Filming with DSLR's

Hi guys

As some of you may know, I am a broadcast cameraman, and have worked in the television industry for 13 or 14 years.

I've seen many many changes over the years in the way that tv productions are made.

But on Friday, I was working on a commercial, where the entire thing was filmed on 2 Canon DSLRs. I'd never seen anything like it.
We used a Canon 1D mk4, and a 7D, recording high definition footage onto 16G CF cards.

On the 7D we used a Panavision 75mm T2 Primo Close Focus Anamorphic lens, which is designed for filming movies.

The 1D mk4 had several different canon prime and zoom lenses on it throughout the day, and I have to say, I was blown away with the end results.

The quality of the footage with the panavision lens was simply stunning.

I never actually got to take any stills with the cameras because we were on such a tight shoot, but the word is that Canon have opened up a Pandora's Box with these two cameras, and more and more film makers / directors are opting to shoot their features with DSLR cameras.

I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own 2 eyes.

It's the future

Yep,

I have done a few movies with my 5DMk11, HD at 40Mb/s looks pretty good, especially if you are using L series lenses with good lighting.

My main gripes are the built in Mic is awful, it picks up every sound, so I am buying a shotgun mic to start with, and the focusing on the LCD is less than perfect, but as these cameras are developed they are just going to get better.

For in the field reportage these types of camera are going to be very good, if you tripod or steady cam one of these you get really professional looking results.

Alan.

Check out the one of Skywalker Ranch shot on the Canon 5DmkII and the 7D for Lucasfilm.

Sounds great MD!

Do you know why they chose to use the canons instead of their usual cameras.. is it because of cost?

What's the commercial so we can keep an eye out for it

Can't fault the quality of the film. However being critical it doesn't show any fast moving object like a horse running and how it copes in relation to that in regardes to DOF/focusing etc. It does static shots of ducks swimming which are excellent, I would have liked to see again how quickly the camera can adjust the focus from far distance to closeup, doing a slow focus on a subject doesn't stretch the cameras capabilities to the maximum.
I accept that it was a promo shoot and that may have been the brief understandably, but as a demo of what the camera should/can achieve it fails miserably and maybe doesn't do the camera justice.

Ok I know the lens used has a lot to do with it but taking that out of the equation as a demo of the camera it isn't really that good.

Bazza

WildWalker is right about the poor sound quality, but we had a sound recordist/engineer recording the sound separately so that certainly won't be an issue for us.
The LCD isn't perfect either, but we had eye piece adaptors in order for us to use it like a proper video camera.

Cost was one of the reasons why they went down this road. Paying 4 - 7 grand for a top of the range DSLR body is certainly cheaper than paying for a broadcast camera. All they do then is hire the lenses they think will be needed for the shoot, including the beauty from Panavision
The prime lenses offer much nicer images than the traditional zoom lenses of the broadcast camera. The DSLR's are also much smaller, lighter and easier to get in and out of tight locations.
The clients were also on set, which meant that as soon as a shot was done, it could be taken straight off the card and into a Mac, loaded onto the editing timeline (final cut pro), and viewed instantly.

The commercial itself is for a Government campaign being launched shortly on suicide prevention. I can't really go into too much detail right now, but I do know that it's a Scottish ad, and may not be screened everywhere, although I do believe it will also be in cinemas as well as on tv. I'm sure it will be online at some point too, and as soon as I hear anything about it's TX date, I'll be sure to let you know.

And Bazza, you want to know what fast moving images look like on a 7D or even a 1DMk4?
Take a look at the back page of any major newspaper in the country tomorrow. See that amazing shot of the striker scoring a wonder goal, or that awesome tackle to save the game? Chances are that that image has come, not from one of the 120 frames from a burst at 10fps. It's more than likely come from the full HD footage itself. And I have that information first hand from a professional Tog that I was talking to whilst covering a football match this very afternoon.
He told me that those lucky enough to have full HD capability, are now " recording " the shots on goal, following the ball from the moment it leaves the strikers foot to the moment it hits the back of the net.
Then they quickly select the single frame that they want, and that's what ends up on the back page the next day. The footage is that clear.

I was very skeptical about this when I first saw it yesterday and was told that this is gonna be the next big thing in terms of visual media production, but I have to say, I'm absolutely captivated by the sheer beauty these 2 cameras had to offer us. The dof in full HD was unlike anything else I'd ever seen on any broadcast camera.

I desperately need to win the lottery now. I want one of those cameras

Just 'borrow' one from work (when they get more in)

I'm freelance now Azz. I don't have a work-place as such, but if I did, you can bet your garden shed I'd be begging to take the cameras home for some, er, practice

Ah right I didn't know you went freelance - hope that goes ok for you. Is it more work for you down London? Might be a good op to go live there for a few years

I'm ok up here for now Azz, thanks.