5D3 and 5DII car mounted: Will rolling shutter ruin all my fun?

ryan brown

ryan brown

lOwEr CaSe Member
So I've been hired to shoot a promo commercial/short film featuring a custom sports-car exhaust someone has built and wants to market. He has a 5D3 and wants to shoot on it, and I have a 5dII and 7D to throw in the mix.

The main car scenes will be super fast action, fast cuts, car mounts, zooms, high energy, etc., and I'm worried about rolling shutter ruining everything. We'll be shooting while driving down the pacific coast highway through malibu and santa monica, say anywhere from 30-50mph. What do you guys think? Does anyone have footage of car mounted 5d shots they can point me to? Is it doable with these cameras?

Any tips, footage, advice or anything else much appreciated. I could *possibly* persuade him to rent another cam for the car shots, but we're already at the top of his budget, and I don't want it to cut into my profit margin. At the same time though, I want to put out a top notch video. And, if I did decide to go with another camera, what would you guys recommend?

cheers

-brown
 
Based on the BTS for a Freddie Wong video where they gaff-tapped a camera to the hood of a car, padded underneath with a hoodie, I would try out something like a Cinesaddle: http://www.cinekinetic.com/
They tried a car mount as well but had a lot more shake.
 
Ive done a pile of car mounts with the 5d

Now in general the camera is fine - but the words custom-sport-exhaust worries me,

Basically the high frequency revving can cause issues, the cam might jello out that the bits he wants but would normally be cut in the edit

Its a solid mount that will take a chunky gear change

A little old now.. https://vimeo.com/25351225 and 'how to' https://vimeo.com/26906563
 
Great info guys, much appreciated. Morgan, that was exactly what I was looking for... I'll look into that rig a bit more, and also some others if I can't find that one available locally to rent.

Any other info or tips welcomed!

-brown
 
If you mount it properly and use a wide lens you will get nill jelo.
I use a tripple suction cup rig, with the 3rd suction cup using the cold shoe as a mount.
 
I did a bunch of tests of IS

Basaically there is a trade off - my 24-105 the front element is loose and the lens adds significant mass to the system, badly placed

Compared to a lower mass nikkor 28 the results were inconclusive

IS might have been better against engin revs while the nikkor dealt better with potholes

Certainly a lens like the 24-105 would need to be in a cradle to outperform a small prime

frankly im through with mounting the 5d - an nex5n and 16mm pancake is king of the hill (once you build a custom cage for it)

IS VS non IS
https://vimeo.com/25420776

Mount of NEX5n
https://vimeo.com/53779782
and with a 50 1.2
https://vimeo.com/53961607

My NEX solid mount is a one off..
tough1.jpg


S
 
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Gopro? I mean, ONE: its much cheaper and safer if it falls. TWO: it can mount almost anywhere. THREE: It provides very high quality video (Protune).
FOUR: Rolling shutter and shake isn't as bad since the camera can offer higher frame rates as well as you can mount the camera "padded" - rubber /foam cushioning between the mount and car. (Rollbar mount with foam tape between the clamp.)
Just my 2c.
 
Absolutely - you gotta be quite skilled up to beat a go pro - really an engineering marvel

But do you like the fisheye look, the lack of manual control, the deep DOF ?

I think the Nex5n is the happy medium, lighter than a DSLR, but still manual control and a choice of lenses

S
 
@morgan_moore - "But do you like the fisheye look, the lack of manual control, the deep DOF ?"

At least with my Hero2 camera... you can select 3 different aspect angles. from Wide (170º), Medium, Narrow - being almost not hint of fisheye.
Although, these modes "zoom" the video. So i think Narrow would be like shooting with a 35mm lens or something.
HERO3 Comparison Chart
Anyhow, crumplepop makes a plugin that removes that fisheye distortion at an acceptable quality loss.

Forget DOP and controls with the gopro. You can "Spot meter" but thats it. Considering the O.P.'s request (@ryan brown), I think DOP and most manual controls wouldn't be as important as capturing usable video on a moving/vibrating car.

You could use your 5D/Sony/Nikon/Panny to get those detail shots with the car still or from a window and intercut the Gopro stuff... if you really needed some DOP and fine tuned shots.
 
Awesome info, and thanks for that link Morgan. Gopro's were what I was initially thinking also, but I had a meeting with the director and I can't seem to persuade him. He's open for the idea of having one for 1-2 shots for those "hard to reach" places, but wants to keep it all on the canon DSLR's. He didn't hire me to complain, so I'll make it happen. I'm going to look into the various mounting options, do some testing and see what I come up with. Sounds to me like as long as I can get the camera as stable as possible, it should work out. I do have access to lenses with IS, along with my primes, so I'll give both a try and see what seems to fit best for the job at hand. Cheers, and thanks for all the helpful info!

-ryan brown
 
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