Three Simple Things

Recently I was asked by a major DLSR manufacturer what features I would like to see in their movie capture mode. I pledged to restrict my reply to things that I presumed (in my ignorance) could be accomplished in firmware. Here’s what I sent:

• Choice of frame rate. Ideally we would be able to choose any frame rate from 1 to 30, with special cases for the NTSC speeds for 30 and 24 (which are 29.97 and 23.976 fps, respectively). But the “most wanted” frame rates are 29.97, 23.976 and 25 fps. 60 fps would be nice to have for slow motion, even if it had to be 720p.
  
  But 23.976 is the most important frame rate to support. It is worth mentioning that Getty Images now only accepts footage shot in 24p!

• Manual control, ideally using familiar camera controls, of aperture, shutter, and ISO.

• There is one additional feature that is probably slightly less accessible, but is nevertheless an important issue to explore. I have no problem with manually focusing while in video mode, but the challenge is that the rear LCD display, glorious though it may be, is not sufficient for gauging focus at 1080p. An edge-enhancement focus assist option of the kind found on many HD video cameras would be ideal. I quite like the one on the Sony EX1—it displays a colored outline on sharp edges.

To recap

• 24p
• Manual exposure
• Focus assist

My Amex awaits!

I hope they’re listening. I keep holding up the boombox, but I don’t see much movement in the window.

I’ve also mentioned to anyone who will listen that it’s time for video cameras to respond to this DSLR excitement. There’s much more than the mere ability to record video that defines a video camera. Some big challenges lurk here though. A Sony EX1, with its amazing, filmmaker-friendly features but miniscule sensor makes a luxurious DSLR like the 5D MkII seem downright affordable, even with its L-series kit lens included. Remember that only Panasonic has shown a video-focussed SLR-esque camera. As a SLR replcement, its predecessor, the Lumix DMC-G1, has been criticised for being too big. As a video camera it borders on being too small, although that is easily fixed. The Micro Four Thirds sensor is almost as big as the RED One’s, and Panasonic knows how to make video cameras for filmmakers. The G1 with lens is cheaper than the Nikon D90. No word on price for the video variant.

A week from tomorrow RED will blow us all away with their latest announcements and the future will seem both closer than ever, and farther away as well.

In the meantime, these video SLRs could be an aweful lot of fun—if they’d just do three simple things.

It's Happening

Let’s get something straight. The video from the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D MkII is not of good quality. It’s over compressed, over-processed, over-sharpened, and lacks professional control. It skews and shears and shuts off in the middle of a take. It sucks.

So why are we so excited by it?

Because the video from these DSLRs stimulates us emotionally. It’s contrasty, with sexy depth of field. It looks like cinema, if you don’t look to close. Guess who doesn’t look too close. Everyone.

Not to mention the thrill of portability, incognito shooting, and of an infinite assortment and renewable supply of state-of-the-art lenses that serve both our motion and still habits. It all adds up to a thrilling sensation, even if we know deep down that these cameras aren’t quite ready for us yet.

What the D90 and 5D2 have done is show us that it’s no longer OK for video camera manufacturers, whether they be Sony or Canon or RED, to make a video camera that doesn’t excite us emotionally. Buttons and features and resolution charts just had their ass handed to them by sex appeal.

There’s nothing new about this of course. We’ve been trading image fidelity for sex appeal for years now, using 24p modes, on-camera filters, Magic Bullet, and 35mm lens adapters. Especially those lens adapters. We suffer all kinds of pains in our filmmaking asses to cut our cameras’ resolution and light gathering capabilities substantially. All because in cinema, less is so much more.

So it stands to reason that the number one manufacturer of 35mm lens adapters is the first to start taking these video DSLRs seriously.

On August 29th I wrote: Mark my words, you will see rail-mounted D90s with follow-focus rigs and outboard HD displays. On September 27th I played around with some spare Redrock Micro parts in an attempt to imagine what such a rig might look like. Zacuto soon followed with mock-ups of their own. But Redrock Micro is doing more than just mocking up: tomorrow they will announce a new, shipping product, a cinematizing kit for DSLRs with video.

I love Redrock. They make great, affordable rigs with the DV Rebel in mind. The Redrock bundles for video DSLRs are being showcased at Photo Plus in New York, tomorrow through the 25th, in the Canon and Zeiss booths. They ship November 1.

Since Redrock is taking video DSLRs seriously, maybe it’s time the camera manufacturers do too. It’s great that these images are so exciting, but they do need to grow up if we’re to use them for our films.

Dogs and Cats Living Together

Looks like I wasn’t the only one who wanted to see what a DSLR-based shoulder mount would look like. From Zacuto, makers of shiny red things that cost more than your camera:

The matte box isn’t just to impress the clients. If you want to shoot wide-open with a 1/48 shutter regardless of lighting conditions, you’d better be prepared to dial in exposure with ISO and ND. Screwing threaded filters on and off gets old quick. And grad filters will be your friend.

[Via the 5D MarkII Facebook Group]

What Should a Movie Camera Look Like?

Click image to enlarge.

If there’s anything certain about the crazy camera events and announcements of the last few weeks, it’s that folks are thinking about what matters to them in a motion picture camera from a much broader perspective. Let’s recap:

• Panasonic announces the LX3, a pocket stills camera that shoots 720p HD movies at 24p
• Nikon releases the D90, a live-view DSLR that shoots wiggly 720p HD movies at 24p
• Canon announces the 5D MarkII, featuring 1080p video at 30fps
• Ikonoskop announces the A-cam dII, a uniquely-shaped HD camera with a super-16 CCD that shoots up to 60fps uncompressed DNG
• Panasonic shows a prototype Lumix G, a Micro Four Thirds interchangable-lens camera designed specifically for HD shooting, to be released next year
• RED scraps their Scarlet designs because “the market has changed.”
• RED announces the Digital Still & Motion Camera (DSMC), designed to “mark the end of DSLRs” and, presumably, to offer more professional control over big-sensor video in a compact housing
• Vincent Laforet unveils Reverie, a short film shot with a pre-release 5D MarkII
• 650 people and counting add their voice to Laforet’s plea to Canon for 24p on the 5D MarkII

Interesting times to say the least. Would you want to shoot a movie with something that looks like the above? If you could have any camera capability in any feasible form factor, what would you want?