replace shooting stills yet. At least not for weddings or portraits. For sports, it's probably going to cause a revolution.

 

[albron00]

yea, it's getting more and more interesting....

 

[moonlight graham]

i want this camera so bad

 

[Axilrod]

This is really interesting, I never thought ability to pull stills from video. I think this camera will do much better than alot of people on here expected it to (same with the C100).

 

[Lee Jay]

Okay, I'm going to call BS, for the most part.

First, I think it is legitimate to capture stills from a video stream. Of course, if you want to do it right, shoot in raw, and that means use a RED camera, not the "c". They mentioned this in the video and hoped for the next generation, when RED is already doing it.

Second, and they mentioned this as well, stills settings are nearly always very different than video settings for the same scene. One might want 1/500th for stills (for reducing motion blur in the final frame) and 1/48th for video (for preserving motion blur to make the video look smooth). This means it's nearly never possible to shoot video and stills at the same time with the intention of using both as final output. You are going to have to pick one or the other in advance most of the time. Again, though they mentioned this, they glossed over it.

Third, if you need flash for your images, video mode is not much help. Flash is often an incredibly valuable tool for controlling scene contrast, and we stills shooters often don't really realize just how powerful our little on-camera flashes are. If you want to replace a 580, you might need a 20kW video light, which comes on a truck. So this stuff is really only for conditions where natural light is acceptable without modification. Of course, there are many times like that, but not all by a long shot.

Fourth, capturing 24 frames per second and then picking your frame often does the exact opposite of what is mentioned in the video - it misses the key moment rather than allowing you to find it in the video stream. Not always, but sometimes. In many cases, I can time my shutter release to within about 2ms for doing things like capturing a batter hitting a ball, a pitcher releasing a ball, etc. For 2ms accuracy, you need 500fps, not 24fps. Even if I'm only accurate to 5ms (I can nail that most of the time) you'd still need 200fps. So, in many cases, "spray and pray", even at ordinary video speeds - or even at RED's maximum of 120fps - is not sufficient to capture the moment unless your "spray" is at very, very high frame rates that neither the "c" nor any of the RED cameras can manage.

I want to reiterate that there are times when this approach can be useful, but it's no panacea as they try desperately to imply in the video.

 

[raptor3x]

In many cases, I can time my shutter release to within about 2ms for doing things like capturing a batter hitting a ball, a pitcher releasing a ball, etc. For 2ms accuracy, you need 500fps, not 24fps. Even if I'm only accurate to 5ms (I can nail that most of the time) you'd still need 200fps. So, in many cases, "spray and pray", even at ordinary video speeds - or even at RED's maximum of 120fps - is not sufficient to capture the moment unless your "spray" is at very, very high frame rates that neither the "c" nor any of the RED cameras can manage.

I'm going to have to call BS on this considering the lower limit on human reaction time is ~150ms. Give the following link a try to get a sense of the speed required for 2ms.

http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/

 

[Lee Jay]

In many cases, I can time my shutter release to within about 2ms for doing things like capturing a batter hitting a ball, a pitcher releasing a ball, etc. For 2ms accuracy, you need 500fps, not 24fps. Even if I'm only accurate to 5ms (I can nail that most of the time) you'd still need 200fps. So, in many cases, "spray and pray", even at ordinary video speeds - or even at RED's maximum of 120fps - is not sufficient to capture the moment unless your "spray" is at very, very high frame rates that neither the "c" nor any of the RED cameras can manage.

I'm going to have to call BS on this considering the lower limit on human reaction time is ~150ms. Give the following link a try to get a sense of the speed required for 2ms.

You don't have to react if you can see the action coming. You can anticipate.

For example:

http://photos.imageevent.com/sipphoto/samplepictures/20D%20versus%20S3%20crops.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/sipphoto/samplepictures/20D%20versus%20S3%20crops%202.jpg

There are plenty more applications, some even humorous. I did this on purpose.

http://photos.imageevent.com/sipphoto/aircraft/eaaflyin2007/12.jpg

Or these:
http://photos.imageevent.com/sipphoto/aircraft/aamairshow2007/044.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/sipphoto/aircraft/aamairshow2007/045.jpg

 

[danski0224]

It has an APS-H sensor...

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Lee Jay is right about the anticipation versus reaction point.

 

[webphoto]

Wow, amazing.

 

[AlicoatePhotography]

What is not important here is what this camera can or cannot do. What is important is the shift in direction and marketing that this camera brings. It is true that a camera that can take continuous footage at a decent resolution will change a lot of the photo industry. Canon sees this, and that is where they are heading. If I were younger and had a desire to move into a cutting edge industry, I would probably mortgage the house and buy two of these things with a heck of a lot of memory cards. I would start marketing myself in a way that differentiated myself from my competition, and as technology catches up, I would employ that too. With an existing client base and experience at this craft, you would be at the forefront ready to handle raw video 5K, or whatever is next. Who knows, the future hardware could shoot 5K at 24FPS and then when you press the stills button you get a temporary bump to 60 FPS with multi-exposure blur to still have smooth video and still be able to use a high shutter speed for great stills. Its possible. Some company will figure this out, and things will change.

Exciting stuff. Too bad I am old, tired, and in a different industry.

 

[Mantanuska]

It has an APS-H sensor...

B+H photo says the sensor is 24 x 36mm (full frame)

 

[RGomezPhotos]

"This is the future". Sure. But with the 1DC? I don't think so.

Motion blur is a big problem. Since this shoots at 24fps, you're basically talking 1/24 shutter speed. Right? Well even relatively slow studio shooting is done at 1/160. Right? To guarantee you don't get any motion blur. The technological leap to go from 1/24 - 1/160 is quite huge. I mean, you can probably drop that down to 1/60 but your subjects will have to be moving pretty slow or very still. Maybe for studio work.

And let's talk about lighting.

There's another reason why we have 1/8000 shutter. Right? For those bright outdoors... And you can get a picture by using one or two flashes... To re-create in video, you'd have to use much more and/or possibly different tools. More expensive tools. To get a certain brightness from a still is relatively cheap and easy compared to video.

At this point, I think the 1DC MAY lessen the chance of missing a particular pic, but it doesn't guarantee it. Also a possible 2 - 4 fold increase in price not just for the camera, but all supporting gear. Do you want to go through 256GB of footage to find even 50 great stills? Okay, there will be software that will search through your footage for frames that show minimal blur. If you must shoot in 4K for stills with minimal blur, you really need at least a Cinema C500 video cam. That's a $25k investment. I was talking to a Canon Cinema Rep a few weeks ago and he was really pushing the Cinema video cam for high volume imaging. Like catalog work.

While 4k is the future, how often is it used? I have a Producer/Director friend whose shot several short films on his rigged Canon 60D and it looked FABULOUS! I was blown away how great it looked. You can get totally professional results on much less expensive gear. Again, it's all about the operator. Not the gear.

I think the 1DC is still two more generations from being what Canon is trying to sell it as. If you want to shoot great stills and 4k video, the 1DC is definitely on the table. But to get great stills from the video, it needs some work. You're getting the 1DX and much of the Cinema C100. I would say that it's future-proofed since it shoots 4k. But the camera would need to be upgradeable via firmware to shoot RAW AND a shutter speed increase. Doubts that's going to happen with a software upgrade. The 1DC is $12k. That's almost the price of the 1DX and a C100 separately. WHEN the C100 get's upgraded, you only need to spend the money to replace that cam versus a 1DC Mark II. The upgrade cost is half the price with a dedicated video cam.

The 1DX is a perfectly fine camera that will be more than enough to give excellent stills performance for at least 5 years. But if you want to shoot 4k video, more versatility, less compromises and a less expensive long-term investment, get a dedicated video cam.

 

[dolina]

You will need to spend the same amount of the 1D C for your editing rig.

Rather get a BRZ instead. ;D

 

[danski0224]

B+H photo says the sensor is 24 x 36mm (full frame)

From the linked article in the first post:

Aspect ratio + Crop factor:
What was one of the biggest differences shooting with the camera was the new aspect ratio and crop factor. The 1DC records 4K video using the APS-H format (which is an effective crop factor of 1.3) We’ve been shooting on full frame sensors for a long time so it does take some getting used to the new crop factor when selecting which lens to go to. I absolutely fell in love with the 2:1 aspect ratio (slightly narrower than 16:9) which does (to me anyway) increase the “cinematic” look of the footage. We shouldn’t ignore several other key features such as Clean HDMI output (in HD), 18.1megapixel RAW still capability with the option of up to 12/14 frames per second depending on your shooting mode. All this is housed in an extremely rugged and compact chassis with the ability to run the camera using plug-in external power.

 

[Lee Jay]

"This is the future". Sure. But with the 1DC? I don't think so.

Motion blur is a big problem. Since this shoots at 24fps, you're basically talking 1/24 shutter speed. Right?

No. You can choose the shutter speed you want, but many would choose 1/48th for video taken at 24fps. The so-called "180 degree" shutter is common for shooting motion.

 

[AlicoatePhotography]

It is a full frame sensor. It shoots video as an APS-H crop, or even an APS-C though.