The Canon 5D MkII (5DM2) was only the second digital SLR to offer video, after Nikon’s D90, and the first to offer serious features like the vital external microphone socket. Since then a firmware update has given it the ability to set the exposure manually when shooting, hugely boosting the creative possibilities.
But if Canon can change the firmware, why not anyone else? Well, because it’ll invalidate your warranty, that’s why, but if that doesn’t put you off the open platform Magic Lantern Firmware have been busy adding extra features like on-screen audio meters, on-screen crop marks for 16:9, cinemascope, and 4:3.
Only for the brave at the moment, but it’s a good bet that Canon are keeping their eye on developments here too.
Having been playing with QuickTime’s Image Sequence feature for the time-lapse vids I’ve posted recently, I found myself wondering if the same trick could be used to replace a dolly for shots without moving subjects. In other words, stop motion by moving the camera rather than the subject.
I placed a tape measure along a line in the floor, set up the tripod with two legs touching the measure, and took a shot. I then lifted the pod an camera and placed it down carefully, with the same two legs touching the measure, and took another. I repeated this reasonably quickly until I got to the end of the room.
After this I copied the pictures to the computer and assembled them in QuickTime as I’ve described in the past. While results are unsurprisingly jerky straight out of QuickTime, I had hope that Final Cut Pro’s Smooth Cam filter (it’s in Video Filters > Video) would do the trick.
I tried another time-lapse this evening, pointing the camera from my window at the sky rather than the ground. Cloud formations are a classic in this genre, though I was a little unlucky that the best one escaped the frame without replacement following or forming. I also tried auto this time – rather than manual exposure settings. The result is a little poppy in brightness terms, but at least it doesn’t fall off as soon as the sky darkens. A word of caution thoug – don’t leave the camera in Auto – Auto without flash is the key. I’ll keep trying though.
There was a lot of talk of the new iPhone being called “iPhone HD”, which would have been great. The iPhone, after all, is the ultimate convergence device – not only does it handle all the things other smart phones do, but it actually has a thriving 3rd party software market so that it can deliver more to different users. I’ve even got an app, Slate, that acts as a clapper-board.
The problem is that it now seems to being hampered by its on-board equipment. The 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera in the 3G was only incremented to 3 megapixels this time. Auto-focus though, which is a massive improvement, and video-capable finally. I ought to be cheering, but for some reason it can only manage to record video at what is a slightly retro 640 x 480 at 30fps. Now 720p (1280 x 720) is only one megapixel, so on the face of it I can’t see why such an allegedly powerful device cannot be adapted to shoot in 720p HD.
Obviously there are storage and quality issues, and it’d be a bit of a gimmick, but it might actually prove very useful from time to time. And from Apple’s perspective – given they seem to leave the phone for a whole year without updates – it will put them a long way behind the competition by the time they correct this. Samsung have already got their OMNIA HD phone performing this trick.
All that said, Apple’s ability to get features discussed and used means that a lot more people might be getting involved in video. The on board trimming tool (editing is too grand a term) looks very accessible, and hopefully it will encourage people to do a bit more editing when they get back to their Macs. Or PCs, of course.