The Canon 5D is a cinematic nightmare. In movie mode it’s hard to see focus, difficult to set exposure, and it doesn’t show you exactly what you’re getting. It records to heavily compressed 8-bit H.264, and the only frame rate available is 30fps. Not 29.97—exactly 30p. It’s a complete pain to use.
I love it not as a cure-all camera that everyone should buy, but as a niche camera that does a few things very, very well—especially for the price. Everything this camera does (except for shooting stills) can be done better by other, more expensive HD cameras. For $2,600, though, it can’t be beat.
The Canon 5D Mark II started life as a cost-cutting measure for Associated Press and Reuters. They asked for a still camera that also shot HD to avoid having to pay both a still photographer and a videographer to cover the same events. They wanted 30p, for web streaming, and full auto mode, so as not to scare still photographers who had never shot moving images before. Canon had no idea that this camera would appeal so strongly to professional filmmakers.
It does, tremendously. And you can see why by watching the finished spot at the top of this page. But it wasn’t easy. Read on…
Very interesting article! Thanks for sharing
I’ve never seen anyone make the comment about the UDMA CF cards and writing… not that I think your comment is wrong, just the first I’ve seen of it and i’ll certainly investigate.
Posted by Mitch Aunger on 08/04 at 10:34 AM
The 5D2 is an amazing video camera, but if only they could add 24p and zebra support with a new firmware, life will be complete. 
Posted by Eugenia on 08/04 at 10:37 AM
The UDMA comment came directly from a Canon rep.
You won’t get 24p in this camera ever. It’s a hardware/system clock issue. Zebras… apparently there’s a hack by some guy in Seattle that provides those, but Canon doesn’t endorse it.
Posted by Art Adams on 08/04 at 11:06 AM
Stu at ProLost just posted a how-to today on setting up a flat image preset, you don’t need the canon software, you can do it all in-camera.
http://prolost.com/blog/2009/8/3/flatten-your-5d.html
You should also read cinema5d.com for more tips on using the 5DmkII.
Posted by Tom Frisch on 08/04 at 01:14 PM
>You won’t get 24p in this camera ever.
Does this also come from a Canon rep? 
>Zebras… apparently there’s a hack by some guy
I know of the third party firmware hack, but I really don’t like hacks, I really need in the cam itself.
Posted by Eugenia on 08/04 at 03:16 PM
I have been told by a person who works at Canon that this camera is physically incapable of 24p.
And while that person said that they could not verify plans to develop a 24p camera, they also said that Canon would be crazy not to.
Posted by Art Adams on 08/04 at 03:18 PM
Art,
Interesting about exact 30p and not 29.97p. I had read that the 5D really and truly records 29.97p but has incorrect metadata which makes its file show up as if it were 30p. I had also read that CineForm’s NeoScene (in the process of transcoding either to the CineForm códec or to ProRes422) corrects the metadata error while producing the target file with a proper listing at 29.97p. Any comments will be welcome!
Posted by Allan Tépper on 08/05 at 06:12 AM
I’m guessing something about the system clock makes it impossible to do 24p (or 23.98p). The Canon rep I spoke to says there’s not a ton of processing power built into the camera, and using what there is allows them to do 30p HD but that’s it.
He also said that 24p/23.98p would require a physical redesign of the sensor package.
It might be similar to the Varicam: if you shoot “30p” you’re really recording 29.97p, because the system clock is 59.94hz. If you shoot PAL at 25p you have to set the system clock to exactly 60hz and restart the camera. The Canon isn’t set up to do that.
Posted by Art Adams on 08/05 at 10:08 AM
In my experience the 5D records 30P not 29.97p. When I tested NeoScene I experienced audio drift on long clips due to it’s retiming from 30P to 29.97p.
Posted by Tom Frisch on 08/05 at 10:20 AM
> system clock makes it impossible to do 24p (or 23.98p)
Yeah, that makes sense. They make everything work synchronously, and can’t change the master clock.
I guess, we need to wait for the 5D-MarkIII to get what we want (both 24p/30p, along with some better zebra/AF support).
Posted by Eugenia on 08/05 at 01:17 PM
As for zebra bar support, the “unsupported hack” Art mentions is Magic Lantern:
http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ
(Others have fortunately reported good success with it so far…)
Posted by Chris Meyer on 08/09 at 01:10 PM
Physically changing and setting the exposure isn’t hard to do. Determining whether it’s the right exposure is the trick. Without zebras or a histogram it’s hard to find that sweet spot where the camera can hold the widest range of exposure without clipping.
Posted by Chris Meyer on 08/09 at 02:44 PM
