Are DSLRs for video dead?

Razz16mm said:
There is absolutely no comparison between raw, or a high quality i-frame codec like Prores 4:2:2 and the 4:2:0 H.264 web quality video codecs of DSLR's and most low end video cams.

DSLR's have established their niche and will remain popular for the the things they do well. But the range of choices is exploding for high quality video production cameras in the low end pro range between about $3k and $10k with far better IQ and practicality for general production use.
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I agree.

Razz16mm said:
As far as I know, BBC does not permit use of DSLR's on their in house productions period, or any other camera with less than 50Mbps 4:2:2 codecs. Use of them under limited conditons for independent productions is decided on a case by case basis.
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Correct, 5D is not approved as a prime acquisition format, though it has been used as such on a couple of productions. It's use is as a speciality camera as used recently in both their Olympics and Wimbledon coverage.

To be fair, the BBC has little to do with whether people will continue to shoot with DSLRs and was probably a poor example for me to use earlier. Too many Vimeographers have drunk the full frame coolaid to give them up now. Indeed, many of the newbies have only shot on DSLRs, they wouldn't know one end of a camcorder to another and are already heavily invested in DSLR accessories to jump into another system quickly. Other users simply want the cheapest possible system, so they are unlike to change course quickly either.
 
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Donald Ong said:
@btw, how's the new LCD on the mark 3? Is it actually possible to focus with it now with the improved 3.2'' 5d3 lcd? Without using the punch in, that is...
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The new LCD doesn't appear to be very different to the old one. I use a z-finder and punch in. The magic lantern alpha has focus peaking.
 
nigelbb said:
It's not so much that sharpening wasn't necessary with the 5D2 more like it was not possible without the image degrading. Out of the camera the image looks similar it's just that you are able to sharpen the 5D3 footage which improves the image.
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Yeah post sharpening would break the MKII image but I never felt the need to sharpen anything I shot with the MKII. I have to sharpen almost everything with the MKIII, only very mild sharpening to get the shots to look as sharp as they would look with sharpness turned down on the MKII.

It's been well documented that the MKIII is softer out of the box.
 
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Liam Hall said:
Who told you that you couldn't focus with the old screen? Did you read that on a blog? :-)
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No, because i've used both the d7000 and 60d before and in both cases i was able to nail focus almost all of the time (without the zoom punch in, i used it to check if it was in focus after i've focused...if that makes sense), but i was never 100% sure if it was in focus . There was always that lingering fear that it was totally in focus (it was, though)...So yeah, the older screens were probably JUST adequate for focusing, but it was a battle and i did have to strain my eyes abit, so I'm just wondering if the mark 3 will be slightly better in this regard.

squig said:
The new LCD doesn't appear to be very different to the old one. I use a z-finder and punch in. The magic lantern alpha has focus peaking.
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Any chance of magic lantern for the mark 3?
 
Donald Ong said:
Just wondering...it seems with all the cheap large sensor video cameras available now, many people are declaring it 'the death of the DSLR evolution'.
What are your opinions on this?

Because I'm looking to get a new camera at the end of this year and I'm really torn between the sonys and the 5d3/6d...
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If I did not have a 5DII I would probably get a BMCC if I was only doing video. If you are planning on doing video and stills, the 5D/6D is better suited.

I dont think the DSLR is dead for video, but much better options like the C100 and BMCC and starting to come in to fill that gap for semi-pro videos.
 
DSLR's are a transitional product, but there are a still lot of people buying them and will be using them a lot for the next five years (at least). While the limits of the 4:2:0 color space are becoming more apparent with the newer and better cameras, they are still priced right and extremely portable. The higher bit rate of the new GH3 is yielding incredible images within that color space, and the Nikon 600, 800, and D4 all allow for recording out to 8-bit, 4:2:2.

I do see the slow demise of the Canon DSLR's for video on the horizon unless they switch to a higher resolution codec, but their goal now seems to be getting video customers to move on up to their C100-C500 line.
 
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alex1 said:
If I did not have a 5DII I would probably get a BMCC if I was only doing video. If you are planning on doing video and stills, the 5D/6D is better suited.

I dont think the DSLR is dead for video, but much better options like the C100 and BMCC and starting to come in to fill that gap for semi-pro videos.
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Well, i do like the idea of being able to take cracking stills too :)

But i really can't think of a better choice under US5000...BMCC's too clunky for me and i just know i would never get it to work for what I do...
GH3 looks nice, but apparently it aliases a little and is still no where near the 5d3 in low light...low light is important for me... i'm actually fine with the slight softness of the mark 3. With a bit of sharpening it does looks very nice...much better than HDV cameras of old...and those are still widely used and loved here in singapore. heh :)
 
Donald Ong said:
GH3 looks nice, but apparently it aliases a little and is still no where near the 5d3 in low light
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I would wager the aliasing has to do with the in camera correction of the 12-35 x lens. At least that is the leading theory. I can't wait till it is in peoples hands with final firmware and we can see tests. I'm excited to see the possibilities of the wifi monitoring/control.

At under half the price of a 5DIII the GH3 offers a fantastic package.
 
Of course if Nikon had the nouse to put a 30FPS (cropped a bit from fullframe) mode with mirror lock up and provided a decent out for nef files to a pix 240 or the like

they can do 12FPS or something now so it doesnt seem that much of a step

eveything else would be dead


S
S
 
RatLabProductions said:
I would wager the aliasing has to do with the in camera correction of the 12-35 x lens. At least that is the leading theory. I can't wait till it is in peoples hands with final firmware and we can see tests. I'm excited to see the possibilities of the wifi monitoring/control.

At under half the price of a 5DIII the GH3 offers a fantastic package.
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Well.... I've never been a fan of the GH series, but guess I'll see what the gh3 does. That said, not many GH2 films had impressed me much compared to the 5d/7d shorts... well, there are a lot of 5d junk on youtube too, If I'm honest... Urg, why must this be so difficult...
 
Still using mine. Put 3k into a 5D Mark III - Shooting everything from events to music videos, and promos. I think they are still great for the low-budget film maker...They aren't dead at all there will always be a different levels in the market.
 
I just shot with the FS700 and the 5d mark III. The ergonomics on the FS700 are absolutely horrible even coming from the dslr world. Prefer my 5dmkIII way more and I used that as the b-cam. Gonna check out the images later. DSLR's are way from dead.
 
simonpwood said:
That is an awesome video; just a guy on holiday with a handheld DSLR and 2 prime lenses. Wow. Very inspiring.
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Yep. It looks amazing..and i've no idea what voodoo magic he's applied, but the 5d3 looks super sharp in the video :) (well, not EX1 sharp, but still, very sharp for DSLR stuff). I seriously wonder how people can keep bashing the 5d3 just because its soft out of the box, with sharpening and grading, it can look absolutely fabulous. And the handheld non-IS jitter doesn't even make the video look amatuer-ish...it adds a lot to the look, in my opinion.
 
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"....I seriously wonder how people can keep bashing the 5d3 just because its soft out of the box, with sharpening and grading, it can look absolutely fabulous."

absolutely price motivated, people expected a $3500 raw recording dslr - FULL FRAME.

too bad, $3000-ish price tag can only give you a raw recording super 16-ish cam.

get real
 
Donald Ong said:
You have to admit, though...Films like this make the 5d3 look amazing...
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Some of this is very nice, though there are a lot of shots where the DOF is too shallow for my taste. It really looks like somebody shooting with a Full Frame sensor camera where DOF is not being controlled well, so you get shots that feel "myopic" because such a small part of your subject is in focus.

I'm also not a fan of washed out gamma, where the blacks are dark grey, and everything feels kind of low contrast.
 
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