Leibson's Law

Leibson's Law: It takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to become pervasive in the design community. This blog is about the disruptive technologies that either have or will win over electronic engineers, some that won't, and why. Written by Steve Leibson, Tensilica's Technology Evangelist. See my history site at www.hp9825.com. You can email me by taking the first letter of my first name, appending that to my last name, then the magic email symbol, followed by the name of the company I work for, and then a dot followed by com.

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Set Camera to Stun: The Laforet HD Video Made with the Canon EOS 5D Mk II dSLR

Last week, I wrote about Canon’s new EOS 5D Mark II 21.1-Mpixel dSLR with a built-in HD camcorder function. This week, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Vincent Laforet has posted a reduced-size version of the HD video he shot with the camera days before its official announcement. The short video is titled Reverie. Prepare to be stunned and watch it here. It’s gone viral. More than half a million people have viewed it since it went online last Saturday. Remember, this is video shot with a still camera.

Related entries in: Consumer Products | Digital Camera | Video |

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at 9/24/2008 11:40:24 AM, Gordon McGregor said:
Good isn't it. I think maybe the idea of it being a 'still' camera in the traditional sense (mechanical shutter and all) is slightly incorrect now - it is recording just like a normal video camera - the shutter isn't going to be firing at 30fps or anything clever like that. The mirror is up and out of the way the whole time recording in LiveView mode (as far as I understand it) So this is really a video camera functionality in a SLR camera form factor (which is new) Laforet's video does show what you can do with this, when combined with pro steadycam gear, a large stack of Canon lenses, car mounts, helicopter mounts, helicopter, pro film lighting gear (no strobes here...) and a decent crew. So it looks great, but the 5D is a smallish part of the whole. Exciting all the same.

at 9/24/2008 1:43:41 PM, Steve Leibson said:
Gordon, you're exactly right about the camera being a smallish part of the whole. There are actors, helicopters, and Steadycam gear involved too. My wide grin while watching the video was from the realization that I was seeing stunning footage, not distinguishable from high-end movie or video work, using a $2700 dSLR camera body and about 10x that amount in fancy lenses. As you say, exciting all the same. And yes, it's pretty clear that the mirror and shutter aren't flapping around at 30 fps. It's an adaptation of LiveView mode for video recording.

at 9/24/2008 4:24:07 PM, Dave J said:
Interesting that Laforet, on his blog, said that the 5D2 blew away the XHA1 for low-light sensitivity. If you think about it, a camera designed "only" to capture 1920x1080, would, for the same size sensor, have much larger photosites than the 5d2 and hence more sensitivity, not less. This implies to me that the still and video groups in Canon have not been sharing, and the still people have been making major improvements while the vid people slept. I think we're going to see some radical improvements in video cameras in the very near future!

at 9/24/2008 10:48:58 PM, Steve Leibson said:
Dave, the flaw in your thinking (from my perspective) is that I do not believe video camera sensors are anywhere close to the size of the full-frame sensor in the 5D Mark II. There's no need to make the sensor that big and the cost goes up proportionately. At the same time, the top video cameras tend to use three CCDs (red, green, blue). I'm sure there's a reason why top-end videocameras use three CCDs and dSLRs don't, but I don't know the reason.

at 9/25/2008 3:23:12 AM, Dave J said:
I suppose you're right, Steve. I guess for a given number of dollars to go into a vid cam, the more that go into the sensor, the fewer go into other goodies. Also, a larger sensor necessitates larger, more expensive lenses.

at 9/25/2008 8:05:04 AM, Paul Leroux at QNX said:
On the subject of disruptive technologies, I wonder whether this camera signals the beginning of the end of the consumer video-camcorder market -- you gotta know that, within a year or so, 1080p-equipped SLRs will be flooding the shelves. My 1080p camcorder cost over 1500 bucks a couple of years back, but who will spend anything near that amount of money when their SLR does just as good a job?

at 9/25/2008 9:35:47 AM, Steve Leibson said:
Paul, Your $1500 1080p camcorder comes with a 10:1 or 20:1 or 30:1 zoom. The $2700 5D Mark II comes with no lens at all and there's no such thing as a 30:1 or even a 20:1 zoom for it. I've got no market research to back me up, other than personal observaion of hundreds of comments on www.dpreview.com but I think dSLRs with video will appeal to certain pro markets (especially wedding and sports photographers) and, of course, to the well-heeled prosumer market that always has money for the top-end goodies. I don't forsee the end of the camcorder market just as I would not predict the demise of the PhD (push here dummy!) compact camera market.

at 9/25/2008 11:26:52 AM, Dave J said:
The vid cameras have been providing still picture functionality for some time. I don''t think it has really caught on as a selling point. The P&S digicam market, of course, has been offering video for awhile now -- and I believe that indeed that is catching on and eroding low-end vid cam sales. In fact, it will be improvements in those cameras (digicams) that are "disruptive" in the Christensen sense. These cameras are cheaper and inferior to the consumer vid cams -- but not so inferior that there is not a sizable market of people who don''t care. That''s disruption. And of course, the digicams'' video is going to improve. The vid people can run upmarket, ceding more and more of the low end as they go, but that''s a losing proposition in the long term. I agree with Steve that the DSLRs with video are more of a sideshow -- though an interesting one.

at 9/25/2008 2:11:55 PM, Steve Leibson said:
Dave, I agree with you. The low-end, flash-based camcorders like my Aiptek cost just over $100 but you get video for that low cost. True, it's not great video but it's all the video you need for YouTube and the like. That's a disruptive product for sure. It took a couple of years, but the top-tier vendors like Sony and Sanyo started producing similar products at higher prices with better specs.

at 9/25/2008 10:13:25 PM, RAWShooter said:
Earlier, I panned the 5D for including cheap gimmicks like video in a DSLR camera. Well.... after watching the quality, I mean WOW Quality of that 5DmkII shot footage,... I WANT ONE!!!!! My Sony HD video camera with it's fixed lens is beginning to look like a dinosaur.

at 9/26/2008 11:04:57 AM, Steve Leibson said:
RAWShooter: Welcome to the dark side. I'm amazed at the amount of punditry over at the dpreview.com forums by people who haven't touched this camera and have yet to see a detailed technical review. Particularly with respect to the AF. There are people reading tea leaves in the press release and then opining about the 5D Mk II's AF performance. Let's wait and see. I've never been convinced that you need a bajillion AF points to get the focus right. You do need a good focusing algorithm.

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Set Camera to Stun: The Laforet HD Video Made with the Canon EOS 5D Mk II dSLR

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