5D Mark II and Blackmagic Design Intensity?

[DavidNJ]

There are quite a few 5D Mark II clips out there. Nearly all are very crisp with vivid colors, probably the result of the large sensor and high quality lens. Complaints center around adjustments and rolling shutter artifacts.

The recordings are to MPEG4 at 39+Mb/sec with a 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. I was curious if anyone had used the HDMI output to bypass the MPEG4 compression and capture 4:2:2 chroma subsampling? If so, are the clips online and did they make a difference?

Looking at RGB histograms for the DVCProHD HPX170 vs the 24Mb/sec MPEG4 HMC150, subsampled at 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 respectively, show some increased color information in the 4:2:2 version.

[Guy_Cochran]

The issue is that there is a cropping of the sides on the HDMI output, and if that were not crippling enough, there is a little menacing white rectangle that appears for AutoFocus. Even if you turn off AutoFocus, it's still there. Arggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

[infurno]

You can get rid of the rectangle and some of the other indicators. I don't remember the settings but people have been doing it for a while.

But I don't think you will get any better picture. I believe that by the time the signal makes it to HDMI it has already been processed and compressed. Sure you get an uncompressed feed of the compressed signal but that won't get you a better result.

I could be wrong. I'm going to grab an HDMI cable tonight and check. I don't have a blackmagic card so I will just look for compression artifacts.

[Guy_Cochran]

If you can post how to turn it off completely, I'll buy you a beer or shot of favorite tasty beverage.

I can get the white rectangle to turn off using "Face Detection" mode, but when it detects a face, the white rectangle appears.

I'm feeding our Canon 5D Mark II through a AJA HDMI to HDSDI converter http://www.aja.com/html/products_converters_HA5.html
This allows for long runs. I have a 30' HDMI cable that is rather finicky. Needs a repeater or somethin'

Then HDSDI into the Mac through either a Matrox MXO2 or AJA Kona Lhe.

This camera would be awesome for live events coupled with a long zoom if it was full 1920x1080 with no superimposed bs. I've shot music performances with $100k Fujinon lenses, imagine doing it for under $10k.

[infurno]

I think you're right, it would make sense that once it detects a face the rectangle appears again.

[DavidNJ]

I don't understand why these lenses are $1-3k, and the HD video lenses are $10-30k. If it worked before the MPEG-4, it would be 4:2:2 and 1980x1080.

How could the HMDI crop the image, if it is 1920x1080 and the HDMI is the same?

[makofoto]

I don't understand why these lenses are $1-3k, and the HD video lenses are $10-30k.

Economy of Scale! They make many thousand still lenses and only a few hundred HD Video lenses. Also a Video zoom has to maintain focus and zoom centering better then a still lens.