Canon 5D Mk II video

Hello,

I have a multi-pronged question regarding the use of the video with the Canon 5D Mk II. Let me first just say that I am blown away by the cinematic quality that this camera provides in this mode. When I first purchased the camera, I was a little annoyed because I thought the additional price point had a little to do with the video feature which I had NEVER planned to use (especially because of the manual focus).

I couldn't have been more wrong. I shot my daughter opening her presents on Christmas morning and could not believe how this camera performed. It was like an IFC team came in and shot it..it was that good, in terms of technical quality (the artistic part not so much as I've never tried video before).

To my questions:

1. When I shot the video, all I had to used was the Canon EOS Utility to view the video and it seemed to lack features, or I was just unable to leverage them in the short amount of time I had to present the video to family members.
2. If #1 above is true, is there an alternative piece of software that would allow me to edit the video, cutting and pasting pieces of it to give it a nice flow.
3. The high end HD (1920 x whatever) seems like slower machines have a hard time keeping up with that resolution/frame rate. If there is in fact a software package to edit the video, can it compress it somewhat so that the video doesn't loose that much quality, yet can be easily played by any lame computer (which is kind of the typical computer of many family memebers -- mine looks fine BTW...although I have a relatively new system that's built for Canon 5D MK II et al photo work). I don't want to use the 640 mode as it seems too low for quality.

So in short, I need the following software, if available:
1. Edit the video to remove the boring parts and make a nice fluid video
2. Add music on top of the existing sound
3. Compress it so that it can be posted onto the internet without serious loss of quality.
4. And if we're asking for the kitchen sink here also, maybe a cataloging feature?

Also, one last thing. Is there any way to "assist" the focus? I know in Live View you can use the AF-ON to lock a focus. Is there a similar kind of option in the video mode, or do I just need to be "Johnny-on-the-spot" with the manual focus ring on my 24-105L lens?

Thanks for any help you guys/gals can offer!

Sincerely,
TF

You may want to post this here:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdis​play.php?f=131

in the digital video section of the forum. And if you are adventurous, check this out:

http://magiclantern.wi​kia.com …gic_Lantern_Fir​mware_Wiki

and really unleash the video beast.

Kirk

Premier elements is worth a look.

I do all that with Final Cut Express.

tfitz wrote in post #9486160
Hello,

I have a multi-pronged question regarding the use of the video with the Canon 5D Mk II. Let me first just say that I am blown away by the cinematic quality that this camera provides in this mode. When I first purchased the camera, I was a little annoyed because I thought the additional price point had a little to do with the video feature which I had NEVER planned to use (especially because of the manual focus).

I couldn't have been more wrong. I shot my daughter opening her presents on Christmas morning and could not believe how this camera performed. It was like an IFC team came in and shot it..it was that good, in terms of technical quality (the artistic part not so much as I've never tried video before).

To my questions:

1. When I shot the video, all I had to used was the Canon EOS Utility to view the video and it seemed to lack features, or I was just unable to leverage them in the short amount of time I had to present the video to family members.

To view the video (just view), download MPC - Home Cinema (just google it), and if you have a graphics card made in the last two years, update DirectX (if you have vista or 7). It has all the needed codecs built in.

2. If #1 above is true, is there an alternative piece of software that would allow me to edit the video, cutting and pasting pieces of it to give it a nice flow.

If you don't have Premiere/Vegas/FCS, just use Windows Movie Maker HD or iMovie. Both are bare bones, but both work. If the above step results in a "DXVA" thing showing in MPC while playing a video, Movie Maker HD will support hardware acceleration and make editing the original video a breeze.

3. The high end HD (1920 x whatever) seems like slower machines have a hard time keeping up with that resolution/frame rate. If there is in fact a software package to edit the video, can it compress it somewhat so that the video doesn't loose that much quality, yet can be easily played by any lame computer (which is kind of the typical computer of many family memebers -- mine looks fine BTW...although I have a relatively new system that's built for Canon 5D MK II et al photo work). I don't want to use the 640 mode as it seems too low for quality.

1080p (1920x1080) requires about four times the processing power of 720p (30fps) video, and much, much, much more than 640x480. If you have an intel Core 2 Duo processor that is 1.6gh or faster, 5dmkii files should play just fine. If your computer doesn't match this, convert (using a video program, or certain converter tools, NEVER pay for a converter/transcoder because all those that you see spammed around the forums are based off of free ones, and actually take away features not add them) the video to MPEG 2 (unless you have a mac, then it's useless because macs don't support MPEG 2). MPEG2 is one of the three formats used in Bluray videos, and also the format for DVD videos. You'll have to use at least 40mbps (same as 5d's bitrate) to keep quality, but you'll be able to play it on many dual core systems (except maybe a pentium D). If it still doesn't play properly, use a transcoder (like megui) to resize it to 1280x720 (720p). 720p video should be able to be played on anything made after a pentium 4 HT. Whatever you do, if you're using Windows, DO NOT LET QUICKTIME PLAY THE FILE.

So in short, I need the following software, if available:
1. Edit the video to remove the boring parts and make a nice fluid video
2. Add music on top of the existing sound
3. Compress it so that it can be posted onto the internet without serious loss of quality.
4. And if we're asking for the kitchen sink here also, maybe a cataloging feature?

Sounds like you're looking for Adobe Premiere Elements.

Also, one last thing. Is there any way to "assist" the focus? I know in Live View you can use the AF-ON to lock a focus. Is there a similar kind of option in the video mode, or do I just need to be "Johnny-on-the-spot" with the manual focus ring on my 24-105L lens?
Follow focus maybe?
Thanks for any help you guys/gals can offer!

Sincerely,
TF

All in the red

A good first question is the specifications and type of computer you use
OS:
CPU:
HD:
RAM:

Its going to be hard to get much done if you have weak hardware.