CMOS sensors are tastier without Jello

We’ve already seen some excellent video footage from the new Canon 5D MarkII DSLR camera. However, I’ve not really seen the sort of test footage that reveals CMOS wobble (the jello effect) or rolling shutter skew. While this isn’t a perfect test, I was encouraged to see a lot of motion in the following video shot on the streets of Beijing. It appears, anecdotally at least, that the 5D samples from it’s sensor much faster than the ultra-wobbly Nikon D90, and the camera sure looks like it would handle most situations with aplomb. Video embedded below.

How to Edit Canon 5D Footage in FCP

Canon’s new 5D Mark II DSLR with 1080p video mojo has been showing up in the hands of new users for the past few days, and the footage is hitting Vimeo faster than you can say “What’s a Scarlet?” One of the most pressing questions by Mac users is how to edit the compressed HD footage, which is captured as Quicktime H.264 files at 38.6 Mbits/sec. Reports suggest that FCP can edit the footage natively, but playback is likely to be choppy. That being the case, FCP users are recommending transcoding the footage into ProRes 422, for realtime playback and editing. ProRes is several times the bitrate of the MPEG-4 source files, but it should solve the playback issues.

An alert reader dropped me a Tweet this evening however, and he’s got a great workflow idea for those that can’t justify the additional disk space that ProRes transcoding requires. His workflow uses the free cross-platform MPEG Streamclip app to transcode the source files into the 35 Mbits/sec XDCAM EX codec, which can then be played back and edited in realtime in FCP. A tutorial video is embedded below…

Vincent Laforet posted another Canon 5D MK2 video

If this guy isn’t on Canon’s marketing payroll, they need a wake up call. I imagine that he’s done more to sell the new Canon 5D MarkII than any other entity out there, including Canon.

Beautiful CG work in a Porsche Spec Spot

This spec spot by I ran across on Vimeo simply has to be seen. It took 4 months to render out the final composite…

Red Renders Previous Koolaid Vouchers Obsolete

The latest non-news on the Red Digital Cinema front is Jim Jannard’s coy announcement of yet another announcement date for their latest announcement. This one will be December 3rd. Predictably, the tagline reads “Everything has changed…”

Well at least they are honest about it. At least people know what they are getting into when they plunk down cash months (or arguably years) in advance of product delivery to finance a concept in development. At least Red admits they can and will change specifications and targets, based on their whims and sense of the market, and not necessarily what their customers have requested. At least Red One owners are aware of the fact that their camera system will be left unfinished, frequently buggy, and still a moving development target for years. It’s hard for me to be frustrated when I’ve poured my own tall glass of Red-flavored koolaid, and knew exactly what I was doing all along…

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